Rebuilding Alaskan Bulkhead with composite decking-gctid347547

[Guest]

The biggest eyesore on my 2270 is the bulkhead, it's a cedar? frame with some kind of panel inserts and it's faded, peeling, and just plain nasty.

It was redone about a year before I got the boat, but just doesn't hold up in the salt.

I was thinking about rebuilding the wood parts using the composite timbertech decking as a lower maintenance option.

A couple of types are fairly heavy, others not so bad and more "plastic", I'm going to use the lighter more plastic version.

Any negatives? Will any color bleed off and stain my deck?

[Guest]

Ryan, I'd consider a few things before going to composite decking...

1. Weight would be my number one concern. I've helped several people install composite decking and the planks were very heavy compared to wood. I would certainly not want to have that type of weight burden on my boat.

2. Most composite decking is 1.5 inches thick. Do you need that thickness?

3. Check the joints to see if they provide a waterproof seal. If not, You'll need to apply silicone or another type of sealant.

One viable option would be to just glass and gelcoat over what you currently have. If done properly, it will appear as if it was done by the manufacturer and not an add on. I've seen a dock neighbor do this on his boat...and although it was directly over beautiful teak (I nearly screamed after I found out), it did look decent.

[boatworkfl]

The OP is asking a question about a bulkhead, not decking, with either one on a used boat, I would usr 1/2" marine plywood, with 1 layer of mat and resin on the inside, and 2 layers of 1 1/2 oz mat on the outside, except the deck top, the deck needs 1 layer of mat over the ply and 1 layer of 18 or 24 oz roving and 2 layers of 1 or 1 1/2 oz mat with gelcoat on all sides. If you use foam core then the layup will need mor FRP layup. If a boat with a small deck, you can on the deck top use 2 layers of 1 or 1 1/2 oz mat and no roving.

Foam high density type would be a significant weight savings.

[Guest]

boatworkfl wrote:
The OP is asking a question about a bulkhead, not decking, with either one on a used boat, I would usr 1/2" marine plywood, with 1 layer of mat and resin on the inside, and 2 layers of 1 1/2 oz mat on the outside, except the deck top, the deck needs 1 layer of mat over the ply and 1 layer of 18 or 24 oz roving and 2 layers of 1 or 1 1/2 oz mat with gelcoat on all sides. If you use foam core then the layup will need mor FRP layup. If a boat with a small deck, you can on the deck top use 2 layers of 1 or 1 1/2 oz mat and no roving.

Foam high density type would be a significant weight savings.

I was referring to the bulkhead, not the decking. The OP was referring to using composite decking material for the bulkhead, as I understand it.

[boatworkfl]

Astral Blue wrote:
I was referring to the bulkhead, not the decking. The OP was referring to using composite decking material for the bulkhead, as I understand it.

I mis-understood, am I now correct he was refering to the aft cabin bulkhead above deck?

If s,o 1/2" plywood will work with a layer of 3/4 oz mat and a layer of cloth, either painted or perferably gelcoat.

[Guest]

Sorry I updated my pic to my current boat so it's not so misleading.

It's a 1981 Bayliner Explorer 2270 hardtop with a cedar framed alaskan bulkhead that's measured about an inch thick. The cedar is grooved to accept the panels which are maybe starboard...

It would take about 20' of decking to remake the frame, so it wouldn't gain much if any weight. I could also really go to town on the inside with the router and groove out the backside if I needed to get the weight down anymore. I don't see the thickness being an issue, it will merely extend aft another 1/2" from the current bulkhead and will not affect any of the attachment points.

I can try to get a photo of it tomorrow so you have a better idea what I'm looking at.

[richardson]

You will still need a wood frame of some sort behind behind any of the plastic surface materials. The plastic materials do not hold fasteners other than thru bolts well.

[2850Bounty]

Ryan, I'm also a little confused as to what you're talking about. A bulkhead to me would be vertical.

Which ever it is, I too would keep the weight down.

