Deck Repairs - Advise please

[S/V Laura Ellen]

I've started to replace the deck planking at the stern.
The is a piece of the planking removed from the deck today.
I'll probably ending up replacing the entire deck.



I've been told that the wood used on the deck is pitch pine. Is this a good choice for the new planking? Been given a price of $4.20 bft. for yellow pine. Is yellow pine and pitch pine the same?


This photo shows where the plank above was removed from.


This photo shows my view from the deck of Laura Ellen.

The deck planks are approx 1" thick 2" wide, cotton caulking with pitch (boat glue) seam compound.

Comments?

[Mrleft8]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

Nooooooooooooooooo. Yellow pine is not Pitch pine.....But Pitch pine is yellow pine.

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

Nooooooooooooooooo. Yellow pine is not Pitch pine.....But Pitch pine is yellow pine.

Is pitch pine what I should use for the deck?
I think I'm looking for a denser, rot resistant wood.

[Stephen]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

Douglas fir is reasonably close to pitch pine and makes for a good tough deck that can be left bare. You'll want vertical grain stock of course.
For a more accurate measurement of how thick your deck was originally I'd check the thickness in an area up against a post or hatch that hasn't been sanded/worn away, like it probably has been out in an open area like where you pulled that first plank.
Also be prepared that your deckbeams might need replacing. They can look fine from down below, but can prove to be quite a different story once the deck is off for inspection. Ask me how I know....

[MiddleAgesMan]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

The plank in your picture sure looks like Douglas fir to me...very nice vertical grain DF.

The names people use for woods vary widely with region. Douglas fir is also known as some sort of pine in some quarters.

The color is close to what we call heart pine down here but it's closer to DF IMO. If it has a strong smell of rosin and burns like a candle I'm all wet and it's heart pine.

[Plover]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

S/V,
Looking at what you have in the pic is pretty hard to tell what it is. Could be Pitch, doug, spruce definately a conifer. Your best bet is to mail a hunk out to Bob Smalser and have him eyeball it for you, he should be able to tell you exactly what it is in relatively short order! I cant say if it is pitch only because of the very narrow grain however, that means almost nothing! I have about 10 pitch logs waiting top be milled and the grain on the stuff I have is fairly wide which leads me to believe that it is fairly fast growing tree. And pretty darn heavy! Best of luck with it!
Paul

[sdowney717]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

Why not go with IPE decking?
this is an ironwood, very stiff, durable and strong.

http://www.ipedeckingsource.com/

[Mrleft8]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

Allan, "Pitch Pine" is "Pinus Ridgiata" and it grows from Quebec to souther New York state, and over to Maine and Massachussets. It's generally a small twisty tree, and I doubt that your decking is made from that. It's also called "fat wood" or "candle wood" because it's resin content is so high that you can light it with a match very easilly. They used to make turpentine from this stuff. (maybe still do?)
Southern Yellow Pine is a generic term for 3 or more varieties of pine that grow predominantly in the southern US states. In days of old, these were highly sought after for their strength and rot resistance. Unfortunately the stuff that's being milled now is very different, and probably not suitable for your deck. If you can find old reclaimed mill timbers that have been resawn, they might be good, but they'll also probably be very dry....

[Jim Ledger]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

Allan, what you're probably looking at is Fir, although it might be Lonfleaf pine. Cut a piece and give it the sniff test. If it's Longleaf, it will have an odor like pine scented cleaner. Longleaf will also feel heavy, with a yellowish color, whereas Fir will be lighter and orange colored.

This outfit, on Cape cod, resaws old-growth Longleaf pine mill timbers, lots of them, and has a lot of resawn stock on hand. Hold on to your wallet, though.

http://www.cataumetsawmill.com/

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

Paul Pless has been helping out at the boat shop the last couple of days. Over the last two days the deck removal has begun, deck hardware removed and the cockpit coaming has been unbolted and removed (the coming was also bonded to the deck and needed to be cut loose).

The cockpit coaming:


Winches removed:


The deck after the coaming was removed:

[Paul Pless]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

the coming was also bonded to the deck and needed to be cut loose

'bonded'... Allan is a master of understatement....

[Domesticated_Mr. Know It All]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

How are you going to finish it?
Paint?

[andrewe]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

I always understood that ' pitch pine' was virtually unobtainable nowadays. Only found in reclaimed timber. People on the 'east side of the pond' have to replace with other timber. Or have I missed something?
A

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

How are you going to finish it?
Paint?

I have not yet decided.

[seo]

Re: Deck Repairs - Advise please

I did some work on a 1930's-era Norwegian government boat that the Norwegian owner, a well known builder named O. Lie-Nielsen, said was planked with "pitch pine," which I think he said grew in scandanavia and Scotland. It was resinous, with gnarly grain kind of like tamarack.

Quite a few Herreshoff big boats were built with cedar decks. Years ago I sailed a long trip on a 65' schooner that had alaska yellow cedar decks. They were really nice. It's lovely wood to work. I think Port Orford cedar would work as well.
White pine used to be the material of choice for decks, but that was old-growth stuff.
A few years ago I had a 1933 63' power boat with all yellow pine planked hull, 2" thick, 32' long, and the broad strakes down by the keel were (no fooling) 12" wide. Wise men would look at those planks and opine that it would never work. Planks were too wide, they'd split. Even though the boat was 65 years old at the time, it was not going to work.
However, she had some yellow pine in her decks, and that didn't work at all well. Rot would get started in one annual ring, and run along the plank its entire length.
I know it will sound like apostasy, or worse, but I hate planked caulked decks. They leak. My personal all time choice would be marine plywood, which greatly stiffens a boat, sheathed with 1/4" thick vertical grain cedar, set in epoxy. Pretty, good footing, strong. Won't leak.