I am in the process of replacing some of the flooring in my Pontoon Boat. It has rot where a hole was cut in the floor for access by prior owner. I have a couple of questions 1st can I use regualar AB treated plywood or should I use Marine Plywood. If Marine plywood can you purchase it treated?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
The only difference is that regular exterior grade has small voids in the inner layers (you see some on the outer layers, knot holes and such with small pieces missing) which would be filled in marine grade plywood. Same wood. Same adhesives.
17’ Henry O Hornet
26’ Palmer Scott
You don’t want to use the pressure treated. If you don’t use marine grade, use a fir in AC or BC
Wellcraft V-20 sportfish with a 200 Evinrude
You can essentially use any exterior grade plywood as long as you understand what rockbottom said about voids— for the deck of a pontoon, you just need to decide on how long you plan on using the pontoon, how well you keep it dry year-round, and how much it’s worth.
Personally I wouldn’t spend the money on marine-grade if this is a beater-grade pontoon, I’d look around for cheap MDO which is an exterior sign board. Last time I priced them, the MDO was almost half the price.
Have you ever thought of PVC? Azek makes it in quarter,half, and three quarter inch thicknesses, in 4 foot by 8 foot sheets. I think the last I bought was about $135 per sheet , but it won’t rot and its solid all the way through. I use it to make cabinetry for outdoor kitchens. Works just like wood.
Good idea w/ the pvc. Only concern with pvc is thermal expansion. Leave some room for it to move more than plywood would. I think I would go pvc if it were my boat.
17’ Henry O Hornet
26’ Palmer Scott
Be sure to paint the PVC, it still gets brittle with UV contact. It is a good choice though.
quote:Are you just replacing a couple small areas (holes) of the decking/flooring?"
Originally posted by rockbottom3I am in the process of replacing some of the flooring in my Pontoon Boat. It has rot where a hole was cut in the floor for access by prior owner. I have a couple of questions 1st can I use regualar AB treated plywood or should I use Marine Plywood. If Marine plywood can you purchase it treated?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Where can you buy this sheet PVC and can you cut it with a skill saw with a plywood blade?
You can’t catch fish on a dry line
I looked into getting 4x8 sheets a year or so back and did not end up doing it. But, I found these guys that handle ‘KLEER Lumber’, a cellular PVC product. The KLEER web site (http://www.kleerlumber.com) does not mention sheets, but, Liberty Cedar says KLEER makes them and they just have to order it. Cuts, routes, screws and nails like wood. Plus PVC glue works just like any other PVC product. You just have to be careful of blade speed/heat. A hot blade will melt it rathter than cut it. I got a sample that I played with, ran it through my table saw and router and drilled a few holes, etc. It worked very cleanly and easily.
Liberty Cedar
4115 Dorchester Rd
North Charleston
SC
29405
843-744-0450
17’ Henry O Hornet
26’ Palmer Scott
Most larger lumber yards (I.e. not lowes or Home Depot) either stock PVC or can get it. Azek is a brand name but other manufacturers are making it cheaper than the azek brand. Here in the midlands I use Shuman-Owens Supply. It cuts and routs just like wood, too. They make a PVC glue to use with it with UV blockers in it to keep it from yellowing but regular PVC glue works just as we’ll.
Thanks Palmer,don’t know the correct lingo, but the “deck plate” about 18"x8’ that runs down the center line of my 79’ McKee Santee is weak and I thought about maybe backing it with a strip cut from a sheet of this PVC instead of plywood.
You can’t catch fish on a dry line
Marsh, if you only need 18" x 8" or smaller, Liberty has a lot of sizes in stock. Also, Lowes and Home Depot probably have in 1" x 5" (or whatever size facia boards for roof overhangs are). You could get one board and play with it a little to see if it would. Do what you need. The stuff is quite flexible.
17’ Henry O Hornet
26’ Palmer Scott
I only need to replace a couple of boards. The Pontoon is not valuable 20 years old - pretty much a fishing boat. Thanks for the advice.
You should be able to buy a single 1X4 PVC, cut into 19" long pieces, and use PVC glue to glue the boards together using a couple clamps. After it’s dried (give it overnight), square off the ends to 18" long.
quote:
Originally posted by Marsh-pickerWhere can you buy this sheet PVC and can you cut it with a skill saw with a plywood blade?
You can’t catch fish on a dry line
As said above by the other folks, you can cut it just fine with wood blades (it won’t dull them out really any more than wood does).
Look for the cell-core or “foam core” (it’s somewhat “spongey” and not hard rigid PVC). This is the basic product sold at Lowes.
It isn’t cheap but long lasting.
Never seen pvc plywood, what are the main differences to Starboard ?
Can it be caulked and will 5200 bond to it ?
Thanks
Starboard is much harder and is solid plastic (well, the Starboard that we used in our shop to build exterior kitchen cabinets 3/4" thick material, HDPE plastic). I think it was “Starboard II” and runs $300-400 per sheet.
PVC board is usually lighter, softer core (such that wood screws sink into it quite nicely), and it’s white, and also paintable. The HDPE Starboard we had would resist anything on it. I use offcuts of it as lids to my paint hoppers, and the solvent based catalyzed finishes don’t stick to it at all, they flake right off.
They’d stick to PVC just fine.
I just talked to the distributor for the kleer pvc sheets. I told him what I was wanting to do with it. He told me that it was not structural and was meant to be installed vertically and not be weight bearing horizontally. You guys that have used the product…have you had any issues with it failing or even sagging in this configuration? I don’t want to install something that is not going to be safe.
The stuff is quite flexible. If I were going to use it as flooring, it would need good support underneath. Much more than 16" on center.
17’ Henry O Hornet
26’ Palmer Scott
Thanks - that anwers that going to use marine treated