'Nuther covered deck question..

[Gold Rock]

Thirty foot on deck, nine foot and a couple inches of beam, large coach house. How much epoxy should one anticipate using for a dynel covered deck job? Now, I know you can't say exactly, and we're aware that dynel, for example, is "thirstier" than, say, fiberglass, but those things considered, is a boat this size a one gallon job?, ten gallon job?, thirty gallon? Can anyone give a reasonable guesstimate? Thanks again.

Chuck

[Uncle Duke]

Well, somebody better check my figures on this, but....
Assuming that you have about 200 square feet to cover, and assuming that you will need about 1/8" coverage to soak into the dynel, then you need about 2 cubic feet of epoxy (200 / 12 / 8).
1 gallon = 0.1334 cubic feet.
So - you would want about 15 gallons (2 / 0.1334).

Note the assumption that "1 gallon of epoxy" is actually "1 gallon" - in reality it will be more once you add the hardener at whatever the appropriate ratio is, so you'll want to correct for that...

Just an example, the assumptions above may be either slightly incorrect or wildly off...or the math itself may be faulty...or maybe sunspots? :D

[mcdenny]

That's way more that I'd expect. I think 1/32 inch would be closer, i.e. 3 or 4 gallons. Even that sounds like too much.

You probably want some of the texture of the dynel to show for a non-skid canvass look. I used one thick coat of epoxy and three coats of enamel. Looks good IMHO.

[Uncle Duke]

I think 1/32 inch would be closer
And that may be exactly correct...might need some allowance, though, for some amount to saturate into the the deck/house if they are raw wood. You should be able to make some reasonable guess based on the thickness of the dynel - depth of epoxy needed after surface saturation = 50% of cloth thickness? 30%? 70%?

[Gold Rock]

Square footage times thickness of applied layer. Convert cu. inches to gallons. Perfectly sound reasoning. However, but with all due respect to those who offered advice,and thanks, can anyone who's actually done this project offer me some concrete, experiential advise? Thanks again.

Chuck

[Uncle Duke]

can anyone who's actually done this project offer me some concrete, experiential advise?
From the Forum archives:

I have covered the bottom of my boat with xynole. In my experience 3 gal will not be nearly enough to do 120 sq ft. My 450 (approx) took on the order of 30+ gallons of epoxy. ... It takes a lot to fill the weave.
http://www.woodenboatvb.com/vbulletin/upload/archive/index.php/t-569.html
Of course, that's xynole and not dynel. And that's a sheathing (completely enclosed covering) rather than a deck covering, where you might want to keep some of the weave 'exposed' for non-skid reasons. And no indication of the weight of the cloth, etc. But I think it matches pretty well what I've experienced on strip canoes with fiberglass.
Hopefully someone who has done decks with dynel can weigh in though.

[Gold Rock]

Yeah, that's the idea, thanks. I guess my decks total less than a 100 sq. ft. I'll do a more exact calc. tomorrow, but at least it ought to be less than a 10 gal. job. Thank goodness, the price of epoxy these days is stupid. Thanks Duke. Anyone else??

[mizzenman]

How about actualy covering one sq.ft of scrap ply whith dunel-epoxy to find out how much 'poxy you ned per sq.ft?

[Samh]

I used app. 5 gallons on my 44", large deckhouse/cockpit.

[Gold Rock]

Thanks Samh.