first of all i have read all boadside threads in the search. problem is all the boatsides ive seen are so insanely high that i cant find anything on a smaller one. i want to cut the rockers off and the bottom of the door to run a slight boatside. but doing that iam wondering how to weld the skins to the brace without cutting the floor out. any pics or suggestions would be helpful.

Just cut the rockers off and run rock sliders. The only reason to boatside is to take all that metal away for clearence; by leaving the floor and such your defeating the purpose and just using it for the look.:flipoff2:

When I do mine, I plan on running the side tube directly under the bottom door hinges. That way it's not a fight to get in the truck everytime I want to and I can still keep my doors. It also gets rid of the rust...i cant believe I'm saying that....California truck its whole life and rusted out like its from back east.

You're going to have to cut the floor regardless if you run a true boatside...if you decide to do a rockslider design, you can keep your doors, and floors. just cut the bottom of the rocker flush with the weatherstrip, and cut the bottom lip off the door skins just under where the door becomes wide. You would then stick a piece of thick square tube in and attach it to the frame and body. Usually you can run top tubes to hold the slider on and a lower angle brace which you can sheet to be like a slider.

I can explain more if you want, with pictures. I was lookin at all the boatside threads today as well cause thats my next body mod after i finish welding in the back cab piece on my sub.

i would love for you to explain more with pics please!

i would love for you to explain more with pics please!


Put tubing where your rocker is and run supports to the frame. It is the same as making rock sliders but you will cut the rocker out first so you can mount your slider up higher. Use the tubing of your choice but brace thoroughly. Some use box tube, 1/4" wall and some use 120 wall 1 3/4 DOM. Sorry for no pics but I don't have any.

Will you not have a problem with them going up in to the doors if you hit something hard and then not be able to open the door. Lets say you do this to a 4 door how many timed would you half to connect it to the frame for it for to be that sturdy not to move up at all.

well i have every intention of running a bunch of supports so it wont move. it would still be a boatside but without a 45 degree angle. it may be 15-30 degrees so it will do what its intended to it just wont be as difficult to get in and looks better in my opinion. i just cant find any pictures without a severe angle. ill try to measure and draw something up.


so what ideas does anyone have about welding skins on if i dont cut the floor?

ttl measurement its a 18" from outside to frame rail and its a 8" drop.
it will be at 21.1 degrees so it will provide more ground clearance and have enough of an angle to slide off rocks

I had a zillion questions too. I looked at every thread on boatsiding. I barely got anything from it. Here is what I did... Do it my way or do it your way. Or hell do it his way. its not that complicated. I did it the cheapass way ( my favorite) I had access to some house trailer frame 8 1/2 X 2 box about 1/8" thick.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/DSCF0020-6.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/DSCF0019-6.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/dec10080.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/dec10081.jpg
^^ that one shows how much I cut off the door.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/dec10077.jpg
I hope these help
I welded this rust bucket together with 3/32" 7018 stick weld.
Good luck!

I hate to chime in and ask a stupid question but if the slider is welded to the body and the frame, how does the body flex freely from the frame? wont this cause other issues?

I cut about 6" or so off mine. Left just enough for the lower door hinge. Still gotta run tube to the frame yet.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e23/mnorby/Trucks/71%20Blazer/DSC05075.jpg

i am doing that general idea but i will also have have a 21 degree boat side.

welding it to the body and frame makes the frame stiffer giving you more room to fine tune your suspension. my sliders / boatside will also be tied into the cage and seat brackets so the plan is to stiffen the frame a bunch. custom rear bracket will stiffen the rear and custom front will stiffen just about the rest.

pics coming soon
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?q=boatside&btnG=Search&styp=m

I cut about 6" or so off mine. Left just enough for the lower door hinge. Still gotta run tube to the frame yet.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e23/mnorby/Trucks/71%20Blazer/DSC05075.jpg

I would make that a priority. I boatsided my trail truck and went wheelin before I had a chance to brace the passenger side and ended up crushing it in about ~8" cramming my 7' wide truck through a 6' wide crevace.:laughing:

It took my DD in 4 low to pull it back out and the sheetmetal around it still looks like crumpled shit.

yeah, I have the meterial and all to do it and have hit these sliders lightly just need to do it, been busing building a set of h1 wheels and anticipating the 43 SXs

so you have rubber body mounts, then glue the rockers to the frame with steel?
doesnt sound cool
having to figure out how to do this here as well.

technically you dont have to run rubber or poly bushings. im going to run hockey pucks in place of the bushings to eliminate that. the body wont really flex after all said and done. but if you just weld some tube to the body than it will still flex. mine is going to be incredibly rigid because i am going to have between six and eight braces going from the frame to the bottom of the new rocker that will be welded about 70" long. then skinned.

better finished look
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=bab2d778b46250e9340c6e6a81c13b8a&prevstart=0

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=658201

This is close but a sharper angle than your design.

linked to show some people what a boatside really looks like

-Dane

I had a zillion questions too. I looked at every thread on boatsiding. I barely got anything from it. Here is what I did... Do it my way or do it your way. Or hell do it his way. its not that complicated. I did it the cheapass way ( my favorite) I had access to some house trailer frame 8 1/2 X 2 box about 1/8" thick.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/DSCF0020-6.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/DSCF0019-6.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/dec10080.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/dec10081.jpg
^^ that one shows how much I cut off the door.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/dec10077.jpg
I hope these help
I welded this rust bucket together with 3/32" 7018 stick weld.
Good luck!

