What type sole/floor

[Geoff K]

What kind of sole/floor materials are used in boats? All I've ever seen is teak and holly for the sole. Our boat has only the fiberglass liner, but looking at some pics of others of the same make (Pearson 323) it appears there may have been teak and holly originally.

Does anyone have experience with wood other than teak and holly?

Why is teak and holly traditional?

Does the veneer teak and holly wear through in the high traffic spots?

Any other suggestions for a comfortable non skid sole for the boat?

Thanks

Geoff

 

[patrickfarley]

I have been thinking about putting down some of the soft vinyl flooring and stick it down with spots of silicon.

Any thoughts?

I just have the liner right now.

 

[sailaway78]

New Flooring

I need to replace the floor in mine, which was origionally teak and holly. Not being a traditionalist, pretty frugal, and somewhat lazy, I'm going to install a solid vinyl that is in a bamboo pattern. Besides the other reasons given, I really like the look of it, and it is much lighter in color than the teak and holly, which will brighten up the inside. If interested there are several patterns available in this. Comes in a plank, which glues together with peel off strips. Guaranteed to be water proof. Trade name is Allure, and is available at Home Depot.

 

[Ross]

I have black walnut as the cabin sole. Silicone is not a good adhesive.

 

[zeehag]

mine is teak and holly not veneer. i love it and cherish every ding-- gives it character....

 

[chp]

Problem I was told about using the vinyl flooring is not to use it if temp goes below freezing. The vinyl tends to shrink too much. I was going to use the Allure and the Home Depot guy said the glue joints will pull apart. Going to try and use bamboo solid wood.

 

[Bill Roosa]

At $200 a 4x8 sheet I made my own. 3/4" burch (picked through to find the right grain patterns) plywood with "gunstock" stain for the teak and popular for the holly. 1/4 router the plywood for the popular, stain then glue in the popular and plane down till flat. Ended up being $60 a sheet and only took a few hours to fabricate

 

[Merlin Clark]

Problem I was told about using the vinyl flooring is not to use it if temp goes below freezing. The vinyl tends to shrink too much. I was going to use the Allure and the Home Depot guy said the glue joints will pull apart. Going to try and use bamboo solid wood.

Please post pics!
Have you found the solid bamboo for this? Sounds very cool.

 

[TFrere]

I used solid tongue and groove teak

Purchased from Diamond Tropical Hardwoods in PA

 

[Ross]

What ever you plan to use give it a boiling water test. Some laminated products will come apart in just a few minutes when subjected to boiling water and will come apart if just soaked in cold water for a day or two.

 

[Merlin Clark]

Purchased from Diamond Tropical Hardwoods in PA

Beautiful!

 

[Geoff K]

Thanks

Good ideas here. So far I like Bill's the best. I'm inherently lazy but enjoy woodworking. It drops below zero here (Superior Wisconsin.) so I guess vinyl is out. I also wonder about using white oak. It's somewhat rot resistant. Expansion/contraction will be a problem if I don't use plywood although I suspect a loose fitting pattern could be designed. That could be fine as long as I don't capsize. If I do capsize I'm not sure if I'll be around to worry about the floor. If I do use plywood I'll do Ross's test first.

Geoff

 

[Ross]

Re: Thanks

There is a pretty good list of durable, stable , hardwoods that take a good finish. Walnut, cherry, w.oak, sassafras are at the top of the list, locust is excellant but the devil to work, much harder than teak. All heart red pine with vertical grain is good and also pretty.