Securing floor with 4200 adhesive

[Scott T-Bird]

Well, I purchased the sheet of teak & holly plywood, made the cuts and finished the flooring. It fits like a glove within the fiberglass floor pan where it goes. The original was tacked down with wood screws and the heads were concealed with teak plugs. I think I would like to avoid dealing with the plugs and am considering using some adhesive to secure the plywood to the fiberglass,

I don't want to use a contact cement because I'm afraid that it would be too unforgiving with the initial placement. My thought is to use 4200 around the perimeter and at the perimeter of bilge cut-outs to seal the edges and just apply spots of 4200 to tack it down. I would set some heavy weights over the flooring for 24 hours to let it set. The recessed pan of the fiberglass base holds the flooring from shifting and my fit is very good. I am most concerned about future lifting. What do you all think?

This is a loose fit with the old bilge covers in place. It was almost perfect at this point. I took it home and sanded the edges for the final fit. Now it's finished and ready to install!

 

[kloudie1]

As long as the edges are well sealed, should not be a problem.. If water gets to the edge and causes a little delamination, it will quickly come up, leaving the lowest ply still stuck down by the 4200..
Nice work, Scott

 

[bawlmer]

My concern is if you would have to remove the sole for any reason. You would have to be very careful and know exactly where your adhesive is and hope for the best. As little as 4 screws would probably hold it down safely. Fit and finish looks awesome.

 

[Mr Fox]

Only my opinion- but the effort put into making the floor so nice (awesome job!) makes screws worth it. If you ever need to remove the sole again it could mean the difference between destroying the sole or keeping it whole. Might just be my bad luck but whenever I’ve thought there’d be no possible reason I’d need to pull something out in the future my boat likes to prove me wrong

 

[Dave Groshong]

Looks super nice! I would not use an adhesive like 4200, someday, it is going to have to come up.

 

[Hydro Therapy]

looks great, my vote would be for screws and plugs simply for future removal. I think 4200 would work.

 

[jssailem]

Screws are there to be able to remove the flooring and solve a boat leak without destroying the woodwork. Will you have a leak? Likely not. But in the off chance you did?

There is no simple answer only a compromised choice.

Nice work on the floor. Looks great.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

Will you have a leak? Likely not.

Not a chance , never in a million, don't be ridiculous ! Spill a container of water on the floor ? I'd give it a 99.9% chance.

My floor from the factory was installed with a few countersunk flat head SS screws that you can't see unless you look for them.

I don't think you'll regret it.

BTW nice craftsmanship.

 

[TomY]

Nice work, Scott. I'd likely put it down with screws and hold the plugs, for now.

I'd use small screws, #6 self tapping in a flat or oval head. Either drill a small countersink (you don't need much) and set the heads flush (or ovals proud a little).

Or; I'd use a trim washer with the oval head, in which case you don't need to countersink for the screw heads.

Space them nicely by measuring and spacing, and use no more than you need. Screws look proper in a sole.

If you find you don't need to remove the sole and they bother you, then cut a proper recess for a plug later(but I bet you won't feel the need).

 

[Steve L22188]

First, that looks awesome! Really nicely done.

Second...an outlier idea: If this fits as well as you say, and it doesn't move around when you walk on it, and if you can remove and replace the bilge covers without bringing up the sole.... do you really need to fasten it at all?

If you do, I'd go with Tom Y - use as few screws as you think you'll need. I'm wary of any adhesive that ends with the numbers X200!

Again...amazing how good that looks!

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Scott;
Having installed many floors, for the edge I would use what the manufacturers use on the windows which is DOW 795. I used this to seal the floors in my boats as a dealer which worked well. 4200 was a hassle particular walking on it showing grime as well which surprised me. A few places just a little did help secure the floor as well. 4200 would work holding floor down but sparingly as well but not to seal the joint.

 

[jssailem]

do you really need to fasten it at all?

Under some conditions the securing of the boat sole might not be needed. Essentially limited, in my experience, to powering about in calm water.

Should you sail in strong winds or choppy seas the amount of movement experienced in a sailboat could cause the sole to be displaced. This would make moving about safely in side the boat complicated.

I would agree with @TomY's suggestion of small screws counter sunk as a minimum disruption to the beautiful wood work and sound enough for most events, unless of course the boat gets turtled (rolled upside down) and then all bets are off.

