replace wood stringers with solid plastic deck molding?

[Salty87]

from: http://www.mrdeck.com/products_files...isons.htm#Trex

"Both Timbertech and Trex are made from plastic and wood sawdust. Both turn gray with the weather, not to a "silver" as claimed by their manufacturers, but to an ugly musty gray. Both products are susceptible to speckles of black mildew because the resins leach out at the surface and this exodus forms surface micro-pockets. Now the wood chips are exposed and the chips, being organic, bring on the mildew which then thrives in these pockets!"


there's lots of stuff like this all over the internet. plywood isn't perfect but it's time tested.

[Okie Boarder]

WAG = Wild A$$ Guess

[sitdownsteve]

from: http://www.mrdeck.com/products_files...isons.htm#Trex

"Both Timbertech and Trex are made from plastic and wood sawdust. Both turn gray with the weather, not to a "silver" as claimed by their manufacturers, but to an ugly musty gray. Both products are susceptible to speckles of black mildew because the resins leach out at the surface and this exodus forms surface micro-pockets. Now the wood chips are exposed and the chips, being organic, bring on the mildew which then thrives in these pockets!"



there's lots of stuff like this all over the internet. plywood isn't perfect but it's time tested.

Yes I have read the same things but the leading cause to all that is the sun which isn't a factor here

[jet]

Just use wood, and it will last another 16 yrs.

[sitdownsteve]

Just use wood, and it will last another 16 yrs.

Or use plastic that won't ever rot and it will last forever, they say it takes an estimated 2000 years to decompose where it takes treated wood 10 years and un treated wood 2 years, so why would I wanna use wood? It's proven not to last, that's why everyone has to do this in the first place

[riveredge]

I agree with the OP that if you have a good, strong, cost-effective alternative to wood, then absolutely go for it. If you're planning on keeping the boat for a long time, you'll NEVER have to deal with rotten stringers ever again. If you're selling it, then you don't have to worry about it in the very long term anyway. It will be solid for a period of time either way, and I think you're taking the right approach with a little testing first. I also think that the trex stuff would be a lot more agreeable to a patch, or filling a hole from a stripped bolt or something. With rotten wood, you have little chance of that. As long as you do what you're doing and test the bonding, it should be a great solution.

If I keep my boat for the long term (it's been 7 years actually!) and if I go through the massive effort of DIY floor and stringers, there's no way I'd put wood back in there unless the cost was overwhelmingly less. No foam either!

I have to rebuild my rear floor piece over the stuffing box and I'm thinking of going with aluminum, just so I never have to touch it, ever again...

[sitdownsteve]

I agree with the OP that if you have a good, strong, cost-effective alternative to wood, then absolutely go for it. If you're planning on keeping the boat for a long time, you'll NEVER have to deal with rotten stringers ever again. If you're selling it, then you don't have to worry about it in the very long term anyway. It will be solid for a period of time either way, and I think you're taking the right approach with a little testing first. I also think that the trex stuff would be a lot more agreeable to a patch, or filling a hole from a stripped bolt or something. With rotten wood, you have little chance of that. As long as you do what you're doing and test the bonding, it should be a great solution.

If I keep my boat for the long term (it's been 7 years actually!) and if I go through the massive effort of DIY floor and stringers, there's no way I'd put wood back in there unless the cost was overwhelmingly less. No foam either!

I have to rebuild my rear floor piece over the stuffing box and I'm thinking of going with aluminum, just so I never have to touch it, ever again...

Yeah my thoughts exactly, and I am also gonna use the same material for the floor, local lumber yard can order 4x8 sheets for $103 little pricey but after that the only wood left in the boat is the seats

[jet]

ALL true..but the odds of someone else wanting your boat in 16 more years. (crickets sound here)

tru-dat man..tru-dat.

[khelfrich]

trex is not a structural product i would not use it. if you lay enough fiberglass over the wood then you dont even need the wood core. new boats are hollow fiberglass stringers so if you use enought fiberglass and get a good biax matting or something like that then you should be able to let the wood rot and not even have a problem. the orginal wood stringers were glasses down with one layer of fiberglass as a means of securing it to the bottom of the hull

Ken

[sitdownsteve]

trex is not a structural product i would not use it. if you lay enough fiberglass over the wood then you dont even need the wood core. new boats are hollow fiberglass stringers so if you use enought fiberglass and get a good biax matting or something like that then you should be able to let the wood rot and not even have a problem. the orginal wood stringers were glasses down with one layer of fiberglass as a means of securing it to the bottom of the hull

Ken

How much structural support does it really need though? Doing 20mph wakeboarding or 40mph on a glass lake hitting some small wakes really gonna crack the hull? I mean we see what little the factory did and all the bad stringers out there that the structure hasn't failed I don't see much of a problem.