which deck covering for an old Broads gaffer?

[Guest]

I am the co-owner of a 28ft Broads gaffer which was built in 1909. Her decks are covered with a light brown lino which has been the favoured covering material of Broads boat builders for many many years.

However, since the lino is cracking and leaking I am considering alternative coverings that may be harder wearing and easier to fit. My local yard has recommended epoxy but I think this is far too modern for an old girl who has survived with traditional materials for so long.

Are there any experts out there who could advise?

regards

Broadreach

 

[Guest]

I have just read Dan Houston's reply to an earlier post about re-canvassing a cabin roof in which he reports on a canvas used for decking Broads boats.

I have never considered using canvas because most of the Broads yacht builders and repairers I have met swear by lino. But why lino? Its not as if you can use Flash or some other whizzo floor cleaner on it to bring it up to a brilliant shine and it certainly seems to soak up spilled paint and grease before you can mop it up.

Any Broads boatbuilders care to comment?

cheers

Broadreach


PS

Hi Dan

Bill Stock here. If I do use lino, would you care for a report and pictures?

 

[petercrook]

She's lasted nearly 100 years with lino. Why change now?

 

[miket]

Have met several owners of Dunkirk little ships who have experimented with various epoxy systems, for both hull and decks/ supers'. All have been very pleased with the result.

Visited British Powerboat Trust (Marchwood, Southampton), and they advocate laying a thin sheet of mat which is then coated with resin. Their "102" boat has not been painted now for some years (roughly 5?). I think that says something for it.

 

[Guest]

Mike T

This is exactly the method recommended by my local boatyard on the Broads. However other yards, which favour the more traditonal lino, claim there could be problems with epoxy because an old wooden yacht will twist and flex in a blow and this could cause the epoxy deck covering to crack. Lino, they say, will twist and stretch quite naturally.

Must make a decision by the end of the month and get the work in hand before the start of the season. I think lino has it at this stage.

 

[Guest]

Broadreach - in your (deck) shoes I know which two yards that I would go to for advice, both in Norfolk, both specialising in boats of that kind and age. But I suspect you know your way around the Broads better than me, and that my two ha'pennyworth may not prove of much value.

Still, drop me a line if this is of any use. Your boat sounds like a beauty.

 

[ccscott49]

I agree with you Peter, Lino has lasted this long why change, Lino can be made wonderfully shiny, with floor wax polish, this will also protect the lino and make it waterproof and spills will wash off! I remember limo in the army, on barrack floors, which would stand up to soldiers marching on it in hobnail boots and still shine, I know I've polished miles of it! Excellent resiliant stuff!

 

[petercrook]

All traditionally-built boats twist and flex, they can't help it. But they twist and flex all over, so the stresses and strains are distributed throughout the structure and are absorbed. If you introduce a rigid element (like a plywood deck) that can't flex then the stresses that the deck previously absorbed have to be absorbed somewhere else that wasn't 'designed' to do so. Doesn't sound like a good idea to me.