Replacing wood flooring in jon boat

[fjmclean]

I have removed the old, rotted wood flooring, and I have the treated plywood to replace it with. My question is this. Do I seal the plywood with anything first? I have asked a couple of people and have received different responses. I thought i would bring my question to you knowledable folks. Thanks.

 

[PurpleDragon]

Re: Replacing wood flooring in jon boat

My suggestion would be to use marine-grade plywood, then completely epoxy-encapsulate the wood. That means the top, bottom, and all edges... ESPECIALLY the edges! This is where the water will really wick into the grain and cause delamination if it's not sealed.<br /><br />You can use epoxies from West, System Three, Raka, epoxyproducts.com, or others. The best price that I've found, is about $33/gallon + shipping - but this is considered to be a long-term protection. The point, though, is to seal the wood. Epoxy does break-down with UV rays, though, so it'll need to be painted or coated with a UV inhibitor/protectant.<br /><br />G'Luck!<br />Rex S.

 

[DJ]

Re: Replacing wood flooring in jon boat

fjmclean,<br /><br />Alot depends on your budget. I've had good luck with plain old plywood. The trick is in the sealing just like purple dragon mentioned.<br /><br />All the epoxy in the world isn't going to help, if someone drills a hole in it that is not also sealed.<br /><br />Purple Dragon is also correct about UV rays affecting epoxy. You've got to cover it with something.

 

[crab bait]

Re: Replacing wood flooring in jon boat

ditto, ditto , ditto, i'm blue -in-face, ditto, ditto, ditto. when drilling holes thru floor .... find K&S tubing at hardware or hobby stores.. comes in brass & alum.it's very thin walled & comes in vast fractional sizes.. cut tubing a MM less than ply thickness,, epoxy it in drilled holes .... BANG... 100 % sealed hole.. works every time ...

 

[crab bait]

Re: Replacing wood flooring in jon boat

also if you want to mount something to the ply it's best to mount it to another piece of wood then epoxy that down .. no fasterners needed just 'poxy it down.. but if you must bolt directly to ply ,, use those wood inserts found in hardware stores.come in brass & have machine screw threads & an are installed with useally a metric allen key.. you drill a hole in ply screw in insert..than back it out ,, 'poxy up hole & insert good ,, then screw her back home.. now use machine screw to mount whatever... be fore warned::: drill into scrap ply first to find the rite size drill bit.. tite is the key !! than take fatter drillbit an just barely touch the small drilled hole.... this gives the insert a starting bed.. after 'poxy hardens ,,mite have go in with a tap to clean out threads..