Wooden Boat Deck repair

[TonyC]

I have a boat with a huon pine hull and a ply deck, the ply deck is covered by canvas and painted. The deck is in need of repair and I was concidering using the West System Epoxy, is this a good idea or is there a better way?

[Ecca]

TonyC
Hi, lucky you having a Huon pine boat, sail or power? I gather the old canvas deck was laid in red lead and tacked down and has since let water in and started the old dry rot ?
If so the first thing is to cut out the rot and scarph in new ply with a waterproof glue. Resorcinol is good but can stain if your not careful or use epoxy. the finish can be either dynel or f/glass laid in epoxy [west system]for a good waterproof result. BUT everytime you make a penetration for a deck fitting make super sure that its sealed, otherwise the rot can start again, I did all of this to a Kauri yacht some years ago and think that the deck became too rigid and she started to show the top 2 plank seams for a couple of years and then settled down. Could have been thatwe were racing too hard.
Make sure that the edge of deck is sealed over the top plank.Dynel turns hard corners better than woven glass. Don't use polyester resin as it will not stick to wood in the long term.Best of luck. Ecca

[Boatmik]

Use epoxy for gluing the ply down too.

It is gap filling - so if there are gaps between the ply and the deck substructure the epoxy will have no problems.

With a deck done in this way you don't need to use any permanent fastenings (screws or nails). You can use gyprock screws put in with a battery powered drill (one with a clutch) - and pull them out when the glue has set up. Plug the holes with epoxy and glass or dynel. I usually use glass when I do decks (not on small sailing dinghies though - too heavy)

Resorcinol is a very fine glue when you can make sure the fits between surfaces are good and can get high clamping pressures. It is a dirty brown colour and tends to stain. All exterior/marine/aircraft ply is glued with resorcinol.

Best Regards
Michael

[sinjin1111]

Boatmik is dead right, if you can't get good glueing pressure give resircinal a miss. Epoxy is the way to go.
But yr Huon pine boat sounds like its cactus....Reckon i can have it for nicks?
Sinjin...lol