Posted on: July 27th, 2018 by admin

Floated Soles 



Isolate your interior spaces by decoupling the floors and walls from the structure of the vessel to keep structureborne vibrations from traveling through the hull. Floated soles are especially useful for staterooms, and can quiet a noisy space.

A floating sole is an interior floor that is separated from the structural floor, or “floating” above it. The materials to create this are available in kits that rely on QuietStrips to isolate a QuietCore sole from a vessel’s structural floor. This isolation provides additional insulation against airborne noise, but is noteworthy for its success in reducing structureborne sound that would otherwise reverberate through the floor.

The same treatment also can be performed on walls or bulkheads, creating floated walls and floated bulkheads. All the interior surfaces can be floated to create an isolated interior, a tactic frequently used in staterooms and areas where people will spend extensive amounts of time or have a particular need for noise reduction.

This extra layer of floor acts as a shock absorber, and is especially effective with wood or vinyl flooring, where an added ¼ inch of damping material on top of the subfloor can absorb energy before it radiates off the deck. It’s also common, when the headroom is available, to float a sole and then install ¼” plywood flooring on top of that.