Ultra lightweight deck+Nonskid DIY style...

Hi all,
finally decking and getting ready for sea trials.....

Cant wait! So, the final assembly of his new lightweight deck.
.....And NON SKID!!! all over.....
The affordable way.....



Proa WHY NOT?
from Balkan Shipyards.
all d best.

 

I've just made four seats for Va'a motu, an outrigger, by using a 4x8 sheet of insulation foam 2in thick. The seats are 86.4 cm long, 45.7cm wide. One end beveled where they sit on the gunnel of the canoe, the other end sits higher on a pipe slung between the forward and aft crossbeams. In addition to providing seating support, the pipes are the base for the shrouds.

After speaking with another boat builder, I laid thin ply (5mm) with beveled edges on top and shaped the sides to a bullnose arc. This allowed fiberglass cloth to lay on top and bottom... the bottom has three layers, the sides two and the top one. The top is just protection for the plywood against scuffing, the sides are for ding protection, and the bottom is in tension, so three layers.

They were successfully tested by my 14 year old boy, who jumped and stamped as hard as he could while they lay suspended over the floor on 2x4s. Good results: no flex.

Thanks for testing out the salt/sand/sugar options. I will be using that technique. Looks great and love the progress you've made.

 

I too thought of using foam... But, the more I thought about it the more work it seemed.......
Finally I just glued 4 mm poplar onto those thin wood strips. Only a high tech, time consuming, foam/ply/epoxy combination... Would may be as strong and weigh less. I did think about that deck for months and I do think the result is a pretty good balance of Time, Effort, Material and cost with a very satisfactory result.

It's a BIG platform, not planks that you can fall through anymore.... At 2.15 x 1.15 meters weighing only 13 kg I'm very pleased....
As for your planks, I understood you added ply only on top of the foam, then glassed it all round, Correct? what is the span between gunnel and pipe?

Non skid, try different types of salt, bigger and smaller crystals..... Till you find what u like, then do the deck.....
Good luck!
all d best
rael.

 

Yes, I spoke with a more experienced builder, Tom Henry, who explained the top is in compression, the bottom in tension. The top therefore gets ply, the bottom three layers of FG cloth. I think it's overbuilt, because when I said I was using 2" foam he chuckled and said that'll be fine, since the strength increases by the cube of the thickness. Whatever, it's done.

The span is 82cm (there is some curvature to the gunnels)

 

Yea, I imagined your span is on the biggish side....
But it works!

All d best, keep sailing.......
BSY.