Best "floor" covering material?

Hey guys-

The RV we picked up a couple years ago came to us with thing we have marked as "Like to change.."

Well, one of these items was the "flooring."

On top of the base sheetwork a 1/4" layer of foam was what appears to be Super 77 glued and then on top of that, a hastily placed carpet. During the in and out process of flying the plane, this top carpet began to be pulled or pushed rather, down towards the pedals..

Being that it was an item we wanted to replace, I set forth a few months ago and tore, pulled, nudged, caressed, etc the foam and carpet out of the plane..

Now we want to refinish the floor but are unsure what to do it with..

We would like to possibly layer the floor with some sound deadening but would also like something more durable like simple paint on the floor..

I just thought I'd ask the experts, so guys, any recommendations?

Thanks

Jeff

Line-X

I am a long way from that point, but I think Line-X on the flooring would rock. Tough as nails and grippy.

That is actually along the lines of what I had planned..

Seems like it would hold up very well and look very good..

Pete Howell turned me onto using Herculiner (I used them on my rudder pedals) it's super tough and "grippy" as well.

Yeh, the biggest thing is we don't want our feet to have too much grippy as to cause an incident..

Not sure what model RV you are referrring to or whether you are talking about the area in front of the seats or possibly in the baggage area, but...

The rugs from Classic Aero Design are hard to beat. They fit perfectly and the front area rug for my RV-7A came with a 3/4-inch thick sound proofing foam glued to the bottom. The foam is slotted to match the floor stiffeners. The entire bottom of the foam is lined with the fuzzy velcro stuff, so you just attach a few 2 inch wide strips of the hook velcro to your floor and the rug is held snugly in place.

All the CAD interior stuff looks a bit pricey, but man, it sure makes the interior of the plane look like a million bucks.

erich

We would like to possibly layer the floor with some sound deadening but would also like something more durable like simple paint on the floor..

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Jeff, I put some 3/4" closed-cell foam in between the angles on the floor of my RV-6. I don't know the source or even the exact type of this black foam since it was given to me by another builder. But it has pretty high density and serves as a good sound insulator. On top of that I had some lightweight carpet, but like you stated, passengers always managed to shove it around when exiting the plane.

A couple years ago I decided to improve the situation by cutting some 1/4" birch plywood to fit the floor and my intention was to seal the ply then glue fresh carpet to the ply. This ply sits on top of the existing foam since the 3/4" foam provides a level surface with the 3/4" angles in the floor.

But.....after putting a few coats of clear poly on the birch plywood and watching the very nice grain patterns popping out of the wood, I decided to try having wood floorboards in my plane. If it didn't work out, I could still glue carpet to the ply.

However, since the ply floor has proven to be so durable with none of the carpet shifting problems, is extremely easy to keep clean, and in combination with the foam it serves as a great sound insulator, and the ply only weighs a lb or so, and it continues to receive very nice compliments from folks who see it, and I miss the wood floors in the J-3 I used to fly, and I built two wood aircraft and miss seeing some wood........the birch floors are still in my plane and I suspect they will be there for a good long while.

(I know, some will caution that the floor is a fire hazard and all that, but after spending 275 hours flying around in all-wood aircraft, I've gotten over any paranoia about wood...)

It would seem to me that if you just painted or coated the bare floor, somebody slamming the heel of a shoe against the floor while exiting the plane could result in a dent being visible on the bottom of the plane.

You are welcome to drop into DCU for a look see if you think you might want to use some variation of what I have done.

Nothing is pretty good!

Tram said:

...but would also like something more durable like simple paint on the floor...

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My vote would be for what I have, nothing, except maybe a little paint. Nothing doesn't weigh much. Nothing doesn't cost much. Nothing doesn't bunch up. Nothing doesn't take up space. Nothing won't burn. Nothing doesn't soak up leaked fluids.

The down side is that nothing doesn't have sound insulating qualities, but I would think someone would be mistaken who would think they are going to make their RV quiet. I let the RV be loud, and light, and wear headsets.

I'm using some of the wing walk material from Ray Allen Co. It has a soft rubbery feel, but is textured like the "grip-tape" of old. It's a nice black color and is self stick.

Sam - Thanks for the offer.. I am sure I will run into you again at one of the fly in's.. I'll have to take a look..

N5LP - We currently have nothin'.. Which, I kinda like, but would like to put something down just to spice it up..

My original plan was to throw some Herculiner/Line-X/Rhino Liner down and call it a day..

I bought some Lowe's Aircraft Floor Mat material and some Lowes Aircraft Grade Velcro and made some lightweight, custom fit, non-bunching, experimental aircraft certified floor mats.

Worth a little weight

I flew with nothing during most of Phase 1, then added black foam between stiffeners and avaition grade carpet secured with velcro. The difference in cockpit noise and vibration was HUGE. No sliding with velcro securing the aft portion of the carpet. For a couple extra pounds, worth every penny.
Some dont feel it is necessary to buy expensive rated foam and carpet, or other materials for that matter, but I did everywhere I could.

I've got one flight on the bird since I pulled out the foam, and I believe the sound level was definitely noticeable..

I'm going to have to look into it some more..

JonJay - Where online can I find some of this black foam?

Tram said:

I've got one flight on the bird since I pulled out the foam, and I believe the sound level was definitely noticeable..

I'm going to have to look into it some more..

JonJay - Where online can I find some of this black foam?

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