Floors from the 80's - How to repaint?

[Camelot]

The floor inside my Beneteau Idylle 15.50 is from 1986 (origin). In the last years there has been an increasing amount of cracks in the paint. These cracks are growing into spots where the paint is falling off, and when it is humid, the floor turns wet and dark, and will be harmed. My intention is to remove the old paint and repaint the floor. However … did Beneteau paint their floors with regular paint during the 80's or did they encapsulate the floor in some kind of epoxy paint? The answer could probably be very important when I decide the method of removing the old paint. The removable floor parts on the image is not "attacked". The problem is on the permanent parts.

[svHyLyte]

Beneteau used a very tough Polyurethane based finish material in the '80's that is extremely difficult to remove. It can be done with persistence but it takes a long time and a lot of effort and one must be cautious as the teak and holly sole surface face is quite thin, on the order of 5mm or less so it can easily be sanded through or gouged. Save for very worn areas, we found that thorough cleaning with a dewaxing agent and then rough sanding to provide a surface that a new finish layer would adhere to was the most effective preparation for a new coat of polyurethane in a semi-gloss finish.

For the worn areas (we had very few) we used a sander to get down to the surface wood, cleaned that with 90% alcohol to remove dirt/sanding dust and promote drying out and then applied a mild oxalic acid solution to lighten the discoloration (although it cannot be entirely removed). Again, the 90% alcohol will promote drying. Once done as well as reasonably possible, we refinished the deck as noted above. In our case, we actually did 3 coats of finish on the sole, which has lasted very well since. (Note that we us a small door mat in the cockpit adjacent to the companionway to catch sand off people's feet before they enter the boat and a small throw rug at the foot of the companionway ladder for the same reason. No sand/dirt, little wear!)

FWIW...

[Camelot]

As I thought. The old French did a great job. The callenge now is for the Norwegian to follow-up this quality work. Thanks for your advice. I now realize the Easter 2019 is gone!

[billknny]

Originally Posted by Camelot

The floor inside my Beneteau Idylle 15.50 is from 1986 (origin). In the last years there has been an increasing amount of cracks in the paint. These cracks are growing into spots where the paint is falling off, and when it is humid, the floor turns wet and dark, and will be harmed. My intention is to remove the old paint and repaint the floor. However … did Beneteau paint their floors with regular paint during the 80's or did they encapsulate the floor in some kind of epoxy paint? The answer could probably be very important when I decide the method of removing the old paint. The removable floor parts on the image is not "attacked". The problem is on the permanent parts.

Before you spend a lot of time and effort repairing the finish, be 100% sure that the water damage you see to the wood is not the CAUSE of the problem.

In most cases where the wood turns dark and the finish peels off water getting under the floor, or into the edges, is not the result of the finish failure, but rather is the cause of the problem. If you refinish over without fixing the problem you will be disappointed because the new finish will fail very quickly.

The water could come from leaks, or just from condensation on the hull that gets into the edge grain of the plywood floor.

[a64pilot]

I am not sure exactly the brand, but I refinished the house floors with polyurethane that is used on basketball courts, and I believe bowling alleys. It’s high gloss, but so are boats.

[boatman61]

You should be able to lift out the whole floor without much difficulty if you want to check the edges, dry out and reseal with epoxy if not thoroughly rotted.. also makes sanding and recoating much quicker and easier to get a quality finish.

[akprb]

Decks, they are called decks.

Fingernails on chalkboard hearing floors :-)

Overhead, bulkhead, ladder, head, galley, etc. Just trying to keep the traditions of our shared passion alive (thumbs up)

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "Decks, they are called decks."

Uhm... If we are gonna be sticklers, then these componts are actually called "soles". The sole (that part of the cabin which we, in a house, would call the "floor" lies on twartships structural members called "floors". Floors serve the dual role of supporting the sole and of tying together the "futtocks" that are part of the "frames". We don't have futtocks and frames in frozen snot boats, but we do have floors (sometimes) and soles (always).

"A Deck" in a ship is analogous to the "floor" in a building, but Henglees being a gramatically sloppy language, this meaning of the word "floor" is better covered by the French word "etage"

But just so you won't feel too bad :-): In the Scowegian languages, the lowest "floor" in a building is called "stuen" meaning "the living room" and the second floor is called the "first floor", The second floor in German, i.e. the first floor in Scowegian, is called "Erste Stock", meaning "first stick" because the "Boden" (meaning the floor, i.e. the sole) lies atop the "first stick" (i.e the first layer of joists, or floors), i.e it is the deck that in an oldfashioned wooden man-o-war is called the orlop deck, which is Dutch and means the deck that overleaps or overruns or overlies the futtocks.

