Warped cabin sole

[GWB]

I have a teak and holly sole that is glued (epoxy I think) to plywood to form the sole. 2 of these pieces are removable to get to the bilge and water tanks.

These two pieces have warped slightly...they now have a slightly convex curve.
I think what happened was that as the boat was built in Arizona and I moved it to Oregon, the wetter climate caused the wood to absorb moisture and as the wood could not "grow" outward due to the rest of the sole hemming it in, it "grew" up.

How can I flatten it out? I tried placing the two pieces back to back and clamping them - this did straighten them out initially but then over a period of time they resumed their convex shape.

Maybe wetting them and clamping them?

Thanks for any input

[Butch .H]

Are they small enough to re-manufacture? easy enough to do and the quickest

[GWB]

That is an option - but it will be hard to match the other...

[DonB]

GWB-- Heres one idea but the repair may be slightly visible. Kerf the sole about halfway through maybe a little more, probably through the holly because it will be easier to match the color. Kerf once in the middle and see how much pressure it takes to flatten it. If you need to, kerf twice more between the middle and the ends on each side. It should flatten without a lot of pressure. Mix up some epoxy and wood flour and fill the kerfs then clamp it flat or put a weight on it. As the kerf closes it will sqeeze the excess out so tape the sides for easier cleanup.

If you wanted to be really fussy about it you could do some geometry to calculate the size and depth of the kerf based on the convex curve parameters. But then again sometimes trial and error is so much easier

Good Luck

Don

[GWB]

Thats a good idea....but maybe I will kerf the plywood side and then straighten and add thickened epoxy

[DonB]

Be very carefull there. Ideally you want to kerf on the convex side. If you kerf on the concave side you risk opening the kerf wider and splitting the wood. Closing the kerf is sort of self restraining. You absolutely do not want to do that on wood that has all parallel grain.

Don

[GWB]

Thanks for the tip Don. If I did it on the teak and basswood side, it would look very funny as the teak/basswood lines would not line up with the rest of the sole.

My other thought was to run it through a very large sander here where I work and simply sand the plywood off and then epoxy a new flat piece onto the teak/basswood.

[PAR]

Once plywood warps, you're pretty much out of luck, without drastic measures. It was likely assembled with the usually waterproof formaldehyde based adhesives, not epoxy. These teak and holly composite panels are reasonably common now.

You could kerf the bottom side with a circular saw, roto zip or router, which will relieve the internal stresses that are causing the warping. Cut grooves about 3/4's of the way through the panel. Fill these kerfs with thickened epoxy and clamp dead flat. This will fix the problem and make it slightly stiffer.

[alan white]

Drill a pattern of 1/8" holes in the bottom to 2/3 through to the top surface on about a one by one inch grid. Clamp back to back with holes out and cover with damp towel and then a plastic bag for a week.
Remove and allow to dry for another few days still clamped, and then fill the holes with epoxy.

Alan

[GWB]

I ended up kerfing the bottom (plywood side) in a few places. I then clamped the pieces upside down (flat) and filled with thickened epoxy.

After a couple of days I unclamped and the pieces are almost perfect. There is still a very slight curve but it will not be noticable unless you look very hard.

Thanks for the help!