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my new trex hatchboards

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dasreboot
Admiral

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804 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/03/2013 : 10:31:06

what do you guys think?

Todd Lewis
Eowyn 87 TR/WK C25 #5656
ARWEN 84 TR/SK C25 #4031
www.mainsailsailingschool.com

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MrKawfey
Navigator

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USA
124 Posts

Response Posted - 06/03/2013 : 11:48:21

It looks great and it's something I have thought about doing. A couple of questions:
Did you use actual Trex brand decking?
Were the boards wide enough to make each hatchboard from a single piece or did you have to join boards together?
Did you add the undercut on the backs so that the boards mate and interlock like the originals?
How do they fit in the groove? Loose, tight?
It's hard to tell in the pic, did you replace the rails as well?

I made some parts (our drink holder and the swim platform) out of composite decking and I learned something interesting. The word "compostite" has become a catch-all phrase in the building community to encompass any type of synthetic plastic decking. The trouble is that it is somewhat of a misnomer. The original material was truly a composite of plastic and wood fibers, but now a lot of the brands are 100% plastic (cellular PVC seems to be the most common).

The problem with the stuff that is truly a composite is that it contains organic material (wood fibers) and so it's prone to all the same issues as real wood. Staining from spills, mold and mildew, and degradation are all issues. When I built my parts I used a true composite (I can't remember the brand) and ran into all these problems. If I had to do it over again I would use a 100% plastic material.

It's important to note for anyone considering replacing wood parts with plastic, they are not interchangeable in terms of structural strength. The plastic is nowhere near as strong as the wood and suffers from many other short comings like heat deflection, creep, uv degradation/embrittlement that wood is immune to.

Here is are pics of the drink holder and folding swim platform:

Looks great, I would love to see an update at the endo of the season to see how they held up.

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dasreboot
Admiral

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804 Posts

Response Posted - 06/03/2013 : 12:27:17

It looks great and it's something I have thought about doing. A couple of questions:
Did you use actual Trex brand decking? yep
Were the boards wide enough to make each hatchboard from a single piece or did you have to join boards together?yes used a rail cap from home depot,. rest of parts were from a trex 2x4
Did you add the undercut on the backs so that the boards mate and interlock like the originals? yes they lock together. ran them across my table saw
How do they fit in the groove? Loose, tight?
It's hard to tell in the pic, did you replace the rails as well?

they fit well in the groove because i replaces the rails as well. Broken rails were the cause of the project.

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Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9082 Posts

Response Posted - 06/03/2013 : 12:37:04

Nice! Your photo makes the top board appear to be higher than the teak hatch molding that's suppose to slide over it, which would be a drainage problem. Is that an illusion?

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dasreboot
Admiral

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804 Posts

Response Posted - 06/03/2013 : 12:40:15

illusion, it slides over.

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OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3472 Posts

Response Posted - 06/04/2013 : 08:56:46

Excellent !

Something to save in my archives for when it's time to consider a replacement !

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Jefffriday
Navigator

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USA
198 Posts

Response Posted - 06/06/2013 : 10:40:42

I am not crazy about the stuff. Our club has been replacing all our docks over the last several years (we have about 50 slips) with steel and trex as our material, it's not very stiff, or attractive, then again, the only splinters I have had to dig out are from the old docks. and by the way, this is not a project I can recommend, a ton of work and money, all volunteer efforts from the members. I would think at that thickness (being on the thin side) they would warp. The price of new Teak ones from CD is pretty steep though, Love to see how it works out over time. I have seen people use polycarbonate or plexiglass as well, I just like finished teak (yeah, I'm a bit nuts about wood) Keep us posted!

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shnool
Former Capri-25 Tech Editor

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USA
1032 Posts

Response Posted - 06/06/2013 : 11:21:19

I think it's brilliant... Yes Trex has it's downsides, but no-maintenance is cool!

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MrKawfey
Navigator

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USA
124 Posts

Response Posted - 06/06/2013 : 11:41:05

It's a tough trade off. On the one hand, anything that eliminates maintenance is great. I have enough work to do on the boat. On the other hand, it's definitely not as nice as well maintained teak. My issue is that the composite stuff that still contains wood fibers is not maintenance free. It's less maintenance, but I still have to scrub green growth out of the "wood grain" on the stuff I used on an annual basis (I wish I could remember the brand). For me that was a poor tradeoff and I would have been better off with wood.

Having said that, if I do replace these parts I will probably still go with a synthetic material as long as it is pure plastic. I used the Veranda HP deck boards from Home Cheapo on a small project at home and they require ZERO maintenance. They are make of cellular PVC and have no filler. The color they stock in the store is totally wrong for our boats, but maybe with the right color...

There are other manufacturers of PVC lumber that make it in lots of different shades and with wood grain texture on top and bottom (unlike deck boards). The problem will always be the cut edge though. It will always look different than the rest of the board until someone comes up with a way to apply wood grain in the field. It's also worth noting that even though this stuff is weaker than real wood, it is denser. Replacing all the wood on your boat with composite material could add quite a bit of weight. The cellular PVC stuff has air bubbles blown into the core of the boards to help keep the weight down, but it creates more of a visual problem when you machine it.

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.