You are welcome ;-0)

Cheers

TP

[akprb]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Quote: "Decks, they are called decks."

Uhm... If we are gonna be sticklers, then these componts are actually called "soles". The sole (that part of the cabin which we, in a house, would call the "floor" lies on twartships structural members called "floors". Floors serve the dual role of supporting the sole and of tying together the "futtocks" that are part of the "frames". We don't have futtocks and frames in frozen snot boats, but we do have floors (sometimes) and soles (always).

"A Deck" in a ship is analogous to the "floor" in a building, but Henglees being a gramatically sloppy language, this meaning of the word "floor" is better covered by the French word "etage"

But just so you won't feel too bad :-): In the Scowegian languages, the lowest "floor" in a building is called "stuen" meaning "the living room" and the second floor is called the "first floor", The second floor in German, i.e. the first floor in Scowegian, is called "Erste Stock", meaning "first stick" because the "Boden" (meaning the floor, i.e. the sole) lies atop the "first stick" (i.e the first layer of joists, or floors), i.e it is the deck that in an oldfashioned wooden man-o-war is called the orlop deck, which is Dutch and means the deck that overleaps or overruns or overlies the futtocks.

You are welcome ;-0)

Cheers

TP

Well said!!!!!! I stand corrected and happily so. I was still getting the ringing out of my ears and was not thinking straight.

A warm cabin sole beneath me tired tootsies, nothing better :-)

[zippy]

I used a heat gun to strip my decks, MUCH easier than sanding.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by zippy

I used a heat gun to strip my decks, MUCH easier than sanding.

Attempting that on a 1980's era Beneteau would be ineffective and very unwise. Don't even think about it! Don't even think about thinking about it!

[zengirl]

Originally Posted by akprb

Decks, they are called decks.

Fingernails on chalkboard hearing floors :-)

Overhead, bulkhead, ladder, head, galley, etc. Just trying to keep the traditions of our shared passion alive (thumbs up)

What are you talking about? He said "floors" meaning sole. The picture is from the interior.

[Shaunskie]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Quote: "Decks, they are called decks."

Uhm... If we are gonna be sticklers, then these componts are actually called "soles". The sole (that part of the cabin which we, in a house, would call the "floor" lies on twartships structural members called "floors". Floors serve the dual role of supporting the sole and of tying together the "futtocks" that are part of the "frames". We don't have futtocks and frames in frozen snot boats, but we do have floors (sometimes) and soles (always).

"A Deck" in a ship is analogous to the "floor" in a building, but Henglees being a gramatically sloppy language, this meaning of the word "floor" is better covered by the French word "etage"

But just so you won't feel too bad :-): In the Scowegian languages, the lowest "floor" in a building is called "stuen" meaning "the living room" and the second floor is called the "first floor", The second floor in German, i.e. the first floor in Scowegian, is called "Erste Stock", meaning "first stick" because the "Boden" (meaning the floor, i.e. the sole) lies atop the "first stick" (i.e the first layer of joists, or floors), i.e it is the deck that in an oldfashioned wooden man-o-war is called the orlop deck, which is Dutch and means the deck that overleaps or overruns or overlies the futtocks.

You are welcome ;-0)

Cheers

TP

TP you are genius mate, I want to come and live in your world because there must be way more hours in a day than there are in my days. Excellent research and wonderfully written.

[Souzag818]

The teak and holly sole of my boat had been epoxied over whatever had initially been applied. I used a epoxy and paint remover from a major box store and though it took up to three coats to get them totally stripped, every thing came off with judicious scrapping. After that, a little light sanding with 180/220G and I was good to go. Sanding all the finish off is not an option... For a finish, I used a two part flooring finish that was recommended by a professional floor refinishing friend. Dried very hard, satin finish, has good UV. It's lasted 7 years so far...

[Camelot]

Thanks for all the experience based and skilled advices - especially from svHyLyte. Camelot is in excellent condition, and that's the reason for why I will spend so much time on this. And if you would like to spend time on which words to be used ... feel free. In Norwegian the name of the "inside deck" in a boat is DØRK. Each section in this dørk is called TILJE. The maritime language is very much alive in the Norwegian language. I assume everyone understands, when a Norwegian sailor is writing floor in English he is addressing the inside deck. But it could be nice to know the exact word in English. In Norwegian we separate between "dørk" and deck.