How to maintain where steel meets wood

[amathlai]

Hi all,
My 60 year old steel sloop has a wooden deck, I guess it's ply wood, could be original for all I know. As you might expect, she has trouble where the wood meets the steel. I've read lots of posts about redoing the wood so it doesn't fail in the future, but couldn't find much info about how to do maintenance to minimize damage until a more permanent fix can be arranged months or years down the line).



If she can handle it, I'd consider ditching the wood in favor of more steel, but I'd also be open to redoing it in wood again. But what should I do now?


While taking off the rotten old varnish for a fresh layer, we found that the wood just wouldn't come dry in some parts, 10 seconds after a direct blast of the heat gun, wetness would show again.



In other areas, the paint over the steel has bubbled up or chipped away. I was planning on treating this like any other part of the steel (remove rust, avoid flash rust, seal, prime, paint, etc). And I think I know some of the right ways to seal between wood-wood joins, but do I do between the steel and the wood?


Doesn't feel right to just treat wood as I normally would, the steel as I notmally would, and join the two with some Sikaflex but that's my current best idea.


Thanks in advance for your insightful help!

[tkeithlu]

As near as I can see, the problem isn't steel/wood per se, but water getting behind the wood through either wood/wood or wood/steel cracks. There it sits in a puddle, staining and rotting the wood and rusting the steel.

SO: First, yes, you need to dry it out. Nothing is going to work until the water is gone. That may include pulling up the quarter round, and maybe wood underneath it. Sand, prime, and paint by your usual practice, varnish the wood, and then seal all the cracks with, yes, flexible silicone. Push it into the cracks. Your goal is to never let water get behind the wood again.

The sealant you use does need to stay flexible, given different expansion of wood and steel with temperature. Use good stuff.

Good luck with it.