Cover New Deck With Mat?

[mspring]

Does the deck need to be covered with a layer of mat or should I just run a thin strip around the outter edges to seal and secure the deck to the hull and paint the deck with resin?

 

[rockyrude]

Re: Cover New Deck With Mat?

If you used more than one sheet of ply for your deck, I would use at least one layer of mat over the whole deck to seal the joints between sheets so that no water will seep between the sheets starting the problem all over again.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Cover New Deck With Mat?

I recommend you cover all wood with at least one layer of cloth and resin. Two is better, and will make the deck resistant to abrasion, which is the intent of the cloth.

 

[mspring]

Re: Cover New Deck With Mat?

If I cover the plywood with mat can I use cdx ply instead of the smooth finished bc? Did you guys have to sand alot to get the deck even with no humps?

 

[rockyrude]

Re: Cover New Deck With Mat?

I would spend the money on the bc grade, cdx has too many voids to fill and sanding it to a bc or ac surface is way too much work. The sheet thicknesses won't give you trouble between sheets, they are pretty even that way.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Cover New Deck With Mat?

It will be hard to get a good appearance out of the glass without a good deal of sanding, fileing etc. If you are going to carpet it, or cover with vinyl, you do not need a good finish.

I usually pick a good sheet of pressure treated CDX Plywood for the floor. I then dry it well and install it. Any imperfections in the surcave can be puttied with polyester putty, before the glass cloth is applied. Color can be added to the resin, but you will need more coats (and hardener) for the resin to be opaque.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Cover New Deck With Mat?

Large voids can be filled, the smaller imperfections will be hidden by the glass (mat or cloth), plus you'll need some kind of non skid surface (Gel coat, carpet, paint, vinyl) over the glass. whatever you use will hide more uneveness, applying a webbed or splatter finish will hide even more stuff.

All sides of the plywood should be sealed, and pre coat all the wood with resin before doing any glass work, if you don't the wood can suck resin out of the glass and leave dry spots.