Hi Colin: why not put a few details of your boat (and join the steelband?). Decking:
I've done it the easy way on a small area, coamings and rear deck. The easy
way is no screws from underneath; even up with epoxy and glass, bond on
plywood, then epoxy glue the strips (I used Iroko). Then fill the seams, don't
forget the strip which stops the goo sticking to the bottom. The easy way was
an awful bloody job; next time (not IF, but WHEN it rusts) I'll rip it out and use
one of the decking compounds.
For starters, visit <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.metalboatsociety.com>http://www.metalboatsociety.com</A>
Hi there,
In my humble opinion,and it sure is very humble, my best advice is: forget it !!
I know it's possible but, as I'm doing up a steel boat, I've been reading everything I could lay my hands on and quite a few seemingly reliable authors and professionals seem to agree that covering steel with anything else than paint is looking for trouble as you cannot see what's going on underneath.(paint will show any trouble almost instantly and you will have more reason to fix it qwickly).
Now, from what I have been able to observe on other steel boats of a certain age,it seems to make sense, but now it's up to you, good luck.
Cheers...Maurice.
I totally agree with Maurice. Don't cover steel with any kind of decking.... I recently went on what looked like a beautiful steel boat with teak decks and there was rust seeping through the seams in the decking in several places. The owner said that it was a nightmare and he was putting off the inevitable major job of stripping it to see how bad it had got and then deciding what to do about it.... I'm doing my decks with deck paint and sand. It's a lot cheaper too!
When (not if) there is a leak through the caulking, you'll have impossible to get at rust. That's a very good way of ensuring you don't do anything about it until it's too late.
If you want the colour of a teak deck, why not wood-grain the deck? That'd make a first in boating circles I reckon, and it would be less expensive than making the inevitable repairs to severe rust.
If you are talking about a teak veneer on a steel deck, take everyone's advice and forget it! Rust is the great enemy, and you are inviting it in for a treat.
A secondary problem is that steel is heavy, care has to be taken with small boat designs to avoid stability problems, and anything adding unnecessary additional weight at deck height will do you no favours.
If you are talking about laying a true teak deck on steel beams, that is a different matter, though avoiding rust traps is still the big issue. The design problems are discussed in Small Steel Craft, Design, Construction and Maintenance by Ian Nicholson, or its worth trying the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.metalboatsociety.com/>Metal Boat Society forums</A> for tips.