Any tips for cracked veneer on decks

[Garry R]

The Enterprise I bought recently has ply decks which are beginning to open out slightly on the upper grain surface which has been varnished previously. There is no widespread delamination only in one place and I think I can sort that with epoxy as it is at an accessable edge. I'd like to avoid a complete re-deck at the moment if I can avoid it - although this might still have to happen. I was wondering whether anyone has had any experience of doing something to rescue this situation. Chris and I had a phone discussion about small cracks and filling with zap a gap superglue but this is too extensive for this type of fix and I wondered if since G4 has now been used for all manner of sealing and varnishing and given its cheapness and runniness whether it would penetrate into the gaps and gradually fill it up. Would it be worth heating the ply first and allow the cooling to suck the G4 into the cracks. Whether to sand before or after the treatment would be another matter. As G4 is relatively inexpensive it might be worth a try. It might give me a couple of years before a real job needs to be done.

Any other suggestions/opinions on this would be welcomed. Or has everything been tried and it's been given up as a lost cause?

[Rupert]

If anything, I have found that G4 brings to light cracks and delaminating ply that had gone un-noticed before, as the edges tend to lift as the G4 dries. Possibly enough G4, sanding the cracked areas each time, could provide coverage, but I think water will still find a way in. If stripping it, epoxy might be a better bet for sealing it all. Put it on, sand it back, then do a couple more times before even trying to varnish. Might be quicker and cheaper to redeck...

[Ancient Geek]

At Gary's work rate and high skill levels re-decking will be quicker and prettier too.
In two years time he'll be well into his next project!!

[Garry R]

Thanks for that Rupert. Given the speed of drying of G4 I wonder if after an hour you could use one of those wallpaper rollers to press it down so that the edges might stay down. Doing a small section at a time ......

[Pat]

We G4'd Half Cut's deck last year as she's de-laminating but she'll still need redecking after Roadford. It just puts off the work a bit longer.

[chris]

I had tried several things on Half cut and as Pat has said nothing is 100% effective.
I tried wood hardener which is very runny and actually found its way right through the ply. Next was epoxy squeegied in and then all rubbed back - lasted a couple of years before starting to open up again and one or two other things. Some of the problem was that the ply had been so thoroughly machine sanded that there was very little left of the top veneer anyway, in hact it was bald in a couple of patches I seem to remember. All in all It will only take a little longer now but save save much time later to redeck. Next tip: to buy better ply than Robbin's elite which I have been dissapointed with and so has Ed I think.

[neil]

is that elite or super elite you had problems with? The super elite is great stuff, though a tad heavy.

[chris]

The Elite. I like the super elite too.
I've some elite which was good but the odd sheet which doesn't seem up to the same standard.