I need info on replacing the cabin floor plywood in my 37c. Has anyone done this? My first inclination is to remove everything and replace it with floor tiles of the parquet type. I have some water damage near the bulkhead and the plywood is separating, hence the replacement.
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T
Tammy
Replacing plywood floor
Wally, We are working on the same project in our 79 H30. The plywood wad delaminating from a leaking vent pipe for a charcoal cabin heater. Heater is gone, hole in cabin roof patched, plywood ripped up. Amazing how easy it came up as was only held down by some type of calk. I don't know how stable parquet flooring is but I suppose if you coated it real good on all sides with epoxy it might hold up. I found a supplier in Canada for the teak/holly plywood. They have it in 1/4 & 1/2 thickness. The cost was less than local sources and I can have it shipped right to the boatyard. Good luck with your project.
Wally, We are working on the same project in our 79 H30. The plywood wad delaminating from a leaking vent pipe for a charcoal cabin heater. Heater is gone, hole in cabin roof patched, plywood ripped up. Amazing how easy it came up as was only held down by some type of calk. I don't know how stable parquet flooring is but I suppose if you coated it real good on all sides with epoxy it might hold up. I found a supplier in Canada for the teak/holly plywood. They have it in 1/4 & 1/2 thickness. The cost was less than local sources and I can have it shipped right to the boatyard. Good luck with your project.
Real-wood options.
If you can cut and fit parquet, you can cut and fit real wood planking. Consider having a sawmill rip up some 2" x 3/8" teak or mahogany or birch or yellow pine or ANYTHING and lay it down over whatever underlayment is still good. Whatever you decide upon, treatment is key. If you use something permanent like epoxy (good idea, but not only idea), you MUST treat both sides of the planks or they will cup. If you just screw it down and plug the holes be sure the underlayment is well treated (epoxied) and then you can put it down with just bedding compound. You could also put down 1/4" x 3/8" strips of real holly between the planks-- THERE'S an idea! Real wood can be finished however you like. Minwax or Deks-Oje or TeakOil would be gorgeous-- and easily redone seasonally. Or do as the old schooners did-- that is, nothing. Even well-worn natural wood is beautiful. Caveats-- 1. Most commercially-available (non-OEM) teak-and-holly plywood is too thin on the veneer. One dropped wrench will nick through it. Then it's ugly and subject to water saturation. Think about it. 2. Many commercially-available (Home Depot) parquet blocks are also veneered; and they are not laminated using marine-grade adhesives. I wouldn't put down parquet at all but if I had to, I'd use ONLY epoxy on both sides and rough it up really well with 60-grit or something first to make sure the epoxy can get in. That the store-fresh shiny finish is temporary is an understatement. 3. Keep the sawmills in business. The clever people who know what the sawmill can really do are becoming scarce and the DIY-ers looking for easy and cheap (made-in-China) products are taking over. I prefer to think of sailors as people who do the work to have the right thing... but maybe that's just my opinion. JC 2
If you can cut and fit parquet, you can cut and fit real wood planking. Consider having a sawmill rip up some 2" x 3/8" teak or mahogany or birch or yellow pine or ANYTHING and lay it down over whatever underlayment is still good. Whatever you decide upon, treatment is key. If you use something permanent like epoxy (good idea, but not only idea), you MUST treat both sides of the planks or they will cup. If you just screw it down and plug the holes be sure the underlayment is well treated (epoxied) and then you can put it down with just bedding compound. You could also put down 1/4" x 3/8" strips of real holly between the planks-- THERE'S an idea! Real wood can be finished however you like. Minwax or Deks-Oje or TeakOil would be gorgeous-- and easily redone seasonally. Or do as the old schooners did-- that is, nothing. Even well-worn natural wood is beautiful. Caveats-- 1. Most commercially-available (non-OEM) teak-and-holly plywood is too thin on the veneer. One dropped wrench will nick through it. Then it's ugly and subject to water saturation. Think about it. 2. Many commercially-available (Home Depot) parquet blocks are also veneered; and they are not laminated using marine-grade adhesives. I wouldn't put down parquet at all but if I had to, I'd use ONLY epoxy on both sides and rough it up really well with 60-grit or something first to make sure the epoxy can get in. That the store-fresh shiny finish is temporary is an understatement. 3. Keep the sawmills in business. The clever people who know what the sawmill can really do are becoming scarce and the DIY-ers looking for easy and cheap (made-in-China) products are taking over. I prefer to think of sailors as people who do the work to have the right thing... but maybe that's just my opinion. JC 2
W
wally
wood type
Thanks JC, point well taken. Do you or anyone know of a wood indigenous to Borneo that I can use besides Teak. They have different tree names that I am not familiar with and the boat is there now. I intend to be back there in Sept to restart the trip and want to finish the floor then.
Thanks JC, point well taken. Do you or anyone know of a wood indigenous to Borneo that I can use besides Teak. They have different tree names that I am not familiar with and the boat is there now. I intend to be back there in Sept to restart the trip and want to finish the floor then.
Wood in Borneo
I did not realize you or the boat were actually in Borneo!!! (I thought that was the name of a club in Tampa!) I would enqire locally at that point and investigate anything that has similar rot-restricting properties to teak. Any easy-to-work hardwood would be adequate so long as it it properly prepared. I wouldn't mess around without epoxy in a humid, bug-rich environment such as that. Even a nice softwood similar to cedar or heart pine could work well. I'd just hate to see you go with something cheap and easy simply because it's all you could find or think of! Explore and enjoy it (then send pictures!). JC 2
I did not realize you or the boat were actually in Borneo!!! (I thought that was the name of a club in Tampa!) I would enqire locally at that point and investigate anything that has similar rot-restricting properties to teak. Any easy-to-work hardwood would be adequate so long as it it properly prepared. I wouldn't mess around without epoxy in a humid, bug-rich environment such as that. Even a nice softwood similar to cedar or heart pine could work well. I'd just hate to see you go with something cheap and easy simply because it's all you could find or think of! Explore and enjoy it (then send pictures!). JC 2
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