Caulking the Recess?

I made some new floorboards of plywood to replace the old ones. The handles are to be recessed in the floorboards. I routed/drilled/chiseled the recesses for the handles and applied the finished to the floorboards. The recessed areas have varnish on them but just don't look waterproof like the rest of the floorboards. Since things spill onto floors and recesses act like pockets, should some kind of caulking be applied to the recessed areas prior to installing the handles?

Smith & Co. Richmond, Ca. Clear penertrating epoxy sealer. One to one mix. Very thin. Goes deep into wood grain and seals.

A "rule" we learned years ago on the GB owners forum from the shipwrights and ex-yard owners on that forum is "bed everything." So we do.

Nice job on the cut outs.

You have done everything you need to do. Epoxy will not help you now after varnish. If you have so much water in the main cabin that the lift rings are a issue, then you have bigger problems.

I own a cnc machine shop just off the waterfront in a town on the ICW. Our receptionist is instructed to turn away all walk in traffic, except if it looks like it’s boat work. I have a weakness for boat work, and boat owners, power and sail.

As a result I cut floor boards for lift rings several times a year. Takes about 30 seconds.

Mike

Not caulking, bedding compound.
Dolfinite Bedding Compound

While we use Dolfinite to bed a lot of exterior components on our boat like window frames and such, I would not recommend it for the OP's purpose. Dolphinite is thick and putty-like and it does not cure. On a small application like this the floor-pulls will be squeezing Dolfinte out for a long time every time someone steps on them and it will get tracked all over the boat.

When we have re-bedded pulls like this or hinges in our cabin sole panels we use a very thin bed of Sikaflex. When it cures it's dry and does not squeeze out forever like Dolfinite will, but it is not so adhesive that it makes removing the hardware later a chore.

And in this case, since the recesses are already varished I would use the Sikaflex mainly to seal around the four screw holes.

Thanks guys.
The light bulb went on when u mentioned epoxy - it is the obvious choice and I use often for so many other things I can't believe I missed the obvious. I'm gonna chalk it up to 'having a senior moment'.
At this point, I'll just go ahead alternate Plan B and bed them in.

Sceptic:
I don't have a CNC machine but it didnt take long to make a simple router jig for the main plate size, 2 Forstner Bits in Drill Presses and a hand chisel to square off the smaller round hole. In plywood, just press the chisel down with moderate force and the corners cut out easily. I did all eight boards in an hour including the time to make the jigs.

Don't epoxy the things in. You'll rip up wood if you ever have to get them out.

Nice job! I would just seal the wood. If you use caulk or any adhesive to bed the handles, if you ever want to refinish or remove the handles later you may bugger up the cut outs. When sealed, a little occasional moisture shouldn't cause any issues.

I would use Dolphinite as the screws will hold it down firm enough that walking on it wont change a thing.

Yes the Dolphinite does not "cure" so the wood can change shape seasonally with no loss of sealing.

A glue like Epoxy or 5200 would be dangerous when needs rebedding.

Surely you would coat with the epoxy preservative, let it dry/set, then screw in the hand pulls. It is an inside fitting after all. Caulking or bedding material could make the fitting stand proud and catch shoes soles etc.

solvent thinned epoxy - 2 coats. Make your own or something like esp 155.

for the screw holes you might consider filling them with unthinned epoxy then grease your screws and apply into the epoxy filled holes. When the epoxy sets you and unscrew the screws from their tapped and threaded - waterproof holes.

-- I spent almost 20 years sailing galveston bay - happy memories.

paul - progressive epoxy polymers inc.

For hatches I always use "lift & turns" so the hatches won't float off, these recesses drain themselves through the shaft hole. So why not just continue your centerhole through the hatch so it can drain your recess too?

Sceptic said:

Nice job on the cut outs.



I own a cnc machine shop just off the waterfront in a town on the ICW. Our receptionist is instructed to turn away all walk in traffic, except if it looks like it’s boat work. I have a weakness for boat work, and boat owners, power and sail.

As a result I cut floor boards for lift rings several times a year. Takes about 30 seconds.

Mike

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Good karma, when I 1st bought my boat the solon windows wouldn't slide to open. The flocking needed replaced & I called a local glass shop to see if they could do it. That receptionist must not of worked for a boater, as soon as I said boat she said "we don't work on boats". Wouldn't even listen to the problem, I ended up finding the proper material & did it myself. On 2nd thought maybe they did own a boat.

I think several of you missed the fact we are talking indoor, recessed lift handles in the cabin floor. Extreme weather protection in not usually needed in there....

Peter B said:

I think several of you missed the fact we are talking indoor, recessed lift handles in the cabin floor. Extreme weather protection in not usually needed in there....

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Yeah agreed Pete. I would have sealed with Bote-cote TPRDA then Coated with a full strength Bote-Cote coat then just screw the fittings down. If you wanted to bed it or if they were external fittings, I'd drop the router in 3mm deeper to allow the bed thickness, put about a 5mm thick bed in, and screw the plate down flush and clean up the oozed out epoxy but as you said, it's not going to be subject to extreme weather so no need for extreme fixings

Live and learn brother. That's the beauty of doing this work yourself.

I would dip the whole boat in epoxy; and then not use it. Best if you could store it in the desert. It would then look perfect forever. I mean, this is what boating is all about, right?

Northern Spy said:

I would dip the whole boat in epoxy; and then not use it. Best if you could store it in the desert. It would then look perfect forever. I mean, this is what boating is all about, right?

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If thats what you're in to then go for it. Don't forget to post pics of how you do it!

Now you've done it. The discussion just changed to UV resistance of uncoated epoxy.

Keith said:

Now you've done it. The discussion just changed to UV resistance of uncoated epoxy.

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Lol then afterwards we'll talk about what anchor is better hahaha :-D

The only thing I would be interested in using a sealant on in this case are the screw holes. As the OP said at the outset he's concerned about spilled water on the floor getting under the fitting and into the wood. Since he's varnished the inside of the recess that's not an issue anymore but the screw holes could be. Not a big deal at all but putting some sealant around the screw holes won't hurt anything and it might help if someone dumps a pan of water or whatever on the floor.

Thats exactly what I did, just used sealant on the screw holes.