Posted by Mark Bronkalla on November 08, 2002 at 11:51:16:
In Reply to: Squirt...natural look posted by Steve on November 06, 2002 at 18:59:00:
Rotary cut fir is way too wild, Okoume can be OK, but you need to select the pieces. In the pile I got for my boat, I had some pretty nice stuff. Unfortunately if you only need a few sheets it may be hard to find the pretty stuff (just pot luck as to how the grain came off the log). Not may plyowwd suppliers are fond of having someone dig through entire pallets of ply looking for nice grain on only 1 or 2 sheets. (too much damage).
If you go the plywood deck approach do it solid without grooving (like Bill Y's Monaco).
For the real look (strips and stripes), you do need to apply strips of solid (but thin) wood to the top of the plywood.
Applying the strips is not that hard. Take a look at the link to my web site for the decking.
Skip the CPES. It is a waste of money in my opinion. When the solvents that they use to thin it evaporate, you have zillions of microscopic holes anyway. Just go with a high quality 100% solids (no solvents) epoxy such as from Glen-L, West, etc.
There is a good article on why NOT to thin epoxy on the west system web site: http://westsystem.com/webpages/epoxyworks/14/ThinningEpoxy.html Penetration is not the parameter to measure for encapsulation effectiveness- water vapor transmission and strength are what is important (hype vs science IMHO).
Also dig through the photo board there are some VERY pretty Squirts and TNTs with strip planked decks.