 

[sailnoproblem]

Nice work, I am not a adhesive fan of interior woodwork. I second what Tom Y said. Screw it just in case you have to remove it. How did you seal the edges?

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Scott;
Having installed many floors, for the edge I would use what the manufacturers use on the windows which is DOW 795. I used this to seal the floors in my boats as a dealer which worked well. 4200 was a hassle particular walking on it showing grime as well which surprised me. A few places just a little did help secure the floor as well. 4200 would work holding floor down but sparingly as well but not to seal the joint.

Wow, I'm glad you mentioned that. I do have white 795. The original floor did not have any sealant around the edges and there was no protection on the edges either. After almost 40 years, one corner that saw the most water from wet feet, rain thru the companionway, and misdirected drainage from the icebox finally delaminated to the point where it finally started to fall apart! Just one little corner, otherwise it survived pretty well with a lot of abuse! I painted the bottom with a couple of coats of white epoxy paint. I lapped the edges with several coats of the polyurethane finish as I was doing the top. It should be sealed very well against moisture. I'm actually a little worried that it should "breath". But it is ready to go, now. The fit is tight enough that I think that sealing the perimeter might actually be unnecessary and may just create a mess. I did bevel the bottom edge of the floor, though. If I put a ring of sealant right in the corner of the recess, the sealant should be trapped right in place.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Nice work, Scott. I'd likely put it down with screws and hold the plugs, for now.

I'd use small screws, #6 self tapping in a flat or oval head. Either drill a small countersink (you don't need much) and set the heads flush (or ovals proud a little).

Space them nicely by measuring and spacing, and use no more than you need. Screws look proper in a sole.

If you find you don't need to remove the sole and they bother you, then cut a proper recess for a plug later(but I bet you won't feel the need).

That's a good thought. It doesn't bother me to have exposed screw heads. There would only need to be a few.

 

[FastOlson]

We changed from the factory teak plugged screws to re-patterning the screws in the sole pieces and changing to all bronze square-drive screws, flush set.
I already had to pull and refinish all of our sole sections and repair some small divots - all courtesy of the PO.
I teak-plugged all the original holes.

Easy to access the bilge sections for cleanup or to just be sure that there is nothing to block the pump intakes. Put the screws into the teak and not the holly.
After a year or so of dulling down the shine, you can hardly tell they are there.
And when (not if) you do need access, you can cleanly remove all of the sole sections in ten minutes.

Why square drive, one might ask? That solves the problem of exposed phillips crosses, and the possibility that someone will stand on the spinnaker and tear it while someone else is trying to stuff it back into the turtle, on a rolling boat... (While the on-deck crew are yelling that the weather mark is coming up... soon!)

 

[Davidasailor26]

Second...an outlier idea: If this fits as well as you say, and it doesn't move around when you walk on it, and if you can remove and replace the bilge covers without bringing up the sole.... do you really need to fasten it at all?

Both our ODay 28 and Beneteau 37 had cabin soles that weren’t secured. On the 28 the sole was teak/holly boards fitting in recesses between fiberglass sections -


The Beneteau has floorboards over the entire floor, in roughly 2x2 squares.

Haven’t had either boat offshore, but in all kinds of bay chop and high heel angles we never had any shifting at all.

 

[BigEasy]

Scott,
Excellent workmanship & beautiful results!
As many have recommended, I would avoid an adhesive or sealer to facilitate removal in the future.
I would definitely use counter sunk screws w/o the plugs. On my present Beneteau, I have a fake / composite teak & holly sole that is screwed down. The bilge panel and speed/depth transducer panel is friction fit only ( not crossing the Atlantic here!) Makes it quick & simple to check any water in the bilge. The remaining panels are screwed down. Once a year or so, I removed the screw down panels and clean with disinfectant to clean out dirt and mold; really helps to keep those areas clean and prevent bad odors. Yes, the screws detract from the appearance...but you can't have everything!
One thing that you may want to consider is placing a sealer, whether it be epoxy or polyurethane on the bottom & sides of the panels to prevent moisture absorption and delamination of the plywood panels. Had a problem on my old Hunter with the teak & holly plywood veneer delaminating. Also, even with my present composite panels, and a bone dry bilge, mold tends to develop on the bilge facing surfaces, so it
is nice to be able to remove & clean those panel surfaces with bleach wipes.
Again, great job! Just out of curiosity, how do you intend to finish the teak /holly surfaces?