Anything that we can do to limit weight is a good thing, and even more so as we get further away from center of gravity, IMO.

.

[kwb]

If original then the bulkhead is teak and would clean up with a little bit of work.

The panels are the dumbest thinking I ever saw - MDF with a very thin P-lam on the surfaces. The panels sat into a daddo in the stick teak parts and along the bottom groove water would collect then wick up the MDF and turn to mush.

On my last boat it had same problem. I took a router and trimmed one side so that a new panel could be fit to replace the original one. I made the new panel out of 1/2ply with p-lam, sealed the edges of plywood really well, and then set the new panel into place with 5200. I then filled the gap around the edge of panel with more 5200 and made a new teak piece to trim out over all the 5200.

Job was a PITA and a mess (you end up with router shavings througout the inside and outside of boat).

Glassing over the Teak is offensive to Neptune and you may bear his wrath for doing so and as oily as teak is I don't know how well it would adhere long term and would be way more work than even starting over with new materials (that did last for 30yrs)

[Guest]

A buddy of mine built a beautiful swimgrid from composite material. It looked like a factory bulit grid. He found great savings than reordering original plastic parts from Great Lake Skippers. He made a four stainless angle bracket supports from stainless he found at Scrap City Metals.

It has held up well to the salt and sunshine,..looks great I recommend.

[Guest]

2850Bounty wrote:
Ryan, I'm also a little confused as to what you're talking about. A bulkhead to me would be vertical.

Which ever it is, I too would keep the weight down.

Anything that we can do to limit weight is a good thing, and even more so as we get further away from center of gravity, IMO.

.

Heres the pic. This wood is pretty eroded and rough. It's beyond just sanding and refinishing, as the grain is very raised.

I have to correct myself on the thickness, it's 1-1/2" thick, looks like it's just 2x material. Might be teak but it seems a bit light.

Attached files http://baylinerownersclub.org/media/....jpg[/img]

[kwb]

rkcarguy wrote:
Heres the pic. This wood is pretty eroded and rough. It's beyond just sanding and refinishing, as the grain is very raised.

I have to correct myself on the thickness, it's 1-1/2" thick, looks like it's just 2x material. Might be teak but it seems a bit light.

That very much is teak - and you have nothing to lose by getting a bit agressive sanding. I would try 180 on a DA first but if getting nowhere fast go for 80grit. Once all the old finish is off go at it with a teak cleaner (I like Teaka two part cleaner/neutralizer) clean, scrub with nylon brush, then smooth it out with 180 followed by 220/240 on a DA then a quick hand sand over everything with 220/240 to take out any swirls that might be noticeable. Don't bother with chemical paint strippers to try and get the old finish off I have tried about all of them and while they will sort of work the time/mess/cleanup is faster to just sand it down.

I would be very surprised if it won't clean up.

The panels if they aren't spongy & rotten in the core can be scuff sanded and painted and would look great.

I have seen much worse looking wood make a comeback.

[boatworkfl]

I agree that is teak trim, the panels if rotten can be replaced, there should be trim holding it in.

[kwb]

boatworkfl wrote:
I agree that is teak trim, the panels if rotten can be replaced, there should be trim holding it in.

Glass is easy and they have sticks in them with SST screws to replace if you break a pane but the white panels they slipped in similar to if you were building a shaker style cabinet door and the sticks all around are daddo'd and panels installed before the whole stick frame is assembled.

As I described in post #9 you have to take the side off of some of the daddo's to get the panel out (well not really because you are going to destroy that rotten panel but to put anything back in a few edges are going to have to be opened up.)

[Guest]

I'll have a look into saving it. The problem is that by the time the weather gets fair enough to apply any finish(boat doesn't fit in mine or any of my buddies shops due to height) it's going to be time to be out on the water. This and those ugly vinyl panels also shown in the pics are the major eyesores on the boat.

I was looking at basically building a duplicate with new materials in my shop, re-using glass panels and hardware, and demo out the old one and bolt in the new.