StarBoard vs Marine Plywood ?

[Nicholson58]

There are different grades of Starboard. One is decidedly more structural. Since this will not be in a high UV environment you might consider some of the other plastic lumber alternatives. Some pretty nice ones are beginning to show up at Lowes and Home Depot. On line, Lumber Rock and Bear Board come to mind I used some of the fiber/mineral filled stuff for seats and was happy with it. Screws only, no glue. 5200 won't stick at all. I made replacement splash rails of this I will install in the spring. Avoid the low grade stuff that is filled with wood fiber and sawdust.

[s/v Jedi]

For floors in engine room, sail locker etc. we use tear plate:



ciao!
Nick.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Vetus do some , but its an outrageous price

Not kidding on the prices! But "Polywood" something else to Google for .

try these Recycled Plastic Lumber, or Plastic Wood Composite made in Britain from 100% recycled plastic sourced from the UK dont know if they do what you want but its wortha call.

Yeah, I saw those before - not entirely sure if it is what I am after (am sure they all have own "recipes"), would be good to find something like Starboard that has already been tested by others in a marine environment.....am surprised it is proving difficult - maybe a opportunity to cut and then bag some up in boat sized packages - stamp 'em "Marine Use Only" - and double the price .

[twistedtree]

Thanks for all the tips. Although I plan to use mechanical fasteners for this project, I did find there is a 3M adhesive that works with StarBoard. Check out the King Plastics web site for info.

I'm moving ahead with 1/2" Starboard for the decking sections, and will use the less expensive house trim material for the blocking where only compressive strength matters.

To keep the scope of this in perspective, I'm able to get all the decking out of a 4.5' x 8' sheet of Starboard, and it will be cut into 6 or 7 pieces. I don't think I'll have any span between supports of more than 12". I'm not doing the main deck on the boat.

One of the hard things in sorting through all these materials is that there are generic names as well as brand names, and figuring out which corresponds with which is dizzying at best. Then further correlating the material types to emprical "this one is floppy" and "this one is stiff" and "this one is even stiffer than plywood" only complicates things further. As an example, I don't know what the generic material is that makes up StarBoard (couldn't find it in their spec sheets), so I have no idea how to shop for alternatives, which is probably exactly their plan. And empirically StarBoard is a very suitable replacement for plywood (strength-wise), but I would never even consider using homebuilder's trim material as it's very weak structurally. Then end result is that I don't know how to assess the structural suitability of any of these products short of buying a sample and testing it in my application, which is what I did with the StarBoard.

[Nicholson58]

Plastic lumber with mineral fillers for marine use.

Marine Plastic Docks and Synthetic Decking

American Plastic Lumber - Docks And Boardwalks Page


I know what you mean about trying to figure out the claims and specifications. Any of these guys that are serious will send you samples and technical spec sheets. I worry about thermal expansion properties on very long parts like rails. Early wood substitutes had wood flour and fiber fillers. It can get slimy when wet. Good stuff will have foberglass or other mineral filler.

show us photos of the job when you are done.

[s/v Jedi]

Well I learned something: I never expected it to be as stiff as plywood !

ciao!
Nick.

[twistedtree]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Well I learned something: I never expected it to be as stiff as plywood\

No, neither did I.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by twistedtree

No, neither did I.

(shhh... I don't believe it, do you?)

ciao!
Nick.

[chrisjs]

Why use Awlgrip for this job when it is inside the boat? You can get a durable good looking finish much more easily with one-part paints like Brightsides, over the appropriate undercoat/primer.

[twistedtree]

Here's a little update on this project. I went ahead with 1/2" Starboard as the main decking material, and used 5/4x4 PVC trim material for blocking. Everything is attached with stainless screws.

The first two pictures show the laz in its "before" state. The remnants of epoxy and the two wood blocks are from a platform that I removed that supported the combo washer/dryer. It's location was terrible making it impossible to put detergent in the dispenser, and impossible to access the space behind the washer. Part of the new decking will include relocating the washer to a more functional location.

The next pictures show the first three sections going into place, and you can get a view of the scribed blocking that support some of them. All the blocking and scribing was the most time consuming part of the job, but so far I'm pretty pleased with the results. It's not fine cabinetry, but fine for a laz.

Since these pictures, I put one more piece of decking all the way outboard of the pieces you can see in the pictures, then did the same on the other side.

I'm now cleaning up a bunch of pluming prior to reinstalling the washer/dryer. I've also get a handful of milk crates for storage and once I have decide where everything will I'll screw cleats (as in strips of starboard, not things you lash a line to) to the decking to hold the crates in place.

[Charlie]

Looks pretty flash Twistedtree. I'm sure you have secured it well but be aware that Starboard will deflect and hold that shape when heated if it is not supported enough. I used the 1/4" stuff for the roof of my hard dodger.

[twistedtree]

Thanks for the tip. I think (hope) I have things arranged so all the heavy objects will have support directly under them in hopes of minimizing bending and warping. Time will tell, and I figure I can always add more blocking if needed.

[Cheechako]

That looks great! Yeah, even the 3/4" bends pretty easy....

[twistedtree]

I've actually been really impressed with how sturdy the stuff is. The 1/2" is noticeably stronger than 1/2" plywood which is what the old platform was made of. My spans are in the 12" to 15" range and it's all real solid. There is a huge difference is all the different types of plastic building material. The Starboard material is to most rigid of all I've encountered, and way stronger than I ever expected. The PVC trim material, on the other hand, is much lighter and the 8' lengths are like a wet noodle. I wouldn't use it in an application like this for anything other than blocking where I'm only depending on its compressive strength.

[Capt.Fred]

I've used overly expensive Starboard throughout my boat. here's the kicker; take a piece of 1/2", cut off a 1/2" strip about 24" long. Now take this 1/2" X 1/2" strip and try to break it. Other plastics wiil most likely dangerously snap. The little piece of expensive Starboard will keep you busy trying to break it....Capt.Fred