I have a Bass Tracker that im trying to fix up for next season....im looking for Marine grade wood for the front and back deck...can anyone help me on here?
I have a Bass Tracker that im trying to fix up for next season....im looking for Marine grade wood for the front and back deck...can anyone help me on here?
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I know my local lowes can order m-plywood for me. Check with them.
I am pretty sure they used preasure treated plywood on my tracker deck. I am redoing my front deck and that is what I will be using. You can get teak plywood which is awesome for marine use. I am a cabinet builder and my cost per sheet for the teak plywood is $250.
Save your money. There is a huge misconception that marine grade plywood is a special plywood that will not rot and that its stronger. Not true. All it is is a higher quality of plywood because it has less voids and plugs for knots. It has the exact same resin, and they'll both have to be sealed the same way to avoid rot. They just have less voids to minimize stress cracks around the voids in high stress areas such as a transom.
With that said, save the extra $80-90 for a marine grade sheet of plywood and just search through the regular pile to find a nice sheet. Especially for a deck as that is nothing compared to the stress of a transom.
If you want something strong that will last take that saved money and invest in some high quality resins and sealant as it will be the same strength, but sealing it is what will get you longevity and higher strength.
Not sure if there is a missconseption or not . I use plywood every day. The main difference between birch cabinet grade plywood and marine grade is the glue that is used to make it. Marine gradde is not rot proof, but it is assembled with water resistant glue. Therefore it will last longer without delaminating. That being said you could use pressure treated plywood. It uses waterproof glues as well as a chemical process to impregnate the sheet. The chemical also repells water. If you use regular non exterior grade plywood then I would coat it with something to seal it such as fiberglass resin or an epoxy based paint.
also I have a sheet of 3/4 teak marine grade plywood in my shop right now and it has voids in it :( Just my .2
In all my research on iboats and other forums with great restorers (in the business) the only difference is the sheets have no voids or plugs. Not sure. Everything Ive read says its the same process, resin, etc.
And no offense, but for water use, your best bet is using fiberglass or at least resin sealed encased regular plywood. Pressure treated is that last thing I would use as it has a huge tendency to warp and break down with out sealing. As well, if you use pressure treated and try to seal it the sealant they use will not allow resin or cloth to stick, causing huge delimitation processes.
There has been lots to read about this posted over the years on here from various other forums. Pressure treated will not last in a marine world without being sealed, and it will not seal or accept resins. Best applications have been plywood (non treated) and seal it up with high quality resin and cloth. Teak would last. But for for what cost when you can go with a proven route for far less $$. And why use marine grade for higher $$ when you're just going to seal up normal plywood the same way, making it just as resilient. I appreciate your knowledge about wood working and cabinetry however in marine applications there are huge misconceptions about what will and wont work.
There is a slight difference in the 2 plywoods.
As mentioned the marine grade has no voids, and is generally made from hardwoods where some of the Exterior is made from pine.
There is a slight difference in the glues used. Virtually all Marine grades use a Phenolic glue which is rated for WBP( water boiled proofed ) at anywhere from 24 - 72 hours to delamination time.
Exterior generally uses melamine glue, which is waterproof and usually rated to 8 - 20 hours WBP to delamination time.
Either will work as when you use it in a rebuild on a boat it will be covered with resin or glass.
Pressure treated is the last wood you want to use as it is generally a low grade plywood so the treatment can soak in, plus some of the treatments will react with some resins.
<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by BASSCAT7 »</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">
There is a slight difference in the glues used. Virtually all Marine grades use a Phenolic glue which is rated for WBP( water boiled proofed ) at anywhere from 24 - 72 hours to delamination time.
Exterior generally uses melamine glue, which is waterproof and usually rated to 8 - 20 hours WBP to delamination time.
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I knew they were the same as far as both being water resistant. Good to know the only difference isn't what makes one more water resilient in normal use conditions, just in high testing situations which it will never see in these uses.
I have my PT185 front deck off right now and it is preasure trted plywood from the factory ( I bought this boat new). I will be replacing it with preasure treated plywood. Remember this plywood has carpet on it and nothing else. I have some teak plywood in my cabinet shop that is the prefered plywood in most clasic wooden boat construction The benifit is that teak will not rot and the marine grade glue helps keep it from delaminating. I will not use interior plywood in my boat unless, as stated before, I am using a resin to seal it completley. I have been building custom cabinets and furniture for 30 years. I know my plywood.
<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by NHBill »</td></tr><tr><td class="quote"> I have been building custom cabinets and furniture for 30 years. I know my plywood.