Holy crap that truck has one frame!!!!!

Kitima;

Are you going to run the boatside from the slider to the bottom of the frame? Are you going to use steel of the cutting board stuff?

I like the looks of your new build so far, I really dug the C60 front end on your last one too!

-Dane

So, kali-k10, are you planning to boatside the 'burb I sold you? I'd love to see it turned into something trailworthy. I will eventually boatside my truck as well. Sorry to hijack your thread. I dig the look of boatsided rigs, so someone post up some pics please.

here ask away :flipoff2:

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb5/twoslo4five0/011-6.jpg
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb5/twoslo4five0/012-4.jpg
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb5/twoslo4five0/013-3.jpg
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb5/twoslo4five0/015-2.jpg
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb5/twoslo4five0/016-1.jpg
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb5/twoslo4five0/020.jpg

I had a zillion questions too. I looked at every thread on boatsiding. I barely got anything from it. Here is what I did... Do it my way or do it your way. Or hell do it his way. its not that complicated. I did it the cheapass way ( my favorite) I had access to some house trailer frame 8 1/2 X 2 box about 1/8" thick.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/DSCF0020-6.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/DSCF0019-6.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/dec10080.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/dec10081.jpg
^^ that one shows how much I cut off the door.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/kitimatdude/dec10077.jpg
I hope these help
I welded this rust bucket together with 3/32" 7018 stick weld.
Good luck!

I did mine almost exactly like above, with the main difference being I used 3x3x3/16 tubing for the slider. With just an upward hit (slamming down on a rock) you would have to crumple the A and B pillar.....i.e. it would be a really, really hard hit. Mine are not tied into the frame at all but I have two pieces of angle (where the seats mount), 2 lengths of 1.5", 1/8" wall square, and 1/8" plate floorboards all tied into the body "subframe".

So, kali-k10, are you planning to boatside the 'burb I sold you? I'd love to see it turned into something trailworthy. I will eventually boatside my truck as well. Sorry to hijack your thread. I dig the look of boatsided rigs, so someone post up some pics please.

you betcha....Im not going as high as 3 tons o' fun did but were going to the bottom of the door hinges so we can keep the doors and eventually make half doors.

right now im in the middle of the cab graft...went to a PYP and cut off the back of a dually crew cab. turns out that truck had all my clutch parts for the hydro clutch. snagged that up so im happy.

Unfortunately all this rain slowed me down. I dont have a garage big enough to weld the suburban in so its sitting wating for me to pull the welder out and finish welding in the floor. I could have had it done this week but im torn between fully welding it in, and making it removable. If i could find someone to make a canvas back with a window for the opening, that would make it sooo much easier.

Either way, Soon enough it will be a 4-door, bobbed, boatsided and exocaged burb. (ill do the exo when i do the boatside)

BTW here are some ideas I have had for a boatside on the burb and I was going to boatside the k10 like the tan truck.

Kitima;

Are you going to run the boatside from the slider to the bottom of the frame? Are you going to use steel of the cutting board stuff?

I like the looks of your new build so far, I really dug the C60 front end on your last one too!

-Dane

I'm in the middle of making an exocage. the cage ties into the boatsides I wont be running any cuttingboard materiel on the rockers. I'm thinking of splitting a 2" pipe down the middle and stitch welding it to the outer edge for a slider. I have boxed in the front of this frame and the exo will go under the tilt nose as a support. its all in the link in my sig.

:flipoff2:And yes only one frame this time :flipoff2:

so you have rubber body mounts, then glue the rockers to the frame with steel?
doesnt sound cool
having to figure out how to do this here as well.


It's the same way you run a cage straight to the frame.
My sliders are welded to the bottom of the brand new rockers I put in, and are also my cage tie-ins. Haven't twisted the body apart, and I've hit the fuckin hard.

does anyone see any problems i may run into on my design? it will all be round tubing as of yet it just takes too long to design it using tube. also a cage will be tied into the boatsides.

heres apic of my rockers, not boatsided but cut.
connect the rockers to the frame and build a cage to steanthen it. I just welded the rockers on and one broke off from all the twisting the body did through truckhaven and clawhammer. 3/16th doesnt weld to sheet metal to well.
http://inlinethumb54.webshots.com/42933/2497010950068081987S600x600Q85.jpg

heres apic of my rockers, not boatsided but cut.
connect the rockers to the frame and build a cage to steanthen it. I just welded the rockers on and one broke off from all the twisting the body did through truckhaven and clawhammer. 3/16th doesnt weld to sheet metal to well.
http://inlinethumb54.webshots.com/42933/2497010950068081987S600x600Q85.jpg

You should brace the rockers with angled square tubing. You won't rip the body off the tubing, and your frame won't flex as much if everything is tight and strong. Finish the job and quit being lazy.:flipoff2:

that is the design i would be using but tieing it into the frame with supports