09/29/08 - Yellow going GREEN - The O’day 20 teak items on the deck and cockpit (consisting of cuddy drop board guides, sliding hatch guides, handrails, and toe- rails)were badly worn and too far gone to save. After searching for a alternative to teak or Brazilian cherry, I have decided to go GREEN! I do not really care for use of "Starboard" material since it only comes in white or black, is cost prohibitive, and I think is less than 3/4" thick. I picked up a plank of the synthetic decking that HD sells, to see what the working characteristics were like. This planking is embossed with a wood grain on side and small grooves on the back side, both of which can be removed by sanding or running it over the jointer, which leaves a favorable texture and a color of weathered teak. This material machines well through the table saw, jointer, and router. I countersunk some screw holes and made some plugs from it on the drill press, glued the plugs in with Superglue and sanded the plug flush, and you could not find the plug! Have the boat gods smiled down on us for an alternative to using real wood requiring hours of maintenance sanding, masking, and varnishing... maybe so!!! If this stuff is being marketed as decking, then it should hold up to just about whatever we can throw at it right? Well time will tell, I will let you know. In the mean time it's starting to go on the boat tonight!See pics of some of the parts.
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