Boat deck repair question

[Kentucky Fisherman]

I have an early-70s Lowe aluminum bass boat that most folks would describe as Tracker-style. About 6-8 years ago I had to replace the small front deck, the one up where the trolling motor mounts. I used marine grade plywood and sealed it with at least 3-4 coats of whatever was recommended to me as the best stuff at the time. Now here I am not many years later and that front deck has gone mushy on me again. So, it's rebuild time ... again!

My question is whether there is some kind of readily available aluminum material I could buy to use for that front deck. I know there used to be some products that was basically some kind of aluminum eggshell with a solid skin on both sides. I think they used them in houseboats a lot. I'd like to get this job done fairly quick, so if there's anything that would be carried by a Lowes or Home Depot, that would really help.

If you don't have any advice about metal or plastic replacement material, does anyone have any good tips about replacing with wood. If I end up using wood, what's the best type to use and how should I coat it?

Thanks for any help.

[bcp]

...if there's anything that would be carried by a Lowes or Home Depot, that would really help.


I saw pressure treated plywood in one of those places recently.

Bruce

[James in Asheville]

Mike paint both side of the plywood with fiberglass
of course use 'marine' grade plywood.
Yea there is some kind of composite material
but can't think of the name and it was used on pontoons.

[T.D.C.]

It is the edges that wick the moisture. Seal the ply with epoxy and you should get a few more years out of it. If you were handy and have a metal fab shop at your disposal, you might consider aluminum and support it with fabricated ribs.

[T.D.C.]

I have seen some cored with foam. I would guess it is injected in the void, but not positive. I helped with a repair on a twin engine go faster boat that had foam filled stringers and the engine mounts ripped out. In the past we used white oak for stringers in the area of the engines but some mfg.'s want to save money and weight.

[Larry D Scott]

called Alukabond, made at a plant in Benton. That is what you need. It 2sheets of thin aluminum w/a PVC layer in the middle. If you have enough under deck frame support this is the stuff, it will last a lifetime. I have used it in flooring and decking many boats.

[lamm1]

The layered foam/aluminum goes by several names Alumacore,Insulcore, - they use it alot for campers,airplanes, and dog boxes- I have a dog box made out of it. It pretty wimpy stuff so you'd have to put in some type of support.

They make aluminum skid plate- or diamond plate- that you could use and depending on the thickness you get it might be sturdy enough you wouldn't have to add much support. The new composite lumber stuff would work well, but it's fairly heavy. Or you could make another deck out of plywood and take it to the local spray in bed liner place and have them spray both sides and edges with bedliner- it works real well- I had 2 box blinds that I had to replace the floors and lower part of the walls after they rotted out after only 2 yrs- I had waterproofed and painted everything when I started but it didn't hold up. I had him shoot the top and bottom side of the floor and 2ft. up on the inside and out of the walls. It's been 3 yrs. and it still looks good and no soft spots even after setting in 2ft. of snow for several weeks last winter- one blind the door came open and had 18in. of snow inside.

[Kentucky Fisherman]

Found some plastic stuff called King Starboard at a yacht-building company across the river in Southern Indiana. It's kind of a cross between the plastic you see in cutting boards and something a little harder, like maybe PVC. I got the 1/2 inch and am hoping it's strong enough that it won't sag under load. The area up on that front deck is pretty small, so I think I'm OK. I'll cut it, position in, and then load test it. If it wants to give too much, I'll cut a wooden rib or two to go underneath, but I think it's gonna be fine by itself. The 1/2 inch material is $8 a square foot, but if it works right it'll be worth every bit of that because there's no way it can get soft or rot.

Thanks for the names of some of that aluminum core stuff. I'll eventually need to replace some other decking on this boat and something like that may well be what I want to use. I was hoping to find some that had some real built-in strength so I wouldn't have to worry so much about ribs and struts.

I'll let you know how this goes, maybe take a picture or two.

[Don M.]

Mike if that doesn't work and you want something out of Aliminum that will
work, then you might consider the Aluminum that I had the storage box
made out of that is on the front of the "War Wagon". It is the same material
that the houseboat manufacturers makes the outter hulls with. As you know,
that sotrage box is strong enough to have a "square dance" on. It is readily
available several places here as we have 5 or 6 houseboat manufacturers
here in MOnticello. Glad to help you if you need some assistance.

[T.D.C.]

I was at Lowes looking for some sheet metal and the yhad some aluminimum diamond plate that was between 1/8 and 3/16 thick. with a crown and a rib support added it should be strong enough.

[Larry D Scott]

I looked at in Lowes, the guy with the pricing gun must have been confused and thought it was a Diamond ring !!!!!

[T.D.C.]

I didn't say it was cheap!!?? It is about $45 in my area for the apps 3 foot x 3 foot piece.