Sealing Plywood end grain

[Bill Henchy]

Quick question that I can't figure out from the Building / Repair FAQ, so I thought I'd ask for opinions.

I've got a nice little 20 foot skiff that I finished off for striper fishing in Pleasant Bay on Cape Cod. Hopefully the picture will show up below.

The construction is marine plywood, weldwoodglue, 5200 and stainless ring nails. Finish is Z-spar enamel on the inside, Interlux epoxy outside.

The bottom is 3/4" 7-layer marine ply. It usually lives on the trailer, but I want to hang the boat on a mooring for a bit this year, and so intend to seal the end-grain with some sort of epoxy. What's the correct one to use? CPES? System 3?

Thanks--appreciate any help.


http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid165/p2af70b1bddd5e42b1b81e4f1fdc69832/f4702acb.jpg

[Bob Cleek]

CPES with a fairing coat of epoxy resin with microballoons would be my choice. However, once the wood is painted well, it isn't going to take the penetrating epoxy sealer as well unless you take it down to bare wood. Even then, the oils from the paint will limit penetration somewhat. If she is well painted to begin with, sealing well painted (and therefore sealed) edge grain is probably a "belt and suspenders" approach.

[Bill Henchy]

I was planning to take the end grain down to bare wood, assuming that I could then seal it and re-paint with anti-fouling.

[D Gobby]

Nice skiff Bill. Did you build it yourself and what design is it.

Darrel

[JimD]

When stripping it down to bare wood I'd make sure there was a total of two inches of bare wood and apply two inch FG tape in epoxy over the corner, making sure the end grain was entirely covered by the cloth, and repaint. That should make it about as waterproof as it'll get.

Edited to add: If you decide to use tape you'll have to knock off the sharp chine corner and round it just a bit to get the tape to properly lay flat.

[ 04-17-2005, 05:07 PM: Message edited by: JimD ]

[Bill Henchy]

Thanks--it's a George Williams 20 footer--he goes under the name of Tri Werx, 508-548-3319, Falmouth, MA, if you're interested. I bought the bare hull and finished it myself--probably a couple of hundred hours on the finish work and rigging. George has made hundreds of these (mine's hull no. 412) and they're mostly used for commercial purposes. I missed the shallows of Pleasant Bay (my other boat is a 34 foot tuna harpoon boat--not practical at all in that skinny water) and put this one together to be able to sportfish up there. It's a bit fancier than need be, but I like it very much.