Re coating wood/fiberglass decking

[Cjp13021]

I recently had some wet wood on my 84 bayliner capri cuddy. During investigation I found that the previous owner had placed another layer of floor on top of the original flooring and reglassed it. Clearly did a terrible job glassing g because the whole layer of wood they put on was rotten and soaked. The original flooring is pretty solid no soft spots and the glass looks great. There is just one rot spot near the rear seat where swimmers come in and drip. I cut that out and the stringers underneath from what I can see are fine. I got it all covered with a dehumidifier running constantly to suck out any excess moisture. I don’t really need to recoat the decking, but I was going to do it just in case so I don’t run into this problem again. I don’t want to add any new glass , I just want to make sure it’s completely waterproof. I don’t really want to mess with epoxy unless I have to. I was thinking of using liquid rubber polyurethane deck coating, says it works on boat decks and is great in the sun and is suppose to last 10 years. The boat is 40 years old and I don’t see it lasting anymore than 10 years anyhow. Do you think this liquid rubber would be sufficient to seal the deck ?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Your boat had a "deck over". Basically a crappy patch job to sell it

The deck usually rots a decade after the transom and stringers. Boats rot from bottom up.

To do it right, you are going to have to pull the interior, pull the motor/drive, pull the cap and cut out the rotten floor, stringers and transom wood.

You are looking at $3000 and about a year of work.

Look at the links in the stickies at the top of the forum. Specifically the 4th sticky. Look at links 14, 15, 18, 2, 3, 4a and 4b

 

[Cjp13021]

Your boat had a "deck over". Basically a crappy patch job to sell it

The deck usually rots a decade after the transom and stringers. Boats rot from bottom up.

To do it right, you are going to have to pull the interior, pull the motor/drive, pull the cap and cut out the rotten floor, stringers and transom wood.

You are looking at $3000 and about a year of work.

Look at the links in the stickies at the top of the forum. Specifically the 4th sticky. Look at links 14, 15, 18, 2, 3, 4a and 4b

No the transom the stringers and the original floor are not rotted in the post I said the only parts that were rotten was the deck over , and one spot on the original floor in the back of the boat near the swim platform. . I’ve cut out all the rot. Which is about a 6x8 section. Not big at all: the rest of the deck is original wood and glass and is solid. The stringers are solid.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Why would someone do a deckover if the original deck was intact? That doesn’t make sense.

 

[Cjp13021]

Why would someone do a deckover if the original deck was intact? That doesn’t make sense.

I guess they didn’t want to fix the one small rot spot that the original deck had

 

[Scott Danforth]

I guess they didn’t want to fix the one small rot spot that the original deck had

you trying to convince us or yourself. we all see this as a bad boat with rot problems. because most of us have been there and worked on them.

no one puts a deck over on a good boat.

 

[Cjp13021]

Listen man someone clearly put a deck over a perfectly good floor. There was one rot spot on the floor nowhere else. The dude I bought it from was a newby and there was a lot of work I had to put into this boat between the engine and everything else. I’ve owned it for 2 years and never touched the floor until this year. He cobbed things up because he didn’t know what he was doing. He did a deck over on this original deck because he didn’t want to or didn’t know how to get rid of the small soft spot. I didn’t come here to argue whether the whole original deck is bad. I mean I’m the one here working on the boat drilling holes to test the wood so I’d think I’d know if it’s bad or not. I came here for 1 question about a product I want to use and if you can not answer that then I don’t need your input of what you “think”. Thanks.

 

[briangcc]

Liquid rubber to seal a floor? That's a new one. Maybe to top coat as an anti-slip once a proper installation is done using poly and glass to seal it.

I'm a SeaDek person myself as it's a press on foam product specifically for the marine environment. There are others, this is just the one I went with on my swim deck and its easily 10-20 degrees cooler than the vinyl seats in the blazing sun. Expensive though as I was around $700 for my swim deck custom patterned by yours truly.

Bur in all honesty...if you had a soft spot in the floor, it wasn't good and there are more than likely other issues lurking below. Any number of boats have run through this forum with "I have a softspot on my floor and..." end up in a full on resto as it was much, much worse under deck. Odds alone are not in the boat's favor. Could you potentially have a 1 in a million boat with only a soft spot on the deck? It would be highly unlikely and worthy of a lottery ticket purchase if was self contained.

Since you've already opened it up, how was the foam in the section opened? Dry on top and sopping wet at the hull? Cause if so a dehumidifier isn't going to dry that out, it needs to be removed. And then I'd be looking at other structural components - stringers and transom as those more than likely gave up the ghost long before the floor did. Tip: Hitting them with a hammer isn't going to tell you anything, gotta drill down low next to the hull. If water pours out, and yes some here have had that exact situation with much newer boats than yours, then you're in for the long haul OR selling it off as a project.

 

[JASinIL2006]

I used a product called Durabak (which is a rubberized coating) on the deck when I restored my boat. It was a mistake. That stuff does not wear well, and if you ever need to remove it (e.g., because it does last), good luck getting it all off. There are many better options than bedliner/liquid rubber as a deck covering.

 

[todhunter]

You're not gonna get anyone in here to go along with rubberized coating over wood for your deck repair. We are all going to recommend either epoxy and glass or polyester and glass for a proper repair.

 

[Cjp13021]

I might’ve confused some people the glass and resin on the deck are fine they are still waterproof I just want to make a smoother deck and add an extra layer of protection. And after the rmliquid rubber I planned to put faux teak on top of that. Doesn’t sound like a good idea?

 

[JASinIL2006]

I don’t see any point in the rubber if the deck is intact and fiberglassed. Why put a top coat on only to cover it with faux teak?

 

[JASinIL2006]

You're not gonna get anyone in here to go along with rubberized coating over wood for your deck repair. We are all going to recommend either epoxy and glass or polyester and glass for a proper repair.

Absolutely true. Glassing the deck makes it waterproof; anything else is just a topcoat for looks, traction, etc.