Epoxy sealing flooring plywood?

[adk_vfr]

Hey guys I'm getting ready to put my marine grade plywood down in my boat for my new floor. My question is is the epoxy resin everyone says to use the same stuff used for fiberglass? I can get that at the hardware store if it is if not what product are people using? Thanks guy's

 

[gm280]

Re: Epoxy sealing flooring plywood?

Not sure what type boat you are working on, but most folks don't use epoxy resin, but do use polyester resin instead and the different fiberglass materials that goes along with it. Polyester is what most fiberglass boats are built with and poly on ploy works perfectly. Epoxy and poly seem to not work as good. I'm sure those in the know will chime in and explain all this better. But I'd go polyester and it is even cheaper too...

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Epoxy sealing flooring plywood?

We've seen quite a few people on this forum that don't realize that there are 2 types of marine resins used for working on boats.

One is polyester resin and it's used for working on fiberglass boats and is what most people use when laying fiberglass. It is a weak resin that requires the use of fiberglass to strengthen it, by itself it's pretty much worthless.

The other is epoxy resin, it can be used to lay fiberglass... but is strong enough to be used by itself too.

For the decking on your aluminum boat you want to use the epoxy resin, and you want to use multiple coats. 3 or 4 coats will give you a long lasting and very durable protective barrier on your plywood deck.

Most stores don't stock the USComposites epoxy resin, the 635 thin with the 3:1 medium hardener is an easy to use formula that penetrates the wood very nicely.

 

[adk_vfr]

Re: Epoxy sealing flooring plywood?

Not fiberglassing just sealing plywood for my aluminum boat

 

[minuteman62-64]

Re: Epoxy sealing flooring plywood?

I'm a big epoxy fan, but ..... Maybe marine ply w/epoxy overkill for flooring for aluminum boat? My flooring is 1/2" exterior ply, painted both sides w/oil based paint and covered on top with a vinyl sheet deck covering material. Been in there since at least 1982, when I purchased the boat, and still going strong.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Epoxy sealing flooring plywood?

Are you sure the Hardware store resin is Epoxy and NOT polyester resin. Most Hardware stores carry the Standard Gallon cans of Polyester Resin and NOT Epoxy resin. There's a BIG difference between the two.

There IS the Old Time alternative to sealing wood too.

 

[Bubbasboat]

XXXXX

 

[Auger01]

Re: Epoxy sealing flooring plywood?

A layer of glass over the wood will provide good abrasion protection. A layer of only resin will work, but if you scratch or gouge it, then it will need to be touched up.

 

[produceguy]

Re: Epoxy sealing flooring plywood?

I've used a lot of the resin from the box stores and yes it will work. It more than likely is a waxed resin.
The trick is to prep the surface, precut the glass, mix your resin,wet out the surface,lay 1 layer of glass, wet that layer out and repeat for how many layers u want. You have to work pretty fast with that stuff or it will start to gel up and at that point you can't use it. I usually mix about a quarter of the can for a larger size batch.
If it hardens before your done and need to ad more layers, you will need to sand the surface so the next layer will stick.
When your done, sand it and paint.

 

[Ned L]

Re: Epoxy sealing flooring plywood?

There are three types of resin used in boat building: polyester, vinyl ester, and epoxy resin. The majority of production fiberglass boats are built using polyester resin. There are different reasons to use each one.
As with any ?glue? they do not have all that much strength on their own, and all three normally need to be used in combination with some sort of ?textile? to achieve the intended strength (unless in the case of epoxy it is used as an actual ?glue? to cement two different items together).
Coating plywood with a resin is an effect method of sealing the wood from intrusion, however you need to realize that polyester resin is susceptible to water absorption (hygroscopic) and is therefore the least desirable of the three resin types for this.
If the resin coating is only a thin coating that is absorbed into the surface of the wood then a layer of textile is not necessary. If any buildup of thickness is desired (as in a smooth finished surface), then some sort of textile (fiberglass cloth) should be used in order to achieve a desired coating strength.

As has been mentioned, for the deck on a bass boat, simply painting the plywood with a good quality oil based enamel (and maintaining it) will last for decades . An oil based enamel paint IS a better option (tougher, longer lasting, better UV resistance) than varnish for sealing wood and keeping out moisture.