53 chevy swb bed floor wood

[altereddezignz]

Hey guys. I have a question. The wood floor in my 53 chevy is no more. The kit is very very expensive so i was curious if anyone knew what size the bed wood pieces were in width and thickness?

[hard3]

Here is a link to a site that has all the info:
http://gmcpauls.com/47-72_BedWood_Info.htm

[Dan in Pasadena]

Beat me to it!

If you don't have the old wood to measure then many here will recommend the dimensions provided by GMC Paul.

Before you ask, the original was Georgian yellow pine (much harder than pine you'll find at say Home Depot) washed with black something or other (someone will chime in) If you're gonna clear it, do all SIX sides of each board with the most UV resistant stuff you find. Think "boat". Sand between coats and use a minimum of three - my opinion.

[altereddezignz]

Never thought about the strips setting down inside the boards. Anyone got a floor kit they want to sell so i dont have to make it lol..

[mr48chev]

They aren't that hard to do up if you have access to a table saw. You just set the blade at at the correct depth and set the guide the correct distance from the blade and it takes less than ten minutes to do all of them. Then start sanding.

I used lumber yard pine the last time because I was broke at the time and did the whole thing for less than 40 bucks but that was 1995 prices. I think I bought a stack of 1x6's and my buddy cut them to size for me. They don't look very nice now though as the soft pine didn't handle the weather very well.

[vht]

I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to do with mine. The kits with the stainless strips are nice but so is the price. Plus I'll be hauling stuff, chairs etc in mine.

[_Ogre]

if your doing a restoration there are specific width for each board and a specific cut for the bed strips.
since your not restoring the world is your oyster; you can use and thickness, width or material.
stock was painted pine boards and painted bed strips, i used 5/4'' plastic decking from home depot.
you can use pressure treated 2x6s and no bed strips if you wanted, it makes for a cheap long lasting bed.
read some of the builds here, lots of options out there.

[coralhead]

I used some walnut that I had around and GMCPauls dimensions.

[53 randy]

I used MAR-K pine boards, painted them black, looks nice. Went with the steel strips and painted them black also.