Deck work

[Takson]

Hi all,

I have been lurking with an Ocean 6.25 waiting for some time off to get up together and on the water.

I have engine, steering and a new seat unit to go on, however there are some soft spots on the deck requiring lifting and replacing. My proposed plan is to go with 18 or 22mm fibreglassed ply. I am hoping to not need to replace the entire deck, as there is only a soft spot at the rear, but will look at the condition of the timber as I lift the old.

I have looked through the forum and realise I probably need to allocate somewhere between 5 and 10x my initial time estimation, find a second set of hands and learn a new raft of swear words to get through it.

I have a couple of questions.

1. If I do not need to replace the complete deck, what would be a recommenced method of joining the new deck board to the existing floor? Would creating a tapered edge on both boards, then joining with additional glass and cloth be recommended? Or would something else be better?

2. Post finish module fitting - When the deck is down I have a new seat unit to put in. I suspect the floor has rotted after an addition jockey seat was added and water has got in through the screw holes. Apart from making sure I have sufficient Sikaflex in place when screwing down the console, is there anything I should consider doing to help?

I have no doubt given my general standard of DIY and how every job grows exponentially, If I start at 0800 on a saturday morning I will be finished and on the water by lunchtime......

I will take lots of photos and report back progress.

Toby

[gtflash]

I haven’t done a ply deck repair, so might be wrong, but if you can cut with a circular saw to the depth of the deck (pilot hole to check) on an angle, then the tapered edge would stop the new bit of wood falling through the hole. Alternately create little shelves to rest your new ply on. I’d prefer the tappered edge, because there would be less of a hard edge to fill and crack in the future.

Topic 2. Prevention using silkaflex isn’t enough for me in timber. I’d prefer an oversized hole, filled with thickened epoxy, allowed to cure. If you have a nice thick grp skin each side you could aim to drill a small hole through first skin, hollow out the timber bigger than the hole then fill that void up with epoxy and cabosil. Obviously top coat/flowcoat doesn’t stick well so if your using polyester resins you want to minimise the epoxy spill or top surface. You could plan the plug during your build or insert another type of non rotting material into deck in seat locations if your smart.

[jakew009]

If only localised areas of the floor are soft I’m not sure I’d bother replacing the whole lot. I’d just get it back on the water ASAP and start enjoying it...

Re filling screw holes, I’d suggest sikaflex will be fine. My boat was screwed together in 2004 with no sealant whatsoever and the deck showed no signs of rot...

[Takson]

Thank you both for your replies.

[Limecc]

I just filled some 1" holes with G-flex epoxy and to stop it falling into the void below I mixed in some chopped strand matting fibres. It worked perfectly.

I wouldn't fill smaller holes with Sikaflex when it's so easy to mix small amounts of epoxy, or else if they are like 1/8" I fill them up with gelcoat (flowcoat/topcoat) like I'm touching up any other gelcoat damage.

[Takson]

Originally Posted by Limecc

I just filled some 1" holes with G-flex epoxy and to stop it falling into the void below I mixed in some chopped strand matting fibres. It worked perfectly.

I wouldn't fill smaller holes with Sikaflex when it's so easy to mix small amounts of epoxy, or else if they are like 1/8" I fill them up with gelcoat (flowcoat/topcoat) like I'm touching up any other gelcoat damage.

Thank you.