Aug
24
What coating do I need on plywood boat floor?
ByI had to repair a peice of my Dinghy wood flooring. I bought the plywood to fix it but it looks like the other pieces have some kind of clear coating on them. What coating do I need to apply to the plywood floor to protect it from the elements? Thanks!
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2 Comments
August 24th, 2011 at 10:46 am
You can go several ways.
1/ Resin coat. This is simply mixing some fibreglass resin and “painting” it on.
2/ Flow coat. Flow coat is pre waxed gel coat. Mixed with hardener and painted on it will give you a waterproof coating.
3/ Glass. Get some lightweight (225gm) and resin. Wet out the ply, lay out your glass wet and then roll out all bubbles. Any areas already coated must be scuffed up with 60 grit sandpaper first.
Option 3 is probably the best, though either of the other two will be fine.
August 24th, 2011 at 11:05 am
What you need to do, is buy some “thin” boat epoxy – which is used to laminate and encapsulate your wood. This prevents both water and air of getting to the wood, and thus prevents wood rot, worms, etc. The high tech stuff we use today is really great stuff. If you do a good thorough job I guarantee you that piece of wood will out last everything else on your boat.
You don’t mention how big a piece you have, but I get the impression it is not that big – so you probably won’t need more then a quart.
It comes it 2 parts, and has to be mixed just before using… You can use a bush and you want to saturate the piece of wood with this stuff – not so to pile it on thick – but just to make real sure every little tiny bit, edge and corner is lightly covered.
It goes on like paint, drys clear, (looks like a coat of polyurethane) and it will be perminently glue itself to anything – so, you will want to plan ahead to coat your board without getting any of the epoxy on you or anything else you don’t want it stuck to forever and forever…
I have 2 links below. The first one will describe the epoxy resin and it’s uses, and you can get good information on how to use it as well as price and order it on line.
The second link is basically the same, only this is West System 105 Epoxy and you can buy it at West Marine and most boating supply stores.
John