Refinishing sole and needing advice on screw holes & epoxy

[NewToTheRoad]

I am in the process of refinishing my cabin sole, which by the looks of it hadn't been done in 28 years.  My question has to do with the screw holes.  Some of the screws heads needed to be drilled out and others were sunk almost all the way through so the floor was probably loose in those areas.  So, I have bigger holes than I need in many of the sole boards.

Question 1:  My guess is that my best choice is to fill the holes with epoxy and then redrill and countersink for the same size screw.  Does that sound like the right plan of attack?

Question 2:  It seems like everyone recommends treating the bottoms and sides with a brush on epoxy if they are raw wood.  Is that the same type of epoxy that I would use for filling the screw holes?

Question 3:  Are these the same clear epoxies that I would use to fill the deep gouges in the veneer?  In all my research I see people commenting that the epoxy is very hard to sand so that makes me a little nervous.

Thanks!

Bryan

[Noah]

Lots of ways to approach this. Some comments:
1. Definately coat the bottoms. Can use West System epoxy (or other epoxy brand) or plain enamel paint or...
2. I would not sweat the old screw holes in the wood sole itself. Just use bigger oval head counter sunk screws in appropiate size for existing hole and enlarge pilot hole in Fiberglas floor pan.
3. I would build up varnish in gouges, not try to fill flat with epoxy. A few gouges add character. Unless you decide to use an epoxy coating on entire sole as your method of finish. Not my suggestion.
4. Keep sanding to a minimum as the plywood veneer is not very thick.

[sailaway]

Half of my cabin sole boards have no screws at all. They will fit and stay where they are placed. every winter I take some of them up. And recoat with varnish.  Good old lake Erie winters.  Charlie

[Jon W]

If you drill into the fiberglass subfloor, be cautious. The hull is very close in some spots. Drilling a hole through the hull will ruin your whole day.

[Noah]

What I was referring to was just enlarging/reaming-out the existing pilot hole(s) to accept a larger screw. I agree, when drilling anywhere in a boat, caution is always advised. And a jar of this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=888wQhRcmjQ

[NewToTheRoad]

Thanks guys.  My plan was if I did fill and redrill the hole, it would be at home and not on the boat into the fiberglass.

[Ron Hill]

Bryan : I had the same problem with the screws being thru too big a hole in the sole, so I used small #4 or #6 finishing washers - that did the trick and looked nice!!

A THOUGHT

[KWKloeber]

Bryan

If you do choose epoxy, in the screw holes you would use somewhat thickened resin, while the underside and edge coatings would use unthickened.  One of the small diameter foam rollers work well for sealing -- edges will take more than one application.  IIWMB I'd use Mas brand epoxy (which is non-blush) low-viscosity resin, which would be more penetrating than West or regular Mas resin.  I like your attention to detail in repairing holes.  Using epoxy on the oversize holes is a super idea because, besides closing up the hole, it will penetrate into teak veneer and plywood substrate and reinforce the area to prevent screws from pulling thru again.  I'd suggest this sequence:

Prepare holes (if rough or torn, to clean them up - use a countersink or rout out w/ a dremel w/ a 115 or 194 bit)
Tape over the underside.
  * Each below works well using West syringes.
Fill each w/ unthickened resin, let penetrate 5-10 min (depending on temp and hardener used).
If needed, suck out excess in the same order filled.
Fill with thickened resin (you can add West teak additive to color it.)  If you use a slow hardener, you can reuse any sucked out resin to make the thickened mix.  I know it's not a lot of $$ to just waste what you suck out, but.... why not reuse?
Re-drill/countersink.

As well, I would treat even the "still-ok" screw holes to reinforce the plywood grain.

If you notice you overfilled a hole, it's ok -- don't worry and don't sand -- if it will interfere with countersinking, after the resin kicks, use a SHARP wood chisel (w/ the beveled side against the teak) and skim off the excess to be flush w/ the surface.

You can use low-density filler in epoxy resin to make sanding eas(ier), but IIWMB I would experiment with a colored wood filler, or Noah's idea of building up w/ varnish. Tape the adjacent area to prevent sanding on them a lot, or use an appropriate-shaped wood sanding block to hit just the filled gouge.

ken

[Indian Falls]

I filled my screw holes with 5 min. epoxy from the hardware store.  Put tape on the bottom, fill hole flush, redrill and counter sink slightly.
Coating the entire bottom with epoxy is expensive and quite unnecessary in my opinion. I used a can of old polyurethane for wood to seal the bottoms.  It just needs to be sealed from intrusion of water or spilled liquids in the galley. MILK is the worst!  Also I got some bad info to fill dents with epoxy and sand flush.
I won't do that again, you can see every dent this was done to.  The epoxy turns dark amber... darker than the finish of course.  Just let your finish flow into the dent and leave it at that.

[KWKloeber]

Also I got some bad info to fill dents with epoxy and sand flush.
I won't do that again, you can see every dent this was done to.  The epoxy turns dark amber... darker than the finish of course.  Just let your finish flow into the dent and leave it at that.

West Special Hardener (tint free, clear curing) would be what to use for that -- and it can be tinted as needed.  It takes a minimal of experimenting on a scrap piece of teak to match the filler to the finished (varnished) product on the adjacent teak veneer.  It can be tinted with either fiberglass tint or the West "teak" filleting additive.

-k

[Stu Jackson]

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I won't do that again, you can see every dent this was done to.  The epoxy turns dark amber... darker than the finish of course.  Just let your finish flow into the dent and leave it at that.

I agree.  It is the sign of a boat that is being used.