I need to replace the deck on the 28ft pontoon I just bought. I have Menards and Home Depot in my area (SE Wisconsin), and my guess is that someone will tell me to go there and special order 3/4" marine grade plywood (4 sheets). Is there a better way to go about this? Is there a fiberglass or composite product you would reccomend? (I won't pay $300/ sheet BTW) Is there a better place than Menards or Depot?
Hi, Vdub.Use 3/4" CDX. You can carpet it, but I would coat it with Rhino-Liner type material in a light color.How do you propose to replace a 28' deck with 4 sheets? If she is 12' wide, I count 10 4X8' sheets.Good luck.
It's only 8 foot wide, and the pontoons are 28 foot, but the deck only extends 16-20 of them.(4x8 sheets and something different up front I was figuring...) I did a little temporary repair with some old CDX I had, so I know its a little narrower than 8 foot. I will probably need a 5th sheet, but I was thinking about something like a wood slat deck up front of that composite decking material. (Forward of the canopy and 'fenced' in area. But...GREAT IDEA with the Rhino Liner! I like that even better than mine, since keys or small objects won't fall through up front. (Although water would drain better.) Even if I carpet the back, the Rhino Liner would give a nice texture to the front, or at least protect the bottom of the boat. (I read elsewhere to smear epoxy on the sheets before install.)
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Re: Pontoon Deck Reccomendations
My 20' Monarch pontoon boat has pressure treated wood for the deck with carpet over. I'd use the same for replacement if I keep it that long...going on 7 yrs now and no signs of problems. I recently bought 6 hand picked sheets of the 3/4" pt ply at Lowes and it was ok quality for flooring. In my opinion marine grade isn't necessary for a pontoon boat and 3/4 has enough bulk to cover a few hollow spots. The pt I bought also going into another boat for stringers, transom and floor.
Previous owner told me he had redecked once (since 74 when he bought it) and the deck is just now giving way, so I'm guessing about 10 years or so from 3/4 plywood should be expected. In other posts I've read, CDX is suggested over pressure treated. And I like the RhinoCoat idea too. What I don't want to do is spend $$$ on this. (We put 12 people on this weekend and dipped the front of the boat at full throttle! Whoops! And yes, we were balanced out on the boat.) Thanks for all the advice!
I had never heard of PT Ply before (!) so I did a web search before I posted this so I didn't look like such a dummy. (Which, I am, but I don't need to tell you all that!)I see Spike has offered this advice before for some time: Some Boating BBSSo, I see you don't waffle on your answer... Where does one get PT Ply? Just at the local Home Depot? Do I still get 3/4 inch? (I saw posts saying they could only find 3/8 PT...)
I just bought a 24 foot pontoon. It has 2 year old Marine PW for the deck. It was about 15 degrees when I looked at it, and the bottom of the deck looks brand new. I was from end to end and side to side and never saw or felt a weak spot. I walked the top and no soft spots anywhere on the boat.
The day I pulled it home it was 4 degrees and I hadnt gone 30 feet when I heard the distinct sound of wood popping. I towed it 200 miles, and when I got back on top of the boat, there was large (3' Diameter) spot where the wood had delamintated. What do you think may have happened? Can I just replace the bad piece all the way across? Any ideas will be appreciated.
" Wood is good" unless it fails to serve the purpose for which it is intended To understand the differences between grades of plywood, and the meaning of the various designations, is to choose wisely and appropriately. The saying " Be fooled at your peril" applies to many things, but when considering the construction and end uses of various types of plywood, if you are fooled into using the wrong grade, the results can be unnecessarily expensive, or even disastrous. .
Pressure-treated plywood, often called "Wolmanized" or P.T. plywood, is NOT " Marine grade" plywood, and those designations do not make the two products arbitrarily interchangeable.
Pressure treated plywood is common plywood that has been subjected to pressure treatment with chemicals to prevent the wood from decaying, or rotting. To some degree, it also discourages insect damage because of the chemicals involved . Pressure treated plywood, however, is not suitable for marine use. The treatment of plywood with copper and arsenic compounds under pressure simply does not make the plywood waterproof, and worse, continuous exposure to water will leach the preservative chemicals from the pressure-treated wood.
Again, pressure treated plywood is ordinary, interior-grade plywood that has been chemically-treated, and it is often made with softer woods to enable the penetration of the wood treating chemicals, with no special care effected to eliminate all gaps or voids.
G1S plywood, (good-one-side) is plywood with one side graded "Select" to show no defects or gaps and is an aesthetic consideration.
Exterior grade plywood is made with water-resistant glue, but the exterior shell is the only layer that is made void-free. There may be gaps, voids and the resulting points of weakness in the interior layers. When you cut a sheet of exterior grade plywood, you may expose a gap on the cut surface.
Marine grade plywood, on the other hand, is a different creature. Marine grade plywood is assembled gap and void-free in all layers, and laminated together with special, water-proof glue that holds the various layers together. When immersed, water has absolutely no effect on the glue or the strength of the lamination of marine grade plywood. Marine grade plywood will not commonly delaminate, bubble, buckle, or warp. Upon cutting marine grade plywood, no voids will be discovered on the cut edges. It is also usually constructed of harder woods such as Douglas Fir, or Western Larch.
Marine grade is a superior grade of plywood, and a substantially better product.
Do choose carefully when selecting plywood for marine use. Although it is more expensive, marine-grade plywood, when finished appropriately, will outlast pressure-treated plywood by far. The ordinary glues used in plywood , pressure-treated or not, will eventually fail for structural reasons.
When the transom on your boat fails in the middle of the lake, the wisdom of having saved fifty dollars by buying cheaper pressure-treated plywood instead of marine grade will come to question rather quickly. In this application, and other critical structural applications, let us suggest that "the RIGHT wood IS good", and marine grade is best.
Now you know the difference between marine grade and pressure treated plywood.
Good article about the difference in marine and PT decking. What does it mean when it says "when finished appropretly" about using marine plywood. What should be sealed on it?
What about my question about replacing just the delaminated section?
It was actually a real good thread to re-read though. I didn't really know the difference between the pressure treated and marine plywood. Is the Marine stuff marked "Marine" somewhere?
There is a roof decking that is impregnated with a waterproof glue, add a couple of coats of polyurathane, cheeper, lighter, and will last as long as pressure treated plywood.
Something alot of people don't realize but the deck of a pontoon is a stressed strutural part of the boat, kind of like taking a bench seat out of a jon boat, without the floor a toon would be a floppy mess.
You need the strength of 3/4'' plywood to stand up to the contant pressures put on it underway, especially on a larger boat like a 28'er.
Pontoon Deck Reccomendations
Re: Pontoon Deck Reccomendations
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