1970 38 Widebody Cockpit Deck Replacement

[FATBOTTOM]

I'm new to this site and hoping for some feedback. I've got a nice 1970 Bertram 38 Widebody, and I'm afraid its time to replace the deck. I've got a decent amount of rot in the gutters and in the adjacent deck on the 2 large hatches. I was originally going to repair (dig it out, dry it, fill, glass and paint), but one of my freshwater tanks went. It looks like the only access to the tanks is through the deck.

In looking around, I haven't seen anyone that will sell me a prefabricated deck (i.e. glass-tech or high tide), so I'm thinking about installing a teak deck. I'll need to rip out what's there to get everything in order. I'm currently planning on building the subsurface with fiberglass sheets (maybe 1/2") and bonding the new teak to that so I'm certain rot will never be a problem again.

Has anybody gone down this path before? I'd be grateful for any ideas, feedback, thoughts....

Thanks!

[Rickysa]

I did a teak deck in my (old) 31 bahia mar. I used marine ply as the backing and glassed down the teak strips. Then taped everything in order to pipe in the black goo between the planks. I didn't put any finish over the teak, just let it grey. Pretty labor intensive.

[Marlin]

I put a 3 piece teak section deck I built on the bench on to a new sub deck, deck framing built out of 3/4” Coosa board, it’s available in large sheets, can soak it in the swamp for 100 years. By the time and money u would spend on trying to create an impervious rot free plywood sub deck, the cost and time savings would amaze u. The deck framing, sub deck, teak deck sections can all be templated out of cheap plywood/ osb board, transferred to final product and easily installed with no fasteners

[Tony Meola]

Welcome to the family.

As Marlin said use Coosa or Penske board instead of Plywood. If you use plywood you will be fixing it again in about 10 years. If you go Coosa, then you have two options, as Marlin said use it to back the Teak Deck, or with 3/4 inch Coosa, you could glass it and have fiberglass deck.

Your choice. If you do a search of the site you will find what others have done. Start with this link.

http://bertram31.com/proj/deck/index.html

http://bertram31.com/newbb/viewtopic.ph ... ck#p122906

[FATBOTTOM]

Thanks fellas! I hadn't heard of the Coosa....looks great, and a better alternative to the GPO1 fiberglass sheets I was thinking of using. It looks like the teak is bonded only? No screws and plugs?

So I got a couple other things I haven't gotten straight in my head yet:

Gutters in the hatches. Was thinking of maybe attaching starboard under the deck and cutting the gutter into it with a guided router bit once the deck is done. I'd love a better idea that will never rot!
Water tanks: I've got to replace the water tanks. The tanks that are in there now are 50 gal each & look like galvanized steel (real hard to get to). I'd like to put plastic in and never have to worry about them again (they'll be buried back under the deck). Ronco looks like they have some options that will work. Any recommendations here would be great as well.

Thanks again!

[Marlin]

Couple things, if the f/g sheets are big enough, consider epoxing them
directly to 3/4 “ coosa, just have to paint from there. U mentioned starboard for the gutter part, Strb can’t be epoxied, glues, 5200 painted , nothing will stick to my knowledge cause it’s polyethylene. I mention awhile back I had just purchased some white 3/4” non skid starboard and was impressed with the characteristics for a white deck, never need any finishing, mechanically attach from the under side of a 3/4 coosa sub deck, I is really stabile to cut, router ,tap , clean machining stuff

[Tony Meola]

Marlin

When I was talking with Lilco, he said he has luck with using 4200 to set the Azek against the hull for his gutters.

[Marlin]

I tried 5200 for this purpose,took some effort but was able to pry it loose,just bought a sheet of starboard, will have scraps and will experiment,thx

[Pete Fallon]

Fatbottom,
Before I sold my 31 after 37 years I installed a high density 1" thick foam board (made by Michigan Composites 80 lb density) I made it in 3 pieces so it would be removable. The 4'x8' sheets were available wholesale at Merritt Marine Supply in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. it was over 18 years ago for those prices. I rounded over the sides and corners with a router, cut hatch out with a router also. I used 3 layers of 1808,1708, 1808 on the top and the same schedule on the bottom. you will need a lay-up table covered with either plate glass or seem less Formica table should be wider than the foam board at least 5" wide by 10' long. I used 4 foam scrap pieces for battens on the back for added stiffness. I left the underside un- gel coated and applied 18 mils of white gel coat to the top side. The topside of each panel were coated with non skid sand finish while the final layer of gel rolled on, gel was still wet and I used a large Johnson Baby Powder bottle to apply the sand material. The holes in the top of the Baby Powder bottle are the perfect size for sprinkling the sand material. The decks were held in place with 2 flat head Stainless steel screws in the aft corners. The weight of the engine boxes held the forward ends in place and I had a large fighting chair that held the middle section in place. The chair base plate was attached to an aluminum H frame that was bolted to the deck supports. You want to have a minimum of 3 layers of glass on the top so as to prevent knives, anchors, sinkers and gaffs from denting the top surface. It is not a bad job, you just have to have the right tools and a large lay up table. The decks were still in the boat when I sold her in 2014 after 18 years they were still in good condition and they were light enough so I could lift each section by myself.
Pete Fallon