Temporary (3 month) deck repair suggestions?

[Gezzunder]

G'day all. I have contracted a disease. Friends, even complete strangers, will stare at me and even snigger maybe even laugh openly at my plight. My girlfriend rolls her eyes and gives me "The Look". I thought I was all alone, until I discovered this forum and you lot.

I have bought a wooden yacht.

I love her.

Named "Genie", she is a 23' LOA (18' LWL) shelter cabin knockabout designed by William and John Atkin in '53 and built soon after in (possibly) Fremantle, Western Australia. In 1961 her mast was replaced by a 3m longer alluminium one, according to notes made on a 1954 article from Seacraft magazine which was found onboard.

Most of her ribs are cracked but her planking is still fair and now that she is sailing again, takes in little or no water. So my plan is to sail her over summer and get the most out of the $350 I paid for Genie (and the outboard) before slipping and rebuilding.

To the point of the post... The foredeck has a section of ply which has succumbed to rot. It is quite spongy and the top laminate is gone completely. I can still walk my 100kg (and reducing - honest) across it but I want to effect a temporary stopgap until I take her out and replace the deck completely. I was thinking of hitting it with Epoxy thinned with TPRDA but perhaps you may have a better suggestion.

Some photos, seeing as we all love photos :)

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii297/darcydugganx/CIMG1125.jpg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii297/darcydugganx/CIMG1234.jpg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii297/darcydugganx/CIMG1241.jpg

And as I'd like her to look....

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii297/darcydugganx/GenieFuturecopy.jpg

[Thorne]

Welcome to the Forum -- plenty of other folks here with the same 'disease'...

Beware of "temp" fixes as they can easily become a lot more permanent than you would ever think.

What is the primary issue? Leakage? Strength of the deck? Structural?

Depending on how temporary a fix you want, some acrylic latex porch paint may be all you'll need. You could also try some thin ply or even doubled doorskins over the soft area, bedded in the above paint or glued down with PL Premium.

If you will be ripping it all off in a few months, I'd be tempted to not spend the dosh on epoxy, plus being a great glue it might make disassembly difficult.

Let's see what the more experienced folks say.

[Boatsmith]

one solution is to paint the deck with "Sno-Kote", An elastomeric coating designed for mobile home roofs. It will seal the deck and provide excellent nonskid, plus isn't too bad to remove. People have used it on wooden fishing boats on the US west coast for a long time.Very pretty boat, but the disease is incurable. David

[Salty Sailor]

If you are planing on replacing the deck then cut out the rot.
Chisel and hamer should do it or a jigsaw if you have one.
Run some water sealant around the hole
Cover the hole with a peice of ply and screw it down.
Ugly but it works and its very satisfying to remove wood rot.
Its amazing how quickly it can spead in the right conditions..

[Larks]

Mate, if you're gonna rip up the deck anyway, maybe scoot down to bunnings and get a bucket of wet area sealant, a mastic type paint for sealing bathroom wet areas before tiling them. Slap it on as thick as you like, it's a real bush mechanics fix and certainly won't last terribly long in the sun but if you're just wanting to keep the rain out for a couple of months... what the heck... and it will be a reasonable no slip as well.

PS, welcome to the forum mate, where are you??

[Gezzunder]

Thanks guys, I've hit the rot with ethelyne glycol to kill the spores followed up with the epoxy/TPRDA (I was given a sampler - so why not :) and a lick of paint - more like a heavy drool actually. The entire deck will be ripped off and replaced when I slip her, the amount of checking elsewhere indicates that there's no saving it.

[Tom Hunter]

Two reasons for a temporary repair

1) Keep the water out (rain mostly, spray maybe) and I would not worry much about the spray. Rain can rot the deck beams, but I doubt much will change in three months so I would not worry about it.

2) Keep you from going through it. That would be my only concern, you don't want a broken ankle or shredded leg when you are sailing. I would poke it with an awl or screwdriver just to be sure there were no places it had rotted through. If it has patch them as Salty Sailor instructs below. I've done it too, not pretty but if you are sailing who really cares?

[outofthenorm]

Another completely mad Southerner! Don't worry, there's a gaggle of your mates on board here. Welcome to the asylum.

Good advice above - I'd go with Salty Sailor if it was mine, but it's six of one I think.
Your drool of paint may be all you need.

Very pretty boat and sure worth saving.

You know that now you have an obligation to post a billion photos of the restoration, right?

- Norm

[johngsandusky]

If you're worried about stepping through (I would be), just put another peice of plywood over it, tack it down. The new peice need not be vey thick, as the old peice and beams will support it.
Nice boat.

[Larks]

Bye the way, very nice buy. $350.00??? You couldn't buy the six brass portlights for that. well done!!