Fixing cabin sole water damage

[JPA Cate]

You do need to take that up. If the teak has separated from the "holly" (it could be ash or another light timber) along the glue joint, something made it do that. And that would be whatever it's laid on expanding (probably from absorbing moisture). So the substrate is no longer healthy, and I've not heard of a way to rescue veneer in that situation, either.

Imho, you will do best to get the boards up, then you can really see what has happened to them, and when you put the new cabin sole down, you need to be able to latch them down and lift them up at will, so that you can inspect whatever you've got hiding down there.

If your desire is to restore the boat to her former glory, it will at least be a plywood with veneer all new, deal. That is easier than gluing up your own new from solid timber, and probably less expensive in the long run. You may need to hire the working space, as well.

No, you won't be able to bend it up the sides.

Good luck with it. It is a big job, but it will look super when you finish it, if you do it right.

Ann

[zstine]

I don't see any indication that the veneer has lifted from the substrate, but it's hard to tell from pictures. the small cracks will fill in if you refinish it. there's some tricks like squeeze in some wood glue and sand over it to push sand dust down and get a nice match, but honestly I don't see any cracks big enough to warrant that... It co.es down to a time and budget issue and if the boat is worth it to put in a new teak floor... vinyl is another option that's much less than teak. but you can try refinishing a small area in a day and see how it looks.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by jewt

I had to deal with this problem on my last boat, a '69 Morgan-41 K/CB back in the '70s/ 80s when teak was "cheap" @ $7.00 per bd. ft. I used sloid 1/2" teak and and 1/2" square holly bedded in west epoxy then coated with several coats of good quality epifanes spar variance. Look good for years!
My most recent cabin sole job I used the 1/2" teak & holly plywood $ I25.00 PER SHEET and requiring 4X8 sheets to make the strips aline properly. Again bedded in epoxy and coated with the Epifanes. It also looks great and I hope it last till I am ready (read too old) to sale.

jewt S/V Bifrost-8

New Bern, NC

Yeah. I did the sole in my 31 footer with that 1 ft square teak parquet. It was like $4 a sq ft back then at the local Tile Store.. Those days are gone.

[zstine]

Originally Posted by zstine

That doesn't look too bad. You can get 90% of that damage out by sanding and refinishing. The veneer is very thin so go slow. I used 100 grit to get the finish off, but once I hit wood I went up to 180. Then use your choice of varnish or polyurethane to finish per manufacture instruction. see my pics... you will have some damage still, but you can do this in a long weekend for under $100.

If you want a 'new teak' floor, you can get 1/4 teak and holly ply and go over what you have. Just glue it down. That will raise the floor 1/4 inch and you'd need to trim everything and there may be issues with raising the floor in some areas. That will cost maybe $1000+ depending on how much material you need and a lot more time... good luck

I forgot to mention, once you sand down to the wood you can use a bleach and soap or teak cleaner to get stains out b4 finishing.

[chowdan]

Originally Posted by zstine

That doesn't look too bad. You can get 90% of that damage out by sanding and refinishing. The veneer is very thin so go slow. I used 100 grit to get the finish off, but once I hit wood I went up to 180. Then use your choice of varnish or polyurethane to finish per manufacture instruction. see my pics... you will have some damage still, but you can do this in a long weekend for under $100.

If you want a 'new teak' floor, you can get 1/4 teak and holly ply and go over what you have. Just glue it down. That will raise the floor 1/4 inch and you'd need to trim everything and there may be issues with raising the floor in some areas. That will cost maybe $1000+ depending on how much material you need and a lot more time... good luck

While this is the correct way to refinish a sole, one that has splits in the sole(teak separating from holly) means that the finish will not survive over time if moisture gets in.

He needs to check for rotted ply as well.

[WaldPinkler]

I have a problem being in Australia and sourcing these woods easily. It makes me not want to destroy pieces if I can avoid it.

The damage is caused from leaking tank and chainplates. I've only had the boat a short while so this is previous damage. I'm fixing all those issues allowing for drainage with plugs under the tanks if that ever happens again. I've ordered nice silicon plugs.

I have a few more jobs to do before I can really tackle it. I've been tossing up whether to do a full sanding job while I still have by other small yacht anchored nearby. Mentally it's a big commitment too!

I can sort of get under the floor through access panels. I'll poke around and use the endoscope to see how it is.

[AKA-None]

Don’t use bleach on wood it rots the wood
But note my information is related to my over 4000 linear feet of 8” logs in my house

[zstine]

Originally Posted by chowdan

While this is the correct way to refinish a sole, one that has splits in the sole(teak separating from holly) means that the finish will not survive over time if moisture gets in.

He needs to check for rotted ply as well.