I respect that, and I have restored and thrown "treated plywood fixes" out of rotting boats for a little while now in my free time that have failed where average Joe's try to fix their floors in their boats. Unfortunately plywood on land acts differently for uses in high water use situations. The problem is that without resin sealing the wood still takes on water, weight and warps/splits over time. By completely encasing plywood (even interior) you get a seal, no water intrusion and soaking up adding weight, and it stays strong. Resin ensures it will last and not soak up any moisture. Like I mention, pressure treated unsealed in a marine setting will constantly be saturated and there is no way to seal PT like it needs to be.
And that's why an avid restorer and professional boat builder have advised against PT plywood in a marine setting. That's all. As for any other situation where wood is used, I'm clueless however.
Good luck with your boat.
thank you and I have a thread started in the restorations thread. My front deck has been on there since 2001 through many many days of fishing and many tournaments. It is still good but since I have it off to improve my front deck space and rod locker storage I figure why not replace it. I have the technology :)
I did state that if I used interior grade plywood I would seal it completly with resin or something similar.
I am in the rebuilding process of a 1989 aluminum tracker that my bro-in-law had who replaced part of the floor with treated plywood about 3 years ago and that chit was just as rotten as the 1989 wood was that I rippped out when I started gutting the whole rig like it shoulda been done from the git go. I've re-built a couple of boats myself and the only thing that will last any time at all is a treated wood(resins) wrapped in fiberglass. And any frickin hole you drill in it or screw you put in it needs 3M 5200 sealant put on it. Yeah you might have treated plywood in there from Bass Tracker but that's because they got a good buy(cheap) on the stuff to use it. Like I said I've re-done a couple of these and have seen how many corners Bass Pro cuts to crank out the production on these things. Flotation foam is one of their major structural supporters they use sometimes to. matter of fact to the point they block off the drainage ways in the bottom of the boat with the chit causin water to collect in various places and the foam soaking it up to the point it was actually getting into the wood floor. And that's just a couple of issues. But anyways do what you want because in the end it's your boat but I plan on re-doing this thing I've got and taking care of all these issues so I don't have to screw with it again because this one is gonna be my personal low HP restricted lake boat. I'm hopin when I'm dead and gone the grand kids will be fightin over it.
Dad said "That boy's a fishin fool"
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Not sure if this has been covered, but pressure treated wood also contains coppers that will corrode aluminum.
Big no-no for tin boats!
I am now unshure what type of plywood is on my front deck. I think it is marine grade plywood but I found this stamped on it in several places.
So if the last person was right about preasure treated plywood having copper then this would be preasure treated . Once again this deck is as good as new and it has been on the water about 50 times a year sinse I bought it new in 2001. Whatever it is I am not going to replace it. If it aint broke don't fix it!! I hope this clears things up a bit.Also WV do you own a tracker? I was just wondering because of your statement about tracker not haveing good quality controll and using anything they can find just to pump these boats out to the public. I love my tracker and I feel it is very well made. All my friends own big glass boats and I would not trade for all the tea in china. :)
Yeah I own one that I'm completely tearing apart and rebuilding for myself. It's a 1989 Pro 17. The floors had been replaced by a couple of different people one of which was my bro-in-law who I bought the boat from. I started out by tearing out the rotten floors and this just exposed more of the problems as to why they rotten so quick to begin with. First on the list the carpet is wrapped around the edges and tucked into place under the decks. This will wick water under there if you're fishing in the rain wash the carpet whatever therefore keeping the deck wet. Secondly the deck are not treated. at the least they should have acoating of resin on them. Thirdly instead of actually building boxes for storage they merely fastened a piece of metal down and shot flotation foam around it. Speaking of which there was a layer of some sort of foam under all the flooring which did nothing but soak up water because they had shot so much flotation foam in the front of the boat and the 2 back boxes of the boat it plugged up the drainage galleys and there was no way for water to drain to the bilge area. Once I figure out how to post pics I'll put up a bunch of these and show everyone what I'm talking about. One last thing look at the plywood in your transom and see if it's glassed or not. This one wasn't and it's rotten so I just cut the cap off tonight so I can get into it and remove it. I'm pouring seacast back in there so it can't rot again.
Dad said "That boy's a fishin fool"
2005 Dodge 3500 Cummins Power(Ifn you wanna go it's 6 in a row)
2009 Ranger 208VX Merc 225 Pro XS
I know what you are talking about with the foam. My brother and I build and ride jetskis. We use a pvc pipe and use a dremle tool to make notches in the end. Then it is like a saw. stick it in the foam and turn it. It cuts a core out of the foam. Throw some pics up. My carpet is wrapped around the deck also. Before I put my carpet back on I will coat it with fiberglass resin.
That's CCA treated wood, used in pontoon boat rebuilding for decks. It won't eat aluminum or SS like other "pressure treated" plywood (ACA ACQ etc). Its kinda hard for resins to attach to it.
thanks for the info. I will do a test piece and let everyone know how it works.
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