Painting plywood decking

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flatbottomman

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Hey guys. I am wanting to add a small deck to my boat - made out of plywood. I really would prefer to just paint it a similar green color as the boat. Is there anyway I could do this, and keep it from being destroyed by the elements?
 
You can seal it with the Old timers formula and then top coat it with Rustoleum or an exterior paint.
 
If you are not going to cover it with carpet, you might want to add some grit to the paint. Otherwise it will be slippery when wet.
 
I used a flat exterior paint on the floors of my duck hunting boat and they were not slippery. If using a glossy paint sprinkling sand on it before it dried would help or adding a commercially available anti-slip additive to the paint.
 
Whilst not made in green, the Nautolex marine vinyl in my skiff was 21-years old when I sold it and after a good power washing it still was sound and looked great!

Let’s see paint or carpet last even a 3rd of that life/use, ha!
 

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flatbottomman said:
Hey guys. I am wanting to add a small deck to my boat - made out of plywood. I really would prefer to just paint it a similar green color as the boat. Is there anyway I could do this, and keep it from being destroyed by the elements?

I would expect that sooner or later the paint & plywood will degrade. It will need to be repainted and eventually replaced. I'm also a big fan of vinyl, but if I wanted to have a painted plywood deck I would do it. Install best you can so it is easy to remove and replace down the road.
 
Paint both sides of the plywood and the cut edges and it will last a very long time. In fact, I bet an unpainted piece of plywood would last a very long time. It gets wet occasionally. If you want a painted plywood deck - go for it.
 
I am doing a re-decking project right now myself. I have decided on my plywood getting a treatment of old timers formula and then 5 coats on all sides of straight spar varnish. Then I am carpeting, but if I were doing just straight plywood I would do the same waterproofing and then do 2 coats of tinted oil based primer and a finish coat of your chosen color in oil base. The suggestion of some aggregate in the paint for traction is a good one.

If you don't seal the wood there is a good chance it will swell and split at some point. Sealing it very good should allow it to last 20 years or so.
 
marshman said:
What is this “old timers formula?”

Old timers formula is a mixture of 1 part oil based spar varnish, 1 part boiled linseed oil and 2 parts mineral spirits. You basically wash this over the wood on all sides until the wood doesn't absorb any more. The idea is you are thinning the varnish and linseed oil so that it penetrates deep into the wood and waterproofs it to the core. It takes a long time to dry, took mine about 3 or 4 days. Then seal it tight with straight varnish. I did 5 coats on all sides, especially the edges, but I may have been excessive with that. Sand lightly between coats. Sand lightly before you finish with the oil based color of your choice.
 

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