NICKYPOO's Ballast Thread

[jason@wakemakers.com]

I had a buddy that had his trailer sprayed with liner material from one of the major companies (Line-X, Speedliner, etc.) and they left out the texture beads, so it was just the rubber binder material. Gave it a pretty cool flat black finish that had some grip, but wasn't nearly as rough as a typically bed liner.

[NICKYPOO]

Hmm. Thanks for that little tip. I will definitely look into that. I might just take the boat and all the individual pieces down and have them sprayed. Sure would make my life easier.

[NICKYPOO]

Thanks TA. I have a good friend that owns a coating business, http://durastonenv.com/index.html, and he brought me some samples of some of that stuff so, not tough to find after all. I might still go that way.

[NICKYPOO]

I spent a lot of time on one stupid panel this weekend. I was completely frustrated Sat night. I spent all day trying to fit these three pieces together and finally had to walk away with them not at an acceptable state of completion. It was the first time this project made me sad. Boohoo. Went out Sunday morning, nailed em up, made a few adjustments and BAM!, it slid right in. I was much closer than I had thought. Anyways, this is the blower chase. I wanted it to be sealed off so fitting it to the inside of the hull was a B. It's going to need a little more love to get it perfect but, I'm happy with it. It's just sitting there unattached in the pics. It fits much tighter than it looks. The other side is nowhere near as critical as all it will house is the overflow for the fuel tank.

[lancehon]

Wow that's all looking amazing! That is quite the project

[IDBoating]

Compared to some things I've seen in boats over the years, this is like fine cabinetry. Love the photos, keep 'em coming!

[Finedesigns]

Maybe I missed it in an earlier post, but why are you wanting to put on a rubber type lining instead of carpeting your panels? Your work looks good by the way.

[NICKYPOO]

Good question. I wanted the entire area to be waterproof. Carpeted wood panels are not waterproof. All the carpeted wood panels I pulled out had some sort of rot and I live in the high desert where we see many days of single digit humidity. The only way to eliminate rot is to coat them in one of the modern day coatings. I might actually carpet the cabin side of the seat backs just because they will be direct contact with the rear seat but, beyond that, its gonna be carpet free. No vacuming, no setting up the fans to help dry it out, nothing. Just hose it out and park it.

[IDBoating]

All the carpeted wood panels I pulled out had some sort of rot and I live in the high desert where we see many days of single digit humidity.

I would think that low humidity would help reduce rot. I've always had greater problems with rot in higher humidity environments. I would have expected your low humidity to make rot less of an issue, but it sounds like you are taking proactive steps to control rot specifically because of your low humidity. What am I not understanding?

[NICKYPOO]

No, my point is that even with basically no humidity, wood panels with only carpet for protection are still going to rot.

[IDBoating]

No, my point is that even with basically no humidity, wood panels with only carpet for protection are still going to rot.

Completely agree. I thought you were implying that dryness makes rot worse.

For exactly the reason you mention, I try really hard to not use wood in marine applications. That's why I used Starboard when I did my ballast install - it's absolutely rotproof, workable like wood, dries fast when it gets wet, etc. It costs a bit but I will never ever have to think about it rotting or worry about it getting wet.

[chpthril]

I wouldn't worry too much about rot on a vertical piece of resin encapsulated wood covered with marine grade carpet. The marine grade carpet will not absorb/hold water and the resin will protect the wood when it is wet. if the bottom edge rests on the floor, use a piece of UHMP as a riser to elevate it.

[IDBoating]

use a piece of UHMP as a riser to elevate it.

For those who don't know, Starboard is UHMW polyethylene.

[NICKYPOO]

I first saw Starboard some three years ago. I thought then and still do think its bitchin stuff. The price is absolutely off the deep end though. I just can't justify spending 4-5 times as much for the same amount of material. Had I just been making a couple small partitions, maybe. This project requires a bit more than that though.

I'm not worried about using wood in a boat. Wood has been the primary boat building material for centuries. Properly done, its just as good as anything. It will be fine.

The thing I really don't like about carpet is the water that gets trapped underneath it. I an area such as this, with all the different parts and pieces, it just doesn't make sense to bother with it. I would end up having to seal up every little piece before its gets carpet anyways so why not just skip the labor and material cost of the carpet and glue and just do a coating that finishes up nice?

[NICKYPOO]

After a long week, I finally got to work on the boat yesterday. Got the Port side transom cover fabbed up. I'm hoping to get some more done today but, not sure if that'll happen or not.