what to do with the deck.

What would they have said if he let the car and the bowser burn. Just shows how stupid the world is getting. The lady fire brigade officer this morning tried to tell me that she had to call in the arson squad to do an investigation even after I explained it was my boat and I caused the fire. . Then she thought the boat should be towed away because it was in danger of sinking. After that I heard her telling the other firemen that she had the hard job because she had to handle the reporters. It was quite funny to listen to.

 

Well.. maybe she thought you insured it for profit.... Little does she know how hard that can be in the modern world, just wait, the Ds might turn up at home to give you the third degree........

Jeff.

 

I think the word "officious" was coined to cater for such people.

 

True,
the joker was operating as a "bully" towards a young worker, might be a personality flaw but I was & my boys will tend to draw out the best efforts of such as sport.........

Seen my Dad negotiate once with a lowball offer face to face, he'd just equal the difference & up the asking price till the exhasperated purchacer cried "you're playing with me"...
"well I didn't start it"...

Jeff

 

It is surprising how many people given the opportunity to exercise "authority", will overdo it. You can sense the change that comes over many people when they get the baton in hand. Their knuckles go white from the disinclination to relinquish it !

 

Had a look at a couple of decks after work today. The wide beam boat had a plank deck coated in epoxy and cloth by the look of it. Still looked ok. The other one is also very neat. It has a sheathed cabin and a sheathed ply deck maybe. Couldn't tell.

 

And here is a nice tri getting neglected. shame.

 

The wooden boat shop here in victoria is the agent for coelan . They are getting back to me with a firm price. I will probably go the plywood route now that I have to pull up part of the deck anyway. But I want to investigate all the options.

 

WP,
Today I had some smoke coming off a fein saw blade cutting some timber away between the whelps on a large windlass.... the dry hemp hawser was about 6" away... cause for reflection after your incident.....

Jeff

 

Do not even entertain this idea on a laid deck like yours, while i have done a laid teak deck years ago on 2 different Tracker 7.7s with epoxy/graphite seams but of course no epoxy over the deck itself, but they were only 3/16" thick and epoxy bonded to a plywood deck so not much movement involved. The one I did keep track of did last over 30 years with no issues until it finally got too thin and got overcoated with Gacodeck non skid paint. You can not just coat the whole deck with epoxy as it has no ability to withstand UV and it would just crack along the seams anyway with the movement of a true laid deck like yours, im surprised that the Gougeons would recommend this approach although they do tend to recommend the methods that consume the most epoxy.

Steve.

 

Michael, when you do epoxy seams you add graphite powder to make it black but you still need to add silica to make it thixiotropic, then you can put it in caulk tubes and squirt it in and pay it off just like any other seam compound, it does work on thin decks that are bonded to a sub deck. As with everything, proper prep work is paramount and west epoxy would be about the worst choice although their G flex might work very well.

Steve.

 

With a thin veneer deck, epoxy will work. Its popular with the runabouts. i wouldnt use it on a thick all weather deck . Decks move to much and the epoxy bond cant move
This is why you always use a seam breaker on the bottom of a compound caulked seam...so the wood can move and not stress the bond between caulk and plank edge.

Deck seam caulking is a tricky business. The best compounds are thin viscosity to completely fill the seam and let trapped air out. Long skin over time is also to your advantage when dealing with deck outgassing. Outgassing...bubbles in the seams.... are a pain in the ***.

I just caulked a 20 meter deck seam , outside. .I failed to anticipate the sun moving into my work zone after I laid the caulk and ...BUBBLES...

Always work with a cooling deck.

 

Google west sytem how to restore a wooden boat and you can read the section on repairing plank decks and hulls. You will see what I am talking about. I am not saying I am going to use that method. I was just asking if anyone knew about it.

 

I'd be buying the guy who reported it a slab, too.

PDW

 

Epoxy can be used to pay seams on a deck if mixed with a lot of pigment or graphite, but it can force you to commit to a method that is a ***** to repair later. I don't think epoxy in seams is a good idea, unless it's a veneer deck (less than 3/8" thick) over a well sealed (encapsulated) subdeck (plywood). This type of deck is not repaired, but replaced when it wears out.

Anything thicker then 3/8" or if it's a real laid deck and you need to use a adhesive/sealant, not a straight adhesive (like epoxy). The lower elongation formulations (G-Flex for example) of epoxy can be used, at least on a technical level, but I'd still treat it as if it was a veneer over substrate type of deck.

The two usual choices are polysulfide (two part is best, but a single part works too) and polyurethane, which is usually what's done in your country. These have relatively low modulus (except 3M-5200), but quite high distortion to yield properties, typically around 300%, meaning a 1/8" seam can move to 3/8", before it shears it bond line.

Given you're going the plywood deck route, you have a few choices, first and cheapest is simply sealed, sheathed and painted, which works and looks good. You can veneer it or lay it too, though a laid deck over a substrate usually doesn't work as well than one used as the only deck material. Unless you have a fine yacht with a good upkeep history, I'd just paint it.