The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk $34.00 box floor for my 46

$34.00 worth of wood...

along with new bed strips, paint and hardware....

And a lot of time...

Cutting the boards, applying marine spar varnish, painting the bed strips all took time. But I think it turned out pretty nice for the few bucks I have invested in this part of the project. My father-in-law and I spent a couple of hours cutting the bed boards to fit. My old boards were good enough to use as a pattern.

So putting it all together is how I spent my saturday.

Best part was having my 11 year old daughter help. She likes to help when we see progress fast!

Looks really good. Want to come and do mine? It will be due within a year!

Looks good, are you going to haul stuff back there?

I'd like to put a fancy bed in my bolt eventually, but I'll also make install brackets? or whatever so i can slide a piece of plywood in so i dont dork up the prettyness. Maybe a slide in bedliner?

R/R,

My goal is to build a Daily driver. I could have gone oak, but thought I would never drop a speck of dirt on oak. I tried to go to clear pine, but that big center board only came in slight knot grade (#3 or something like that) for a board that wide. There are saw mills that would probably do custom boards, but they are two hours away. With the price of gas and all, I figured a few knots were not going to kill this project.

As far as hauling, a piece of chip board or plywood on the bottom should protect the pine when hauling rock, dirt or other "honey do" items.

As far as tools to cut the boards, we installed a Dato (sp) blade on the radial arm saw and cut from the top. A couple of hours at most and we were done. Setting up the saw took the longest. Once that was done, the cutting obviously only took a few minutes. It may not be up to show quality standards, but probably one of the most satisfying jobs on the truck so far!

The plan is to re-do the body in a few years. If I decide to go oak, I am only out $34.00 for the pine.

The pine looks good,and the knots give it some character.My 55 has a cherry floor,and the 72 has an oak floor.No hauling in these trucks,just a couple of bagged up lawn chairs to use at the cruisins.I used a spar urethane finish on mine,brushed on 4 coats,with a lite sanding between coats,then sprayed the last coat on,for a mirror like finish.

46 in progress,heres a good tip to keep that floor looking good.Go to your local Home Depot and buy a can of Min Wax Paste Finishing Wax,and put on a coat of this every 2 mos.or so.It keeps that nice shine to it.I believe Johnsons also make a paste wax for wood.

Thanks for the tip Dale! Much appreciated..