Here we have an update on the construction of the subfloor for the SeaPod. The subfloor is made in sections that meet in the middle of the SeaPod like slices of pizza. Each section is made individually and then connected to the center column of the SeaPod. At the top of this structure, we will have our floor beams and then the floor will be installed above the beams.

We will use a fiberglass collar that will slide over the center steel column and give us an easier material to work with when connecting the fiberglass pieces. At the bottom of this collar, we will use angle iron to give us a flange or shelf-like area to help hold the weight of the subfloor structure.

At the top of the subfloor sections, we will span our floor beams across the gap and back to the center column where they will be attached. We are considering two methods of doing this. The first is using two flanges where the beams will nestle between. We would then secure everything with more fiberglass.

Another method that we may use is to create a collar that would have fingers that would extend almost like the teeth of a gear. Each tooth would act as an attachment point for the floor beams that will then be bolted and fiberglassed in place to give the floor its structure.

You can see in the video below that we have mocked up the fiberglass collar with one of the subfloor sections and a few floor beams. This helps us visualize what we are designing and allows us to test out different methods. We can get exact measurements and see how the different parts will fit together.

As always, we are always looking for the most efficient ways to build SeaPods faster, but we can’t cut corners so we need to find the proper method that will be supportive enough to hold up the floor while also making production as efficient as possible.