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Re: Aft Deck Restoration

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 4:33 am
by carl
BigM

Re: Aft Deck Restoration

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 5:45 am
by carl
BigM

Re: Aft Deck Restoration

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 10:21 am
by jralbert
I forgot about PlasDeck. Very versatile and good looking. You could put that stuff down, tell everyone it's teak and they may never know it's not. But you will when they are scrubbing, bleaching, clear-sealing teak and you are watching pretty girls while pretending to read about medieval history.

Re: Aft Deck Restoration

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 10:28 am
by carl
BigM

Re: Aft Deck Restoration

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 3:47 pm
by Busia
If you use Riv-nuts you will find they will sometimes spin on you. They are thin, but do not sit perfectly flush with the surface, so you get a little bump every place there is one. They will corrode as you can't get them in the correct alloy. Then they will spin on you and make you mad. So the answer is just use sheet metal screws. Be warned that stainless steel hardware is not as strong as carbon steel and will break very easily. You will snap some off. So drill your pilot hole bigger than you think you need. The framing that supports the deck is thick enough that you will have plenty of metal to screw into with sheet metal screws. Just buy a box of stainless SMS and be glad this is one of the easier jobs. If you want to spend some money and make the job easier, find an aircraft countersink that is adjustable. --Ed

Re: Aft Deck Restoration

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 4:48 pm
by carl
BigM

Re: Aft Deck Restoration

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 8:11 pm
by javalin390
It will be spring before I get a chance to get up to mine (on Lake Erie). Not sure how thick it is, but it's pretty heavy duty. My hatch, in the center, has an Al angle iron frame tig welded to it. It's so heavy that it has a set of those little gas charged struts, like on a hatchback, to hold it up.

Re: Aft Deck Restoration

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:09 pm
by jralbert
Carl: The plasteak people make a plastic underlay which is what I used on the bow pulpit and screw the planks to it. Very workable. And indestructible.
Don't know the thickness but the website will have it, of course. You won't have to be cutting heavy sheets of aluminum with this stuff and cutting screw holes will be a cinch

Re: Aft Deck Restoration

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 4:26 am
by carl
BigM

Re: Aft Deck Restoration

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 5:17 pm
by Busia
The aluminum I have for my deck is 5/32 and is very solid. There is a lot of framing on our boats to support the deck. I think you could use 1/8 and be just fine. I removed some of the support to work, and remove the gas tank, never put it back in as did not need it.
If you do use a plastic decking, be warned it moves a lot with a change of temperature. If you attach it solidly, something will buckle. (get the coefficient of expansion and calculate the movement ) Secret is to attach it in the middle and let the ends move.--Ed