Sealing decks and wooden supports........

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Rick James

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Messages
116
Reaction score
0
Location
Rotterdam, NY
What's the best ways to seal a wood deck and the supports under it?

I'm hoping to make some progress this weekend and get the front floor in place on my project. I will be wrapping it in marine carpet, but I'm curious if there is a "best" way to seal the plywood, and the support pieces under it.

Thanks in advance!
 
I have never done this but have read a lot on the topic and it seems that most people prefer to use epoxy resin, like MAS, over varnish. The main reason is longevity. Varnish needs to be reapplied depending on climate where as epoxy is permanent. Hope this helps.
 
I put three coats of Helmsman Spar Urethane on my wood decks, one year and still looks new. When I rebuilt my back deck this year I used some oil based paint that I had available, we'll see how that holds up. I really don't think you can go wrong, as long as it's sealed somehow. Majority of problems are from outside storage IMO.
 
I agree with the Catfish Man. Most of your moisture issues are from being outside in the elements. If your boat is stored inside I think you can expect to get a lot of like out of normal plywood with spar urathane and carpet.
 
I coated mine with 1 brushed on layer of Spar Urethane and one more coat of the spray can kind. I'm also squirting silicone into the screw holes just in case water gets down into those. I thought about putting a layer of plastic down under my carpet, but I'm not sure if that will do anything...
 
HOUSE said:
I coated mine with 1 brushed on layer of Spar Urethane and one more coat of the spray can kind. I'm also squirting silicone into the screw holes just in case water gets down into those. I thought about putting a layer of plastic down under my carpet, but I'm not sure if that will do anything...


The plastic actually makes it worse because any mositure that gets in there has a hard time getting out and can decompose the wood faster. If its just carpet it can dry pretty easy without any real problems. I have a 99 tracker with the orginal wood in it and it is still in reall decent shape. No soft spots or anything. However that carpet has began to break down a little so Im gonna have to replace that before too long. I do kinda like it better when its a little rough because I dont worry so much about messing it up. Its a fishing boat to me.
 

Latest posts

Top