Side hatch waterproofing

[Bugsworth Tippler]

The oak veered plywood which forms the inside panels of my steel side hatch doors has suffered water damage. The doors are closed when it's raining but maybe the previous owner wasn't so assiduous.

I am thinking of attempting to replace like with like but would like to reduce the chance of this happening again. Any suggestions for waterproofing the wood panels or for alternatives would be welcome.

[dmr]

I have found Owatrol quite good for sealing the edges of plywood, but if you want a proper job then epoxy is the only way to go.

The West system is good. I have just started investigating Timberseal PS which used to come from Reactive Resins but they now have a new name.

Its much more liquid than the West so soaks in very nicely. Only had it a week but so far I like it. It will do the edges and the surface if required.

 

Epoxy is seen as expensive but both West and Timberseal work out at roughly £30/litre which is similar to standard boat paints.

New universal law......all decent paint costs £30/litre ?.

 

..............Dave

[dmr]

Forgot to say, I am doing my side hatch panels right now, like today. The old plywood was just about recoverable, sanded all the old scumble grain off, and have just done the last coat of timberseal, one coat on the face, three on the edges. Undercoat tomoro. Will likely do three undercoats then grain it, finish with 3 coats of Craftmaster varnish but  might use timberseal as a varnish, need to phone the suppliers and see what they say.

Only down side with Timberseal is it smells a bit like cat wee.

 

..............Dave

[ditchcrawler]

I used Upvc 

[DaveR]

I cut back the internal wood by 1 inch. This allows any water to collect at the bottom of the door & Norwalk into the wood.

 

Works a treat

Norwalk = bloomin auto correct, should read "not allow"

[blackrose]

It seems unlikely that the water damage occured as a result of the doors being occasionally left open in the rain. Water damage usually happens because of constant or frequent exposure to water. 

 

I think you need to check whether the doors are actually keeping water from soaking the wood when the doors are shut. Otherwise any repairs you do will be a waste of time.

Edited June 5, 2021 by blackrose

[Bugsworth Tippler]

18 minutes ago, blackrose said:

It seems unlikely that the water damage occured as a result of the doors being occasionally left open in the rain. Water damage usually happens because of constant or frequent exposure to water. 

 

I think you need to check whether the doors are actually keeping water from soaking the wood when the doors are shut. Otherwise any repairs you do will be a waste of time.

Good point. The damage is only at the bottom of the panels which suggests that capillary action was taking up water which may have collected at the bottom of the metal frame.

 

Thanks to contributors for other suggestions. I may try to restore the present panels and then use one of the suggested treatments, probably epoxy.

[Tonka]

I am currently doing a similar thing on my side doors and rear doors using West systems epoxy and Milliput epoxy to fill gaps where the West system is too runny

[dmr]

25 minutes ago, Tonka said:

I am currently doing a similar thing on my side doors and rear doors using West systems epoxy and Milliput epoxy to fill gaps where the West system is too runny

 

You can get "stuff" to mix in to the West to make it suitable for filling bigger gaps, that way you can do it all just before its 100% set to give a really bond.

 

..............Dave

[Tonka]

Just now, dmr said:

 

You can get "stuff" to mix in to the West to make it suitable for filling bigger gaps, that way you can do it all just before its 100% set to give a really bond.

 

..............Dave

I know but I couldn't work out which stuff and then which mixing ratio do you use for the 3 components

[dmr]

3 minutes ago, Tonka said:

I know but I couldn't work out which stuff and then which mixing ratio do you use for the 3 components

 

I assume you mix the West in the usual ratio then add the "stuff" still you get your desired degree of stogginess.

 

.............Dave

 

[Stilllearning]

12 hours ago, Bugsworth Tippler said:

Good point. The damage is only at the bottom of the panels which suggests that capillary action was taking up water which may have collected at the bottom of the metal frame.

 

Thanks to contributors for other suggestions. I may try to restore the present panels and then use one of the suggested treatments, probably epoxy.

If the water damage seems to be only at the bottom, it may way be capillary action from below. I seem to remember having a similar worry on a previous boat, and solving it by making sure that the cabin steelwork just below the side doors were scrupulously clean, with no buildup of any sort of dust, vegetation et cetera. If necessary, stick a tiny rubber pad to the bottom of the side door that shuts first, to hold the doors away from the cabin steelwork.

[David Mack]

12 hours ago, Tonka said:

I know but I couldn't work out which stuff

Ordinary kitchen flour, or fine sawdust.

[dmr]

14 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Ordinary kitchen flour, or fine sawdust.

 

West sell low density filler, high density filler, silica filler and fairing filler etc etc, and suggest mixing them to create exactly what you want.

You are suggesting a handful of sawdust will do the same?, it might even be incompatible with wood 

 

I remember a bloke I used to work with filing down a lump of brass to add the filings to epoxy to make it electrically conductive ?

 

..........Dave

[Tonka]

Unfortunately the job has been made harder because the doors are pinned so I can not remove them so which is why I think the Milliput may be better as I am going to try and knead it into the bottom of the door and then apply peel ply to stop it sagging as there is not a lot of room between the bottom of the door and the counter to get the sander into.

[Alan de Enfield]

10 hours ago, dmr said:

I remember a bloke I used to work with filing down a lump of brass to add the filings to epoxy to make it electrically conductive ?

 

Well, it works on aircraft tyres (they have to conduct any static electricity to earth before the passengers touch the ground)

 

We also had to manufacture electrically conducting plastics for use in the automotive industry.

Fuel lines would suffer from static electricity due to the fuel running thru them, once the charge had built up a spark would jump across and eventually a pin-prick hole would form in the fuel lines. (This was identified as the cause of several 'unexplained' fires on Ford cars).

 

We worked with Du-Pont to devlop a conductive plastic for use in the fuel and brake line mounting clips so any build up of static was continually discharged before it got to the dangerous levels,

Edited June 7, 2021 by Alan de Enfield