What to do with floor

[Thunderace2]

I've just got a stacer 4.2 in very good condition for a 26 year old boat. The floor has this funny stuff for a coating that is stapled to structural CD-A Ply. The ply is in perfect condition, as you can see from one of the photos that it is missing is 1 small spots, other than that, its in good condition. The ply on the underside doesn't feel like it has any coating. What are my options
- Coat the ply on the bottom with something and leave the stuff that is on it

-Take the stuff off and coat the both sides ply and coat it with something ( not really keen on carpet for drying reasons as it is stored outside with a cover)

-Leave it as it is

Whast the best thing to seal the Ply

Any other option ?????


Thanks

Stuart

[charleville]

( not really keen on carpet for drying reasons as it is stored outside with a cover)



Boat carpet is not the same as domestic home carpet. I would not get too worried about whether it is wet or dry continuously. I recently replaced the carpeted ply floor in my boat after 8 years of 24/7 outside exposure and I can truthfully say that it was not the carpet that was worn out.

There are some threads with strong debate about sealants here ranging from two pack slow drying epoxies available from marine dealers http://www.biasboating.com.au/p-779-norglass-norseal-wood-preserver.aspx to Bondcrete to any old paint that you have lying around. I have used all of the above and would probably not bother with anything other than the epoxy wood preservers in future. Yup - old paint and Bondcrete will be cheaper but whilst taking up the floor to replace it every few years is not the worst job that you might have to do, it is still a pain and the epoxy wood preservers will still cost you less than a tank of fuel which what tends to be the yardstick by which I measure relativities in the costs of maintaining a boat.

The conventional wisdom, BTW, is not to waterproof the underside as that allows any ingress of water in the ply to dry out. If the ply is totally covered in a waterproof sealant , then if any water does enter via chips or surface imperfections, screw holes etc, the water has nowhere to escape on the sunny days and eventually the ply will rot.


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[gr hilly]

Boat carpet is not the same as domestic home carpet. I would not get too worried about whether it is wet or dry continuously. I recently replaced the carpeted ply floor in my boat after 8 years of 24/7 outside exposure and I can truthfully say that it was not the carpet that was worn out.

There are some threads with strong debate about sealants here ranging from two pack slow drying epoxies available from marine dealers http://www.biasboating.com.au/p-779-norglass-norseal-wood-preserver.aspx to Bondcrete to any old paint that you have lying around. I have used all of the above and would probably not bother with anything other than the epoxy wood preservers in future. Yup - old paint and Bondcrete will be cheaper but whilst taking up the floor to replace it every few years is not the worst job that you might have to do, it is still a pain and the epoxy wood preservers will still cost you less than a tank of fuel which that tends to be the yardstick by which I measure relativities in the costs of maintaining a boat.

The conventional wisdom, BTW, is not to waterproof the underside as that allows any ingress of water in the ply to dry out. If the ply is totally covered in a waterproof sealant , then if any water does enter via chips or surface imperfections, screw holes etc, the water has nowhere to escape on the sunny days and eventually the ply will rot.


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this fella is spot on good advice here for the taking i agree with charlie 100%
cheers Hilly

[nigelr]

Agree with Charleville and GR, the Norseal is an outstanding Australian product.
Personally I would drill all requisite screw holes prior to fitting, and then seal them also. Pay particular attention to the end grain. Norseal soaks in beautifully and can be over-coated with whatever you please. I use it when I'm making custom spearguns; I've used other epoxy sealers but this one is by far the best.
Cheers.

[Thunderace2]

hmmm , I would have thought you have to fully seal the ply. I assume that the coating that Stacer has put there is waterproof????, I hope. So i might just need to do around the ends, I assume that this epoxy will stick to the stuff on the ply ??.
Being a existing floor it has the holes already drilled , do you just pour a bit of epoxy down the hole and poke it in with a stick ????

[nigelr]

Norseal is a penetrating epoxy sealant as opposed to an epoxy adhesive.
It is used for sealing porous timber and timber products like the underside and edges of the ply to which you refer, and the bit where the coating is missing, in your pic.
If the coating already on one side of the ply is waterproof, pointless hitting it with Norseal.
Regards the holes, yep use any method you like to get sufficient epoxy in there.
The Norseal is very thin and runs and creeps well. Depending how thorough you want to be, a light sand and a second coat can be done after 2 days or so.
Cheers.

[Thunderace2]

I noticed on the norglass site that the norseal is not UV stablised and needs some kind of painting otherwise it cracks and fails, as the few the spots are in sunlight, what is the next option, clear would be better
As for the holes, could I just fill them full of silastic before I run the screw through it ???

[nigelr]

In my application I overcoat Norseal with either Bote Cote epoxy finish or Northane 2-pac poly, both of which are UV stabilised but not cheap and the Northane is not pleasant to apply.
In your case I'd be using exterior house paint over the Norseal, would do the job for cheapest, if you want to spend more $ Norglass have a plethora of UV stabilised topcoats.
Northane is very tough but the fumes are seriously dangerous and it is not cheap.
You could google Bote Cote for an alternative system.
Cheers.