Decking!

A long overdue change in the weather provided the perfect conditions to lay the laminated deck surfaces.
Just to recap, this model used a laminate (Formica) inlay on both the fore-deck and side-decks. I opted to re-instate this and after casting around chose a Teak effect cabin flooring laminate with a light Holly stripe.

With the templates made, cutting could get underway. I tried many different methods and had a lot of useful suggestions as to how to cut this - after experimentation I opted for... a pair of scissors!

Working 'to the line' I was able to perfectly cut the required curves with no splitting or chipping of the edges.


The downside? - it was a long, slow, job and it took a couple of days before any feeling returned to my fingers.

I turned to the collective wisdom on the CMBA Forum to find the best way of bonding the laminate to the deck surfaces.

You may remember that I had covered all these surfaces with primer - well, all this had to be removed for a start. After a session with angle grinder and sanding block we were ready to go. With everything clean, dry, dust free and wiped over with acetone, I coated the laminate with West Systems epoxy and then added filler to the mix to produce a good consistency for a 'bed' which was applied to the deck surface. The first of the two sheets was positioned and even pressure applied until the epoxy mix oozed from the edges (I had previously protected the adjoining surfaces with masking tape). Using various blocks of timber, lead weights and anything else that came to hand, even pressure was maintained until the whole thing had set off.


The same operation was undertaken for the next sheet and it was time to grab a coffee and admire the result!


The Dreaded Side-decks...

Problem - the side-decks needed the same treatement, but the Teak and Holly stripe was not going to look right and no suitable alternative could be found.

Solution - Wielding the trusty craft knife I set about carefully scoring and stripping out all the holly stripes from the remaining laminate. About this time I began to doubt my sanity, but after many hours I ended up with enough laminate 'planks' for the task in hand.


Duly edge sanded and shaped, these were then affixed in the approved manner. The edge to edge joins were better than I could have hoped for, but I filled the seams with a dark oak stopping, which really enhanced the appearance.

I applied a couple of coats of varnish to all the surfaces - not too worried about the mirror finish at the moment - but maintaining a varnished surface is easier when removing paint splashes, masking tape, filler etc. than the raw 'grained' finish of the laminate.

While the epoxy was out, I also reinstated the support posts for the bow rails and faired them in.

For the photographs, I also put the 'deck candy' in place.


It took about four days to see this job through - and not something I would relish doing again, but hey, I think the results speak for themselves!