Swim platform construction material?

[Mark Myns]

Swim Platform

I replaced my old fiberglass platform with one made out of compressed plastic, similar to Trex. I took the old platform off and laid it on paper where I traced the shape including all existing brackets. I sent the drawing to plasteak.com in Akron, OH. They built me a new platform with brown slats and black spacers. It looks great and I will never have to refinish it. I think it cost about $ 1400.00 with shipping. I included a picture of it just prior to installing. Derek Gibbel is who I dealt with.

 

[Comodave]

I replaced my old fiberglass platform with one made out of compressed plastic, similar to Trex. I took the old platform off and laid it on paper where I traced the shape including all existing brackets. I sent the drawing to plasteak.com in Akron, OH. They built me a new platform with brown slats and black spacers. It looks great and I will never have to refinish it. I think it cost about $ 1400.00 with shipping. I included a picture of it just prior to installing. Derek Gibbel is who I dealt with.

I had a bow pulpit made by them and it was great.

 

[mcgann454]

Teak alternates

My boat is finally heading in the home stretch of a large refit and one of the items nearing completion is my new swim platform. The old platform was removed as it was too narrow and a new one a bit wider planned. Other than teak, does anyone have a recommendation for material to be used building the actual platform?

Check out this thread. Different forum. I forgot if you can post those links. Please remove if not. Did the same thing in 2016. Platform looks like the day I made it.
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f55/building-my-own-swim-platform-new-product-163795-2.html

 

[Lollygag1]

My swim platform was just reinstalled yesterday. It had split at the seam and got water damage. They removed the damp wood core and replaced with foam and epoxy. They stated it is significantly lighter after they finished. Should have thought about the compressed plastic option as my repair was significantly more.

 

[Jonboy108]

Try Plasteak

If no one else has mentioned it, Plasteak is a great company that makes things out of recycled milk bottles. I had them make steps for a ladder going up to our sundeck, replacing teak that was long gone before I bought the boat. Love it, zero maintenance and "looks like" real teak from 10 feet away. I previously used it to replace some teak gunwale trim on another boat. It worked great and if I biffed it on the dock, I wasn't too concerned. It never did get damaged, but if it had, it would have been nothing to repair or replace.

 

[mcgann454]

Check out this thread. Different forum. I forgot if you can post those links. Please remove if not. Did the same thing in 2016. Platform looks like the day I made it.
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f55/building-my-own-swim-platform-new-product-163795-2.html

I just added pictures from today. 4 years later and it still looks new.

 

[rsn48]

Latest plan is to use the plastic outdoor decking material, the polymer whatever with a thicker aluminum plate slathered with with epoxy, the aluminum for strength. The aluminum will be the bottom plate for the decking material.

 

[Mark Myns]

Swim Platform

You should keep in mind that there is expansion and contraction of your deck material the may be greater then that of the aluminum plate. I drilled out all of the bolt holes on my composite deck larger the needed to accommodate this. I also had additional stainless angle welded to attach the outside edge of the brackets to give additional support.

 

[rsn48]

Mark, I think you are most likely correct but the platform is only 22 inches wide, not as large as many swim platforms out there so with shrinkage given the size of the platform, I'm guessing it will be minimal. Having said that, in the back of my mind, I think my refit guy will be screwing it down. My boat is near the end of its refit life and so when I was at the boat a couple of days ago, I discussed multiple issues and items.

We did start out with three L brackets on the back with a diagonal brace, but that was changed to five braces to hold the swim grid as the grid would be carrying dingy/davits/motor.