I am working on repairing the floor over the rear tank on my seafarer. I am not much good at wood work and what I want to know is the old floor was made with 6 inch squares with 1/2 plywood in the middle and I guess 5/16 plywood around the edges so do i need to put back 6 in squares or can i put 1/2 in the middle with one piece and do the outside edges with one 5/16 piece? I have a neighbor that is good with wood so I was going to ask him to cut it for me. Also what is the best thing to use to glue it back to the outside piece. I have fiberglass and resin to cover it with. Thanks for your help.
Help with floor over tank
- Thread starter lodgecreekgrady
- Start date
Epoxy resin makes a very good adhesive even when used without the fiberglass, albiet a tad expensive. If instead you have a polyester based resin, it is not as good as an adhesive. Be sure to confirm which you have. If you have epoxy resin (not polyester resin) and you think you have enough, I would use it to glue whatever is needed.
Regretfully, I cannot envision what was done with the 6" squares in 1/2" and 5/16" ply, as my Seafarer floors are all fiberglass, so I can't comment specifically on that part. Generally, I see no reason to use multiple small pieces of plywood, if a larger piece is available instead. While this may not be relevant but for what it is worth, given that epoxy works so well as an adhesive it can be used to make multiple pieces of ply into one, or laminate thin pieces into one thick one.
What year is your Seafarer? I am wondering if possibly the ply pieces were added by a previous owner to firm up flexing in a fiberglass floor. As noted earlier, my Seafarer floor over the tank is made of all glass, no ply, but I have noticed that one of the ribs in the floor did not get saturated with enough resin during production and has, over the years, started to flex a bit more than it should. If that same thing happened in yours, perhaps a previous owner added the ply to try to repair a similar weakness (which may or may not serve well in that manner). Just a thought.
BTW, we love Callao. Although we are down in Lancaster Co now, we spent several years at the Yeocomico Marina in the late '80s and early '90s, which as you probably know, then became Port Kinsale.
Regretfully, I cannot envision what was done with the 6" squares in 1/2" and 5/16" ply, as my Seafarer floors are all fiberglass, so I can't comment specifically on that part. Generally, I see no reason to use multiple small pieces of plywood, if a larger piece is available instead. While this may not be relevant but for what it is worth, given that epoxy works so well as an adhesive it can be used to make multiple pieces of ply into one, or laminate thin pieces into one thick one.
What year is your Seafarer? I am wondering if possibly the ply pieces were added by a previous owner to firm up flexing in a fiberglass floor. As noted earlier, my Seafarer floor over the tank is made of all glass, no ply, but I have noticed that one of the ribs in the floor did not get saturated with enough resin during production and has, over the years, started to flex a bit more than it should. If that same thing happened in yours, perhaps a previous owner added the ply to try to repair a similar weakness (which may or may not serve well in that manner). Just a thought.
BTW, we love Callao. Although we are down in Lancaster Co now, we spent several years at the Yeocomico Marina in the late '80s and early '90s, which as you probably know, then became Port Kinsale.
Thanks mashenden I don't think it has been repaired before but I am not sure. If it was it was a fantastic job. It is an older one 1985. I have had it for 7 years and it had spent its life at little creek in boattel. The man I got it from took very good care of it. I know port kinsale very well. Thanks for your help.
I just went through this. I rebuilt it with a single 1/2" piece of plywood and west system epoxy.
http://www.greatgrady.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15860
http://www.greatgrady.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15860
lodgecreekgrady - there is lots of good info in the other posts that were noted.
In http://www.greatgrady.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15860&start=15 I was able to see pictures of the squares. Odd - I have never seen anything like that before. I agree with the people that posted responses in favor of a single piece of ply as an improved replacement. The idea that the small squares are better seems ridiculous to me. Plywood with cross grain in both directions across the whole piece would resist warping better than squares. One poster makes the point that this is a well known weak point in an otherwise well built boat. Point being that using the same approach seems silly.
If it were me, I would use one piece of plywood but drill a few holes in the ply to let the air and then a bit of epoxy ooze out while clamping it in place. Clamp, but do not over tighten to the point that you squeeze all of that expensive and good epoxy back out
- just enough to get most of the air out from between the pieces being glued.
When crafting the plywood replacement, I would also cut the deck plate holes in the wood (but not the original deck piece) a bit larger so that once all is done, there will be epoxy rather than wood near the edges of the holes. This will result in the deck plates screws going into epoxy rather than the new wood. Reason being that if the sealant in the deck plate fails over time and water leaks in between the deck and plate and into the screw holes, it gets to epoxy rather than soaking into the new plywood core that you replaced, which would start this whole process over again. Lastly I would also make the plywood replacement a bit smaller around the edges so that a layer or two of glass could be put over and around the plywood after it is epoxyed to the original deck piece. You really want to encapsulate the plywood in epoxy/glass and never drill into the wood thereafter. Ply is a good core but needs to stay dry otherwise it will rot.
Good luck - this sounds like a fun and good improvement. Start ASAP Spring has sprung & stripper season is nearing.
In http://www.greatgrady.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15860&start=15 I was able to see pictures of the squares. Odd - I have never seen anything like that before. I agree with the people that posted responses in favor of a single piece of ply as an improved replacement. The idea that the small squares are better seems ridiculous to me. Plywood with cross grain in both directions across the whole piece would resist warping better than squares. One poster makes the point that this is a well known weak point in an otherwise well built boat. Point being that using the same approach seems silly.
If it were me, I would use one piece of plywood but drill a few holes in the ply to let the air and then a bit of epoxy ooze out while clamping it in place. Clamp, but do not over tighten to the point that you squeeze all of that expensive and good epoxy back out
- just enough to get most of the air out from between the pieces being glued. When crafting the plywood replacement, I would also cut the deck plate holes in the wood (but not the original deck piece) a bit larger so that once all is done, there will be epoxy rather than wood near the edges of the holes. This will result in the deck plates screws going into epoxy rather than the new wood. Reason being that if the sealant in the deck plate fails over time and water leaks in between the deck and plate and into the screw holes, it gets to epoxy rather than soaking into the new plywood core that you replaced, which would start this whole process over again. Lastly I would also make the plywood replacement a bit smaller around the edges so that a layer or two of glass could be put over and around the plywood after it is epoxyed to the original deck piece. You really want to encapsulate the plywood in epoxy/glass and never drill into the wood thereafter. Ply is a good core but needs to stay dry otherwise it will rot.
Good luck - this sounds like a fun and good improvement. Start ASAP
Spring has sprung & stripper season is nearing.