Cockpit Floor

Fire99

Fire99

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Evening people,

A wee bit of advice if you wouldn't mind.

My Snapdragon 23 had a shocker of a cockpit floor. She's unoriginal anyway, due to having a well for an outboard, replacing the inboard, but the cockpit floor had been finished very badly.

Anyway, 2 days later and the loose vinyl floor has gone, the layer of fibreglass underneath - gone, two damp ply boards - gone and another layer of fibreglass - gone, before reaching the 'original' recessed ply floor.

Anyway, the ply is sound with no soft patches but the top layer is a little 'roughed up' due to the fibreglass sheet that was partially bonded to it.

Anyway, the plan is to cover the entire floor with a sheet of 18mm marine ply. Any suggestions regarding bonding it to the existing ply and of course sealing around the edges?
(The cockpit is self-draining but I don't want water penetrating beneath the new floor, like what happened with the various layers before)

A little long winded but any advice is appreciated.


cheers,


Nik
 
I assume there are no cockpit drains involved, otherwise I would allow drainage direct to the original floor (by 'floating' the new one on harwood joists) rather than trying to seal something that will be under considerable stress when stood on at an angle. You should also consider the poor person who is going to fit the next one - it might be you, so use something other than epoxy!
Would you have a wooden shower base at home?
 
hmm, tricky. Well the Cockpit is self draining. There are two drains in each corner nearest the companion-way(set in the grp moulding). I'm not 100% certain yet what supports the flush ply but the floor is certainly more flexible now rather than when it had another 4 layers on top.

My idea was, since many layers have now gone (Including another ply layer), I'd just put a single additional 18mm ply layer.
 
Hi Fire99,

I replaced the entire cockpit floor on my Snappie 23 two years ago.

I removed the old rotten floor which is supported all the way around on a 3 inch fiberglass moulded lip, cut new 3/4 marine ply to shape coated 4/5 times with some sadlins extra with a bit of sand mixed in to make it non-slip.

I bedded the new floor down with a standard silicon

All fine two years on

Cheers
J
 
ropeworkuk said:
Hi Fire99,

I replaced the entire cockpit floor on my Snappie 23 two years ago.

I removed the old rotten floor which is supported all the way around on a 3 inch fiberglass moulded lip, cut new 3/4 marine ply to shape coated 4/5 times with some sadlins extra with a bit of sand mixed in to make it non-slip.

I bedded the new floor down with a standard silicon

All fine two years on

Cheers
J
Click to expand...

Good Stuff.. Many thanks for the info!
 
ropeworkuk said:
Hi Fire99,

I replaced the entire cockpit floor on my Snappie 23 two years ago.

I removed the old rotten floor which is supported all the way around on a 3 inch fiberglass moulded lip, cut new 3/4 marine ply to shape coated 4/5 times with some sadlins extra with a bit of sand mixed in to make it non-slip.

I bedded the new floor down with a standard silicon

All fine two years on

Cheers
J
Click to expand...

Bit of a thread resurrection but the ballpark has changed somewhat....... After a slightly expensive experiment with SP300, the original ply was still too soft for me to be happy with and I wasn't happy just coating it with epoxy.

So..........I've ripped up the original floor (which appears to be 1/2 inch marine ply.

Was thinking of duplicating what you've done 'J' and fitting a sheet of 3/4 (18mm) marine ply on a bed of silicon and painting with Sadolin's finest.

OK so i'll have rather large supplies of epoxy and woven cloth temporarily surplus but maybe keeping it simply is the best way.

What does the jury think?
 
PetiteFleur said:
How about using GRP sheet which has a sanded finish - if floppy then fit wooden webs underneath well covered in grp. This is available commercially but no idea who from or how much. Then bed it down using sikaflex or similar around the edges. Maintenance free and non-slip.
Try these people:- http://www.deck-safe.co.uk/?gclid=COzRw87-m68CFWwntAoddAq9aQ
Click to expand...

That's an interesting twist. I'm guessing a fair bit dearer than Marine Ply. I'm going to keep it fairly simple. Either Marine Ply painted with the likes of Sadolin etc or Marine Ply covered in epoxy then painted..
Which, is anyone's guess. :-)
 
Fire99 said:
Come on folk, what do you recon' ?

Treated Marine Ply or encase the plywood in epoxy and woven cloth???
Click to expand...

Whether you use marine ply or non marine plywood it needs protection from the water it will surely see - epoxy and cloth is the best solution for that and epoxy is the best adhesive to attach it and fill any voids in between as well. I would also seal all ply edges with epoxy before attaching it.
 
Fire99 said:
Come on folk, what do you recon' ?

Treated Marine Ply or encase the plywood in epoxy and woven cloth???
Click to expand...

I would be inclined to cut the ply to size then seal with epoxy, including the edges and any drain holes (dilute the epoxy with up to 30% Meths to aid penetration for the edges). Bed down onto the bearers with Sikaflex. Seal the edges with an epoxy/bead paste fillet (after abrading the cockpit walls). Paint as needed.
 
The plinth I made for my toilet is plywood, painted up with several layers of West epoxy, then bedded on Sikaflex 291. Ok, it isn't outside but it has had a few good soakings and remains in excellent condition. The disadvantage of this treatment can be that epoxy is rather brittle, so if the wood bends it will crack. On your cockpit floor flexing is likely, so treatment with a wood varnish instead seems like a better plan.

Silicone is fine for bathrooms but there are far better choices for boats. It is weak, affects many reactions of paints, sealants and coatings and its adhesion doesn't last well. Tool station do a polyurethane sealant that appears identical to Sikaflex for about £4 per tube.
 
Why dont you make a GRP floor? Piece of cake for a simple shape like that, or if you're not happy doing it then have someone else make it for you. No worry about rotting wood ever again.

If you still want to do the wood route then I'd at least be encasing it in epoxy with a lightish woven roving. Make sure you do a tidy job though.
 
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