Refinishing plywood panels on flybridge

Discussion in 'Wooden Boat Building and Restoration' started by sdowney717, Jul 25, 2020.

  1. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    Location: Newport News VA

    sdowney717 Senior Member

    Simply I let this top panel age for a long time in the sun and rain and I decided to do something about it and the rest of the flybridge. I almost always use the lower helm.
    The plywood had a few surface cracks and small delaminating areas . I sanded it smooth, removing the algae off it. Then the cracks I dug into them, and forced PL Premium Polyurethane Construction adhesive down below the cracking plies, had to repair the edge too where it had lifted. I used big lead blocks to press it down and being it was 95 and very humid the glue was drying fast, so got it all glued up in one afternoon. Looked really good after that. Then I decided to use fiberglass wallboard tape and PL to lay it on the top of the plywood maybe 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick layer. Then sanded, scraped, and refilled thin layers using a putty knife to force it flat in thin layers. Its biggest gripe with me is it forms bubbles because it gasses off as it cures, but I dealt with it. I may try their new 8X adhesive soon instead, maybe it will lay and stay smooth without being such a pain.
    I scraped it hard with a scraper tool, did a final sanding and then have put white primer on top. I plan to finish sand smoother, lay more Bullseye 123 primer, then paint it with some gloss white paint.

    The rest of the plywood structure, I am going to clean up the wood, paint on several coats of minwax polyurethane to seal the surface checks, then prime and paint. The reason I used the PL and wall board tape is it always prevents the plywood surface from checking through the paint whenever I have done this before. And it is cheap and it does add some strength to the panel. This plywood part I glued together two 1/2 inch thick pieces of pressure treated plywood years ago for the top. Eggharbor made this piece 8 feet wide, good thing. I did a few mods to their design when reconstructing the flybridge years ago.
    Here is an album to see this. If you zoom in on the pictures, you can see a lot more surface detail.
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bk2hNbsX6LW69Z7s9

    You can get this PL glue to become smooth, but it is a lot of hard work, and I think there is better glues that could be used. It is a waterproof polyurethane adhesive sealant. And it takes a couple days to reach its full strength. One nice advantage, this adhesive never cracks and I buy the large tubes so it is significantly cheaper than 5200. This adhesive swells as it cures, which is a good thing when gluing wood together, and not as great when using it as a surfacing treatment. So this took me 2 days in the heat a few hours at a time, which is all I could bear, at least the bimini top kept the sun off me.
     
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2020
  2. bajansailor
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    bajansailor Marine Surveyor

    Just wondering, did you consider using epoxy glue instead?

    Please do post some more photos - and some full length photos of your lovely Egg Harbour would be warmly appreciated on here as well.
     
  3. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    sdowney717 Senior Member

    Sure, yes considered epoxy, but always rejected it for cost reasons mostly, every time looked into it, seemed expensive, even though I have surely spent a lot on PL products. Plus when I completely sealed the wood hull after doing a complete frame refresh and all new screws, I used the PL on all the seams mixed with wood saw dust back in year 2006, and ever since the entire hull is dry, never leaks even after sitting on the hard for months., so since I had so much positive results, I just kept exploring more uses of it. And also I experimented with mixing milled fiberglass fibers in the PL Black roof and flashing polyurethane, coating that on parts of the underwater hull bow back about 10 feet and it has been a great success. Sealing all plank surfaces keeps away all sea criters from eating the wood.
     
  4. sdowney717
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    sdowney717 Senior Member

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/hEPJhCcJMy7CPTqKA
    Last year got into the aft bilge and cleaned everything and painted a lot of the structure with Bull's eye 123 primer. All those frames and planks I had off the boat in 2001, and they had been coated in Sanitred Permaflex polyurethane, but had done nothing with the 'floors' (joists). Everything was still in good condition except for one section of old oak frame I had left in back in 2001. So I cut it out and glued in a new piece all while in the water. Even sliced thru a few bronze planking screws to do that, but since all hull planks were glued together and sealed, had no leaks.
     
  5. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    Location: Newport News VA

    sdowney717 Senior Member

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/ePYqVq5nobr2VNcg1
    Here is where I completely reconstructed the aft cockpit, and made it better than OEM construction.
    Since boat was built in 1970, all the wood under the teak covering boards was in bad shape, and all except for a few pieces I replaced with PT SYP I carefully selected and recut.
     
