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roof nitemare !!


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the roof of my boat is steel with a plywood top on it....   the wood had seen better days and thought it strange to put wood on steel anyway so i started to remove it and boy what a job that is,there is body filler underneath upto 20mm thick in the centre....   its been a nitemare to get off and the steelwork underneath is solid but dents and bowing in places and one place has had a new section stitched in at sometime...  just dont know where to go from here?  new wood to cover it all up or a new steel roof over the top of the old one...   any advice would be great...  

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That sounds like a horrible job. Years ago heavy mineral roofing felt, that greenish gritty stuff, was often used on wooden topped boats, it lasted well and can be walked on in normal use, You can stick the stuff down and the seams need to be stuck with bitumastic goo. You won't be able to nail it though! and what you do with the edges depends on your boat. I'm sure others will have other and better ideas.

  • Happy 1
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Hi D,

Interesting to hear what was underneath! Had to be put on there for a reason.

I guess you could put a thin steel one over the top at a reasonable cost but would worry about stability. Perhaps estimate the weight and borrow the equivelant weight in bags of coal, family members etc and see how much it affects it all..

  • Greenie 1
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its a strange one paul, the rest of the shell is built so well but roof is a poor job...  had a better look at it today and i think i might just get away with some filler in the lower areas, luckily the solar panel will cover the worst depression...  your right about the extra weight of another layer of steel, i didnt think about that...  i really didnt want to go down the plywood route if i dont have to..  im just glad the roof isnt rotten, just a bit of surface rust but most is still shiny steel...

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I would live with it, try to tidy any welds up where the new piece has been put in and try to knock the dents out from underneath if you can. Filler/sanding/grinding to get it as smooth as you can then primer/undercoat/non-slip. Far easier then trying to bond a top metal cover over, as you say solar panels will cover the worst(but still try to knock out), as long as it’s rust free and sound under foot I would live with it or you could waste a lot of time and money.

Edited by PD1964
  • Greenie 1
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1 hour ago, buccaneer66 said:

I would make sure that you have no hollows left where water can pool and cuase corrosion later.

 

Body filler can take care of that..... just like fixing a few dents on a car, (if they cant be smoothed with magic ).

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My thoughts on this distorted roof are ;-

 

1     Fire damaged shell?

2     R&D shell with a fairly flat roof with little bow in it, I know of 2 that have been filled from new.

3     Moroccan shell, they were so bad that they were filled all over.

 

I would just   fill it again, U Pol filler is good for thick application or live with it painted and covered by PV panels, planks, poles, ropes etc.                   

Edited by Tracy D'arth
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thanks for all your advice, i think i will go with the filler and paint it and live with it route...  i think the hole that was patched was made to get the engine in the boat and the dents are not as bad as i first thought..   will get some pics tomorrow...

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2 hours ago, crosser said:

its a strange one paul, the rest of the shell is built so well but roof is a poor job...  had a better look at it today and i think i might just get away with some filler in the lower areas, luckily the solar panel will cover the worst depression...  your right about the extra weight of another layer of steel, i didnt think about that...  i really didnt want to go down the plywood route if i dont have to..  im just glad the roof isnt rotten, just a bit of surface rust but most is still shiny steel...

 

Hmm I'd be more inclined to to dig a little deeper and find out why the plywood was overlaid on top in the first place. Can't think of any legitimate reason why anyone would do that as it will just risk trapping moisture and exacerbating any problem it's potentially masking.

 

If the rust is as as minor as your post suggests, why didn't the previous owner simply deal with the issue in the same way you suggest? I may just be being a pessimist but sounds like there may be more to it.

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the plywood has been on there since it was built, its a one owner boat , still not sure why it was put there but the chaps son said it might of been to keep the roof cool...  theres no rot etc...

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38 minutes ago, RichM said:

 

Hmm I'd be more inclined to to dig a little deeper and find out why the plywood was overlaid on top in the first place. Can't think of any legitimate reason why anyone would do that as it will just risk trapping moisture and exacerbating any problem it's potentially masking.

 

If the rust is as as minor as your post suggests, why didn't the previous owner simply deal with the issue in the same way you suggest? I may just be being a pessimist but sounds like there may be more to it.

Some boaters have some strange ideas when it comes to what they think is a good idea or how to make their boat better. Just look at some of the self made wheel houses and front conservatory’s you see on boats, that are the owners pride and joy and to everyone else there “What’s that supposed to be?”

  Keep it simple and don’t try to reinvent the wheel ?

  • Greenie 1
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1 hour ago, crosser said:

thanks for all your advice, i think i will go with the filler and paint it and live with it route...  i think the hole that was patched was made to get the engine in the boat and the dents are not as bad as i first thought..   will get some pics tomorrow...

I had wondered about the engine and whether it had been put in before the roof had!

Glad to hear the roofs not as bad as first thought- my own has a big dent in from new-after a few years it ceased to bother me ?

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