Painting plywood deck... seam prep help also needed

[BonairII]

I'm in the middle of my Starcraft SS resto and I need some help with floor paint selection and seam prep.

I've decided to paint the plywood floor on my tin Starcraft rather than go the carpet or vinyl etc route. Budget won't allow Durabak, Kiwi Grip etc.

I'm going to pick up an oil based floor paint at my local HD or Lowe's. I've read that Rustoleum makes a decent paint. Anyone have any suggestions?

I'm going to coat all plywood in 3 coats(both sides and edges) of spar varnish before painting.

What do I do to cover/seal the butt joints where the floor sections meet...so they look decent under the paint and don't allow water to seep through? The plywood will be riveted to the thin aluminum strip under each butt joint.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Painting plywood deck... seam prep help also needed

I would say the 3M 4200 would probably be your best bet, unless you have some epoxy resin and cabosil on hand that you could whip up a batch of fairing compound with.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Painting plywood deck... seam prep help also needed

I'd go to Lowe's and buy a gallon of Poly resin and a Package of Fiberglass Mat and Cloth. Cost you around $40 bucks. Coat the edges with the resin then cut 4" strips of the Mat and overlap the seams. 30 minutes later when it's tacky coat with resin again and lay the cloth and coat with resin again. In an hour use a R/O sander to sand and feather smooth. Use Rustoleum Industrial Oil based paint and away you go. Check the last link in my signature below for some good info on painting. I use Valspar but The Rustoleum as basically the same stuff.

 

[BonairII]

Re: Painting plywood deck... seam prep help also needed

Use Rustoleum Industrial Oil based paint and away you go.

Is it sold at Lowe's or HD? Is it actually called Industrial Paint or is it listed as something else?

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Painting plywood deck... seam prep help also needed

This is what I'm talking about. Rustoleum Professional Oil Based Enamel.
Lowe's and HD both carry it in Oklahoma. WalMart too!
Here's a drawing of how I'd do the seams...

 

[lakelover]

Re: Painting plywood deck... seam prep help also needed

jigngrub's suggestion would work, or 5200, the better you seal the edges, the better off you'll be.

After sealing wtih epoxy resin, I used Rustoleum Marine paint, but the regular Rusto would be just as good and less expensive (Professional or Stops Rust oil based). I mixed in some Rusto Anti-slip Additive, it worked great.

My deck has: two coats of epoxy top, edges and bottom; one coat of Rustoleum Marine primer for wood and fiberglass all around; and two coats of Rustoleum Marine topside paint all around. Then on top of that, the top surface has three coats of paint with the Anti-slip added.

Check out my post #306 here: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=309879&page=13

As for the seems, I didn't worry too much about how it looked. I put the lateral one under the seat board, and the original deck had a seem running front to back.

Edit: Wood & I must have been posting at the same time, his suggestions are excellent too. More than one way to skin a cat.

 

[BonairII]

Re: Painting plywood deck... seam prep help also needed

Yup, I was def considering the anti-slip additive.

Oil based enamel....check. Thanks.