Replacing the flooring on my old boat. Can I get by with using treated plywood instead of marine plywood ?

Question

Replacing the flooring on my old boat. Can I get by with using treated plywood instead of marine plywood ?

Answer 1

yeah you could make it out of cardboard if you wanted to.  You will just have to replace it sooner.  reach in the pockets and buy the good stuff.  If you are going thru that much trouble do it right.  Why hack something together when it is just going to cost a little more money.  you could put treated wood in but then you spend more money sealing it than it would cost for a marine grade plywood.

Answer 2

Treated plywood refers to rotting and insect infestation. Plywood is just wood chips with glue.

Marine plywood has a specially treated glue that is not water soluble.

Don't be cheap where it counts. Get uncomfortable seats instead.

Answer 3

Larry m is correct everone else is incorrect, exterior plywood is made with stronger glue and treated for insects and a preservation solution(kind of like tompsons waterseal), however marine grade plywood, uses a much better quality grade wood, without nots, and a nicer finish, and most importanrt they use a resin in between the SHEETS, not chips of wood, wafer board uses chips, Depending on the value of your boat, you can use exterior plywood, and seal it with resin, make sure you seal all six sides, and also any other cuts you make, i have done this many times it works good.

Answer 4

Dig what Ray said.

Timber or lumber that is treated with a preservative generally have it applied through vacuum and/or pressure treatment. The preservatives used to pressure-treat timber are classified as pesticides. Treating timber provides long-term resistance to organisms that cause deterioration. If it is applied correctly, it extends the productive life of timber by five to ten times. If left untreated, wood that is exposed to moisture or soil for sustained periods of time will become weakened by various types of fungi, bacteria or insects.

Read the rest at...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_trea...

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Answer 5

If your "old boat" isn't worth it, don't use marine grade plywood.  Contrary to what one of the above answers says, plywood isn't made of "chips".  All plywoods, as their name suggests are made of a number of layers of glued veneer.  All glue used in plywood is waterproof, it's the wood that rots. In the case of marine grade plywood, the only differences is that the veneers are higher quality and their are more layers for a given thickness.  If you use a construction or good one side grade of plywood, you can seal it quite nicely by coating it with fiberglass resin that has a reducer in it.  A reducer is not a thinner but a liquid added to make the resin mixture more watery.  This helps the resin to soak into the wood better.

Cut the plywood to fit and brush/roll on the reduced resin mixture making sure all edges and surfaces are covered (even what will become the underside).  You should do this two or three times and then paint.  You'll end up with a sole (floor) that is very resistant to the weather.  All you do is inspect it periodically to ensure that no gouges or cracks have developed.  if they do simply brush on a bit of mixed resin or paint to keep the wood sealed.

Answer 6

Sure, cut it to fit. then lay on about 3 coats of good quality paint. Be sure to put it thick on the edges.Seal or caulk were yer screws go threw. She'll last a long time. =^ )