deck replacement

[challenger]

Hi Ive got a 1995 20 foot maxum with a 4.3 liter inboard and an alpha one drive. I need to replace the deck. I took the carpet up and found the wood pretty bad. There are some boards running perpendicular to the goat about 6 inches wide. I think these are the stringers. so far they look ok. My boat has reclining lounge chairs that sit ontop of a platform I need to know how to get these out without destroying them so I can replace the wood underneathe. Also does the wood go all the way under the sides or can I cut the wood along the edges of the boat? The wood also goes under the legs of the dash area. Can I just cut around them also. Last what kind of wood do I use and it appears to be glued down with a layer of fiberglass over it? I am new to boating but want to do this right. I appreciate any help I can get Shawn

 

[Bsturkie]

Re: deck replacement

Shawn, I was where you are about 4 months ago. Use the search function and you will find more info than you will ever read. First, to do a complete job of replacing the floor, everything must come out. All wood in the bow section to gain access to the floor in the bow should be removed.. This section is very troublesome and rott is bad, and chances are, if that part of the floor is rotted more will be too. As for the seats, you may be able to grind them loose with a angle grinder but if your boat was like mine, they were rotted badly to, so I destroyed them removing them. New seats are around $145-$400. Many people use many diffrent types of wood. I chose treated ply, about $30 from Lowes. I cut the old floor out(becareful not to grind through the hull!) Wear eye protection and get a resperator sp? ...and get some painters jump suits with elastic in the sleeves...saves you many cold showers. I poured resin on the tops of the stringers and layed the pieces, then screwed them down so the resin seals the holes. Then I glasses the entire floor, using fiber cloth for joints in combination with resin jelly. The floor is solid as a rock right now and I am going to put another coat on it again soon. (I'm not doing this crap again). This week, I am rebuilding the bow compartments. For wood that is not in direct contact with water, I used cheap old pine ply. Once installed, I glassed it over. I'm only hoping to get a couple years out of it the sell it and buy a newer boat. The proper way is to cover every piece of wood with fiber mat and glass both sides, but that too much money for a old boat like this. Good luck, and get ya a big shop vac!!!! PS - resin burns like hell on your skin and breathing fiberglass will make your nose bleed, be safe!

 

[dmarkvid2]

Re: deck replacement

Get all the old flooring out. you can cut it out with a good jig saw, being careful not to cut through the hull. Unfortunatly you have to expose as much floor as possible to do the job right, removing off the floor what you have to. And this would be a good time to inspect the bilge,clean it, and mabey add a foam flotation if you dont already have it. I'm pretty sure the seats are bolted or screwed down. Don't use a pressure treated plywood because the chemicals in the wood will prevent the fiberglass from making a good bond. Yes it will bond, but eventually, it will delaminate. I know this from experience, I did it, and had to tear it out and put in regular ply. I would only use a marine plywood if I was fixing a wooden hull, or transom. A good exterier ply with one finished side will do the trick. Make sure you coat the plywood (both sides) with a good epoxy resin especially all the edges before you lay it down. After the new deck is screwed into place, lay down at least one layer of glass using an epoxy resin. I did it to my boat and it came out great. I also used a one piece anti-slip marine vinyl floor instead of carpet. The water just rolls off instead of of being absorbed into the carpet retaining the moisture, which probably caused the problem in the first place. Good luck

 

[Wakeboarder Tom]

Re: deck replacement

Hmm - I would use the best ply you can afford - marine ideally - it's more $ but do you really want to be doing this in another 10 years??!!. please DONT use cheap pine ply - even if it is not in direct contact with the water- underneath the deck of a boat is a pretty damp humid place - not ideal conditions for stuff designed for packing crates!!<br />Rather than a jigsaw, consider using a diamond blade in a 4 1/2" angle grinder (not sure if you call them the same thing in the US??). You can pick up a cheap blade for a few $ - you can then cut very close to the edge of the deck - a jigsaw needs a good few inches underneath to allow the blade to penetrate. Otherwise - totally agree with Marks method!

 

[dmarkvid2]

Re: deck replacement

Marine plywood will rot just as fast as a good regular extirier plywood. The only diffrence is that there are no voids in marine ply between layers. If you coat the bottom of the plywood deck you're installing with a "West Systems" epoxy, and even glass it, it will be fine, and will be no different than using marine. Like I said above, if I were fixing the hull or transom I would want to use marine grade, but for a deck, why waste the money? Yes, it is humid in the bilge, but think "ventilation" In 10 years you'll probably want a newer boat any way.

 

[BillP]

Re: deck replacement

There are XX thousands of boats built with pt ply that don't have delamination problems. Otherwise, the American Plywood Association did testing on CCA pressure treated ply and polyester resin. It showed the same peel strength as non-treated ply. Old pt processes used petro chemicals and were the cause for delaminations in yr gone by. Modern PT chemicals don't use petro and don't inhibit tenacity. Water used in the pt process and causes the concern for glassing. The wood has to be air or kiln dried first. It's on their web site if you can wade though all the pdf files to find it. <br /><br />You can do pt two ways. Buy Greenwood Products brand marine grade XL. It's dried to the correct moisture content before leaving the factory. Greenwood is the boat industry standard pt and has a long (20 yrs/CCA)and successful tract record. Or buy Lowe's stuff and air dry it at home. I used the Lowe's type for stringers, floor, transom and air dried it a miniminum of 3 months. Yrs later there are still no problems.