Putting on the weight?

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Steviecracknell

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I own an Arden 4, its approximately 46yrs old and rip for restoration. Here's the dilema. At present its totally plastic lookin, (as you would expect, its fiberglass) apart for the odd bit of wood here and there. I want to remove the fore and aft hatches, replacing with hardwood, also the cabin hatch and wash boards. The deck and cockpit areas would also be covered with hardwood, ultimately encapsulating all of that dredded white stuff, apart from the coach roof, this will remain uncovered. Now getting to the important part, I have estimated, very roughly, the additional weight being added to my little boat, using teak, its mass will increase by 90kg. I know how important it is to keep the ballast ratio over the keel within a certain percentage, but, is this extra weight just pushing the boat out a little!!

Cheers Stevie
 
90 kg is roughly equivalent to one human being sitting on the deck. I would suggest it's not going to make much difference, but you could chock a chunk of lead (about 30 kg) right down in the bilge if you were really worried.


Think about the difference to rim that a full tank of diesel or water makes to a boat that size. :)
 
Bit of a waste of scarce wood if you are going to use solid teak - and storing up problems for the future if you use mechanical fastenings to attach the timber to the GRP. The great advantage of GRP is that it is watertight - why then drill hundreds of holes in it to attach wood? If you fancy a wooden boat then there are plenty around looking for doting owners.

You might, however consider using teak strip veneers on the cockpit seats as these are funtionally very good and easy to fit using Sikaflex as an adhesive.
 
Timber

Yeah, I know exaxctly what your saying, and fully agree with you regarding the 2 good points you have made. I understand that teak is the prefered hardwood to use, due to its resistance to rot, what other hardwood/softwood would be exceptable, I have a load of Oak, don't ask what kind, and know this wood is also very resistant to rot, but is it suitable for laying as a deck overlay material. The fixing of timber to deck, I hoped was going to be achieved by bonding, using sikaflex, or an equivelant, not a screw, as the deck timber I was going to use will be machined to a thickness of 6mm, would you think this thickness is advisable, I've layed teak decks before but never as thin as this, usually 10mm, screwed and plugged.

Refering to the weight gain, I know the displacement is 1800kg and the keel holds 55 percent of this, is there a safe figure I can work with to ensure I don't over load her when fitting out, and then loading up with all that gear you need when out on sailing trips.

Cheers Stevie.
 
if your ballast ratio is 55% on a draft of 1.1m, you should have no real worries taking four persons plus their gear. Very rough estimate 600 kg as cargo.

If there is an owners association (?), someone might have a stability curve to re-assure you.
 
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These are a high ballast ratio boats, and will bet you can safely add the weight but you will be adding maintenance and you will put off some buyers if you never need to sell.

Great boats that need little maintenance and I would be tempted to keep it that way.
 
I suppose my point is that it is completely unnecessary to add a wood deck to a simple little GRP boat such as yours. There are much better alternative finishes if you wish to smarten it up a bit. As I suggested, teak veneers on cockpit seats are good, particularly if they are already (ply)wood as they are easier on the bottom.
 
Thanks to everyone for the excellent feedback, especially the stability curve, I had a look, and this information is very beneficial.
I still feel, regardless of size, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and timber is such a tactile material, and when it has such an excellent working relationship when fitted on deck, I really can't rule it out, the question is, what other materials beside teak can I use? does anyone know?

Cheers Stevie
 
Stevie

the width of teak 'planks' is disproportionate to the size of your lovely boat. It will, frankly, look out of place, and be costly to install and to maintain properly.

Sure, you need a non-slip surface, but modern paints, especially the Dulux type Weathershield Textured Masonry paint have such a long life, and come in a huge range of colours. She will look much better if you use non-slip in symmetrical patches.

Put your money into safety equipment, and good nav kit. It will give you much more pleasure that the same amount down on a wooden deck.
 
If you really want the "teak" look then consider the "plastic" teaks such as Tek Dek. However as sarabande says the strips will look out of all proportion to your boat.

The cheapest deck finish is a textured masonry paint, but a proper textured deck paint like International is also cheap - less than £30 to do the whole deck. Looks smart, good non-slip and can be touched up or refinished very easily. Westerlys used it as their standard finish for years. There is also a new finish from New Zealand which is like an upmarket deck paint but a thicker coating.
 
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