Question about the virtues of glassing over a plywood cabin.

Nautorius

Nautorius

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Hi All,

Just working out potential renovation costs on a craft. The Cabin Roof and sides are currently ply which is bolted to a lip on the Aluminium deck. This works very well. Some of the Cabins sides (and rear roof) are original (45 Years old), although most bits were replaced in 1985. The whole top and sides of the cabins will be replaced.

My question revolves around whether, given the top quality ply we have today i.e. Robbins Elite, it would be worth glassing over the cabins. I will definitely epoxy them well and cover with a few layours of paint, but is glassing the cabin sides and roof really worth the expense and hassle. If the old ply can last up to 45 Years, then if looked after the new ply should at least last 25 years! It has always been painted and I intend to give her White cabins, so no problem with colour. I also see that some International Paint should last 7 years if applied correctly. Given that she is Aluminium hulled, I would also wory about the amount of flexing the boat may do and therefore the current floating ply arrangement may seem a better option?

Thanks again

Paul /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Why not just saturate the ply with epoxy? If you don't need to add strength, then there is little gain in using glass fabric in addition to the epoxy.

On my own boat, I coated the roof in epoxy with a layer of fabric to add some strength. The cabin sides are left untreated but coated using sikkens varnish.

If you want yours to remain flexible, then omit the fabric, and give the wood a good saturating of epoxy - especially on the end grains. Sand, undercoat, then paint. You should have a mirror finish at the end!

Alex
 
Contrariwise...

The idea of the glass cloth is to resist abrasion; assuming that like most folks you will walk over the coachroof at some time or other it is worth adding glass cloth to the tops.

Having done the tops, its tempting to carry on glassing down to the deck, but I don't think this is vital.
 
Good Point,

However it is a mid cockpit cruiser with 8 inch decks to get down so there would be little chance of walking on them (except for the kids, more chance of laying on them). I see your point though and just doing the roof is a valid point and as that takes the brunt of the UK weather it would help with protection.

Does anyone know if sheathing helps insulation as this boat currently has none!

Cheers

Paul /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
In the snow last week, my untreated teak decks had no snow on them, and the glassed bits had some slush, so it probably does add insulation, but not alot really.

I agree with the above re. using the matting to beef up wear areas such as on the cabin top. Might be worth adding a thin cloth to thicken up the barrier and provide a small amount of insulation.

Alex
 
As long as you do a good paint job the wood will last a long long time no need to epoxy, thats the idea of ply, relativly cheap, if you want to epoxy that will bump the cost up no end,save your money and buy a good cover with it.
chris.
 
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