Question about floor

[DaveR-NZ]

Hi, newbie here!
I’m looking at a 2004 26M, pretty tidy boat (we like the galley setup better than the sliding). I’m curious about the floor, the owner has “replaced” some floor hatches with tread plate aluminium. All the newer 26M’s (with the sliding galley) we looked at had no hatches on the main floor to access underneath. On this one, he reckons it’s glued down but can be removed and “changed back to wood”.

Are these access hatches factory, or has someone cut out giant holes? It’s not a big issue, just wanting to know if I can easily make it look a bit prettier.

Example image attached of the forward section, same in the main cabin.

[OverEasy]

Hi DaveR-NZ!

Welcome to the forum!
Hope you’re having a great Summer!

Interesting floor you showed!
It’s the first time I’ve seen aluminum tread plates on the cabin sole!
It’s actually something of an interesting idea!
Do you know how it’s attached? Rested? Screws, 3M 5400? Sikaflex?
On most Macs the cabin sole area is one of the ‘blind spots’ where one can’t get a view of the interior hull. Those cover plates would solve that issue! The aluminum would appear to be plenty durable.

It would be interesting to look beneath them if/when the opportunity arises if it’s not a big hassle.
I wonder what motivated the prior owner to do that modification….
It was a fair bit of work and from appearances it looks like nice work!

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[DaveR-NZ]

Thanks for the reply. So the boat has the tread in 3 places:

- Main cabin floor
- The small raised floor from the main cabin to the v-berth
- The head floor

The tread plate is currently “glued” down using Sika (or similar). He commented that he removed the original wood hatch as he liked the metal more.

My concern was it not being factory, and being something I’d need to fix up later. It seemed to be well built, there was no flexing etc. However unsure as I imagine there would need to be some kind of lip to hold it in place without compromising the surrounding glass. I assume underneath is a cavity?

I’ve been searching around to see if it’s factory, the only image I could find was this one, which shows similar arrangement in the head.

[Strange]

Yes, the holes are factory. And yes, there is a lip under there. PO simply replaced the factory (springy) wood with solid metal.

I bet he was a big guy like me. Those factory floor panels REALLY flex when I step on them and I’m about 190.

[Russ]

Are you sure they are metal?

My 2008 26M has a solid fiberglass floor. No access panels at all. Just carpet over the floor to make it look nicer.

Do the older M's have access under the floor?

[Strange]

What he is describing is standard 03-04 26M. The main cabin floor one in my boat is also screwed in. The others are just glued. Never tried to open them.

[DaveR-NZ]

Yes, the holes are factory. And yes, there is a lip under there. PO simply replaced the factory (springy) wood with solid metal.

I bet he was a big guy like me. Those factory floor panels REALLY flex when I step on them and I’m about 190.

Perfect, that's answered my question, thanks. Yes, he was a rather large South African