Finishing white oak deck

I have a 16' Starcraft aluminum boat that has a rotten floor. I am going to replace the floor with white oak. I am not sure what to finish the wood with. I was thinking about Epifanes varnish, but a quick email to them indicated that it would be slippery when wet. Another product I looked at was Penofin Marine oil. This boat is going to be used in saltwater, but will be trailered and covered most of its life.

I hope this is the right forum for the question...

Thanks!

Chris

 

White oak is a heavy material to use for a deck. It is prized for its strength and rot resistance, but not a common decking choice, especially in small boats, where weight is critical.

All of the shinny finishes, except oil, will be slippery when wet. Most natural decking is left bare or with an oil treatment. This means polyurethane and varnish should not be used. Mix 50% boiled linseed oil with 50% turpentine and apply this to the wood. Apply enough to soak in very well, then wipe off the excess. It may take several days to completely dry, depending on temperature and humidity. This will give you a traditional oil finish. It will have to be recoated a few times a year to keep it looking good. A couple of ounces of Japan dryer in the mixture will speed up the drying process. This oil treatment will darken the wood, particularly over time as the sun gets to it, but will seal up the deck.

There are oil finishes in a can that you can buy, but you pay a lot more for it then the home made stuff and it does not look any better or last any longer. All three ingredients are available from the local hardware store.

I would not use the white oak myself, but would use teak or resin pine also called hard pine, bull or black pine, both can be left natural or oiled and have great traction under foot when wet. I'm not sure how white oak will react under foot when wet. The only time you varnish a deck is when you do not intend to walk on it. I have seen some attempts at varnished decks with glass beads used as texture, but they end up looking like the worst varnish job possible in certain lighting conditions.

 

Hunter25:

The reason I chose white oak is it is the cheapest of the rot resistant woods where I shop. This is a 19 year old boat so the cost of teak is out of the running. How about african mahogany? I can get that for a little more than white oak. I am not familar with "resin pine" is it similar to southern yellow pine?

I do a lot of woodworking so I am familiar with oil finishes, a BLO finish sounds good. My other choice was Penofin oil which I think is a rosewood oil finish.

I spoke with the guys at Epifanes and they suggested the poly beads in the surface as a non-skid surface. Are you saying that it will look like a bad varnish job? Maybe I can oil the floor and varnish the transom and seats.

Chris

 

boat soup

I used to do alot of trad. boat building and restoration. The linseed oil mixture is sometimes referred to as boat soup! Some people heat it on the boat stove before applying in the anticipation that it will penetrate better. I have found that it quickly turns black. Maybe due to pollutants in the air? Beads in the varnish will look terrible. If the product is to be mostly utilitarian why not leave it natural? The white oak will gray like natural teak? Just a thought. Also check out the exotic woods that are turning up in hardware stores for decking. Some of them are quite suitable.

Have fun.

 

Another thought.

There are serious problems mixing oak with iron. I don't know if the same holds true with aluminum. Maybe someone out there w/ more metallurgy can tell us. Also why the oak interacts so badly with some metals. I've hypothesized its the tannic acid?

 

Pashbe1

Thanks, I went to the lumber yard yesterday and the guy there talked me out of white oak. I ended up getting mahogany for the transom and Cambara for the decking, it was inexpensive, only $3 per bd ft. A couple of questions:

I am going to apply Epifanes gloss varnish to the mahogany transom, what do I use to fill the grain? I bought some "grain filler" from West Marine, but is was super red and not the color I was looking for.

Secondly, I am only going to oil the cambara, but the lumber yard told me to coat all exposed ends with Anchorseal (wax emulsion) this is fine where there are exposed edges, but I want to build the helm out of it as well. Does anyone have experience with Cambara and can I seal the end grain with epoxy or varnish?

Chris

 

To fill the pores of the mahogany, use a Scotch Brite pad and working in a circular motion build up a slurry with mineral spirits and boiled linseed oil, a 50-50 mix. Smear this slurry around with a plastic spreader and let it dry. This will fill the pores and course grain areas of the wood with it's own dust. You could also skip the grain filler and use varnish to fill the grain. Lay down several build coats to get some bulk of varnish on the surface. Knock this smooth with a long board and you'll be back to the wood in many places, but the grain will be filled. Then more coats of varnish until you are satisfied with the results. Varnish work is an art form and requires much labor and skill to get perfect results.

You can seal the end grain with epoxy or varnish. I would use varnish on an oil finished piece.

 

endgrain

A varnished mahogony transom is going to look pretty spiffy on an aluminum skiff. I always seal the grain with thinned varnish. The trick is preparing the surface in advance. This means lots of diligent sanding up to about 220 grit. Use your random orbit sander only for the first grit size as it will leave little swirls that will show up after you varnish. Towards the final grits I like to use 3m adhesive sand paper that comes in a roll and attach it to a perfectly flat block of wood. This will prevent subtle grooves being worn into the surface by uneven pressure (from fingers). Then I vacuum the surface and wipe it with mineral oil to remove as much dust as possible. In my opinion (no criticism of Hunters method) filling the grain with wood dust dulls the appearance of the wood. I mix about 75% varnish w/ 25% mineral spirits for the sealer. Epifanes makes the best varnish (in my opinion). Try adding a little matte wood finish to reduce the gloss a bit. This wil improve the appearance by reducing the reflection off of uneven surfaces. Back to varnishing. The sealer application will raise the grain of the wood. Nock it flat with the block and 220 grit. Aways sand w/ the grain. Start applying varnish. I like to thin the varnish w/ mineral spirits. A quality brush is key. Don't apply it to thick or it will sag after you walk away. Good lighting is key to checking for missed areas (called holidays). Six to eight good coats sanded each time should do it. If you varnish outside be sure every flying inscet will kamikaze your perfect varnish. The best thing is just let them cure in the varnish and then rub them off. Why not varnish the helm? Hunter is right, if you are going to oil best to seal endgrain with thinnned varnish. Several applications. Sorry about the long post

 

Don't you need an oily wood for areas prone to water(bathrooms or boats)? oak can go black if subjected to water.