  6. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    sdowney717 Senior Member

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ax4QVPPdfMW16VGo9
    Here is where I made new improved larger trim tabs out of 316 SS. Bennet makes them from 304, and mine got neglected and got holes. Next haulout they will go back on.
    These I coated with silver Por15, I thought maybe it would help seal the metal from the salty sea water.
     
  7. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    sdowney717 Senior Member

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/wxNTNyQ8NLKPhvA18
    Here is where I repaired the old Onan water lift muffler. These have a plastic coating on the inside so they do not rust, but the outside is painted steel. The bottom needed some work.
    So I used PL Premium mixed with sawdust to form an improved bottom coating and over coated entire thing with Por15, then gold paint. It has held up with no rusting, hopefully never again.
     
  8. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    sdowney717 Senior Member

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/SrwPDpG3BnH7NHRv9
    Here I repaired the somewhat leaky endplate on the Sen-Dure heat exchanger. Has not leaked a drop since coating with PL mixed with sawdust.
    And PL is extremely heat proof, can survive many degrees higher that would make epoxy fail or melt plastic.
     
  9. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    Location: Newport News VA

    sdowney717 Senior Member

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/W7FpzP6UNj5e6xGG9
    Here I created new curtains for the forward salon windows. I wanted a light airy fabric, so went to walmart and bought a tablecloth for that. These roll up. I used the mechanism from vinyl roll up shades. These really work well keeping the sun out of the cabin but letting in the light.
     
  10. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    Location: Newport News VA

    sdowney717 Senior Member

  11. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
    Posts: 1,175
    Likes: 85, Points: 58, Legacy Rep: 274
    Location: Newport News VA

    sdowney717 Senior Member

    https://goo.gl/photos/eUaCn9mBPpvrDqDa9
    Putting on a new split coupler. What I did not know is these are not machined all the way to properly fit the shaft, so I did it myself.
    They really need to be done by a prop shop, so next haul, I plan on having this shaft checked.
     
  12. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    Location: Newport News VA

    sdowney717 Senior Member

    https://goo.gl/photos/56RtKmCfVn5qdcAs6
    i wanted to raise my bimini top, so I extended the SS poles by hotdogging. I glued the SS tubes using PL premium and a smaller tube on the inside.
    The old top was in bad shape, so I extended its life by gluing new fabric pieces to the old top by using the PL glue.
    The glue has held up ok. BUT, my next top, I will use the PL 8x fast grab poly glue instead of the tan 3x glue. Stronger and better color match.
    All the old thread stitching was falling apart and still is, so the thing is held together mostly by glue. The ends I glued in a vinyl coated 1/4" cable, that has been flawlessly strong, I plan to use this same idea when I remake a new top. There are no thread stitches in my repair. Some of the fabric has come loose in spots on the sleeved bows, (I leave top up in all wind storms) so this glue while it works is not a permanent fix. I think the 8x PL version is worth a try, and it is a grey color which will be a better color match.
     
  13. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    Location: Newport News VA

    sdowney717 Senior Member

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/f5Vg4VP3TFjDMNSg2
    https://goo.gl/photos/hULcFYnvU5rX1UmB6
    I made the center window hinge open. Makes for a nice breezy flow of air in the cabin. I made this out of some teak from another EggHabor that was going into the crusher at my other marina. It is glued with PL Premium, and the glue has held up great on the teak wood. I sealed the outside surface with the Black PL. It simply makes it waterproof. No leaks in the rain. I added a center wiper motor and it hinges with the window. EggHarbor had the wire in place and the switch, so maybe it was an option.

    These wiper motors I modified so they stop like a car always in the same position and can be on a delay. That takes 3 wires, since I only had 2 wires from EggHarbor in the roof, I used the copper washer line for a ground return.
     
  14. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    Location: Newport News VA

    sdowney717 Senior Member

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/oUpRFGkleTFAvgHQ2
    Here I put in a new fridge. Since it was bigger and frostfree, I needed 1 inch more height and had to do some wood work.
    This fridge I also put in an ice maker, and it has been nice to have.
     

  15. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    Location: Newport News VA

    sdowney717 Senior Member

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/8xE6apuGBTMWrCNFA
    Marina owner gave me a MCCK about the same as my own for parts. I decided to ear it apart and see how it works. I then reassembled it and made it run. But it is mostly just for parts. But these old MCCK are pretty stout, and likely wont ever need any. This free one was not FWC like mine on the boat, it was almost entirely ok except the heads had some bad rust which I cleared out by soaking in vinegar for a couple of weeks.
     
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