In order to take care of the splits, he can coat it with a few layers of thin epoxy before finishing. Epoxy is great at sealing and sticking things all back together.

Yeah, if the ply under is rotting then it is just a matter of time until it's all got to go.... but sanding and finishing is SO much easier than a full floor replacement that it is a good way to get a few more years out of the floor. My floor is total rotten under and if you go back to my photos you can see a spot in the back that is filled with 1/4 inch thick of epoxy because I dropped a CNG bottle and it put a massive dent in the floor.... I'm under the impression that a whole subfloor with new teak n holly top is beyond the time and budget (skill?), and maybe beyond the value of the boat...?
Throwing down a Vinyl 'wood' floor is also a viable 'fix' that is cheap and very easy if the teak is too far gone, even if the subfloor is rotten, it will hide it for a while.

[zstine]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

Don’t use bleach on wood it rots the wood
But note my information is related to my over 4000 linear feet of 8” logs in my house

Really! I didn't know bleach was an issue. I was told, and have cleaned my top side teak, with a mix of 1/3 water, 1/3 bleach. 1/3 dish soap. I keep my topside teak unfinished and this gets out the grey before I put some oil down. 8 years of doing this topside with no obvious issues....

[WaldPinkler]

Well ****. Only way to say it. I shoved my arm under there and dug a hole into wet ply with my nail. It looks like I'm in for a party removing the floor.

Lucky I still have my old yacht anchored next to me. I'll be moving in and doing the work. I was tossing up to do that but this job decides it.

I'll try save the teak. Maybe I can cut along a strip of holly and remove the rest.

[Scaramanga F25]

I was lucky with my floorboards (teak and holly over plywood) as they fit into an industrial planner. M36T
Came out like new.

[Cadence Austin]

I had floors that looked worse. To quickly strip them, use a heat gun and a scraper. Not a push forward scraper but one of those triangle shaped ones that you pull back. You won't believe how fast it is. No chemical stripper needed at all. No sanding to get finish off saves time and sand paper. Don't leave the heat gun in one place for too long as it could scorch. Just back and forth until the scraper starts working. Its very cathartic. Then sand the clean veneer carefully (decreasing grit) depending on the thickness of the veneer. I used the sanding residue mixed with some thickened epoxy resin to fill cracks (and some of them were as big is yours). Not perfect but worked for me. Most of my veneer problem was the separation from the ply. Again, epoxy. The time consuming part was the drying time between coats of varnish.

Personally I wouldn't use any chemicals other than mineral spirits (and I'm not an anti-chemical person). Just don't put anything on the wood that was never intended to be there.

[djousset]

Originally Posted by zstine

That doesn't look too bad. You can get 90% of that damage out by sanding and refinishing. The veneer is very thin so go slow. I used 100 grit to get the finish off, but once I hit wood I went up to 180. Then use your choice of varnish or polyurethane to finish per manufacture instruction. see my pics... you will have some damage still, but you can do this in a long weekend for under $100.

I am in the middle of this same project, the sanding did a great job (I went very slowly.....) Now that they are back to beautiful I want to choose the proper finish. What did you use? I'm not sure I'm a fan of the previously super-shiny finish so am leaning towards semigloss poly. Are the newer water based poly products up to the task or is traditional poly best?

[zstine]

Originally Posted by djousset

I am in the middle of this same project, the sanding did a great job (I went very slowly.....) Now that they are back to beautiful I want to choose the proper finish. What did you use? I'm not sure I'm a fan of the previously super-shiny finish so am leaning towards semigloss poly. Are the newer water based poly products up to the task or is traditional poly best?

What I did for finish is probably not needed/recommended. I did 3 'hot' coats of epoxy (UScomposite 635), the first thinned, cured overnight, light sanding and then 3 coats of Polyurethane. I don't remember what the exact poly was, but it was purchased at HomeDepot and sold for finishing floors. It wasn't anything special. I have been told the epoxy was unnecessary, but I had it left over from another project and I had spliced in a piece of new teak ply which I wanted to seal with epoxy anyway.. I sealed the underside of the new piece before installing.

Of course the traditional finish would be a bunch (7 to 9) of coats of varnish with various degrees of thinning as you go, but I am more familiar with using poly. so poly it was... sorry I don't remember the exact type.

[Oeanda]

I’ve reno’d about 75% of our sole now. Had lots of repairs and glued a lot of delaminated plywood. I used the so-called water based polyurethane on some sections, and tung oil products (containing mainly tung and linseed) on others. Both seem fine after a couple years use. I didn’t apply many coats - 2 or 3. I feel a little more partial to the tung oil stuff. It’s not a very tough finish but it looks great and ages gracefully and I know it won’t peel. All I need is for it to repel splashes and most scratches, stay clean and look decent, which it’s done. Both types of finishes have been satisfactory so far though.