Compartment Lids for Bass Boat

[kshays]

I've looked through the forum, but not much came up.  Two years ago I used regular plywood to redo all my compartment lids.  I put carpet over them and it looked pretty good, however this past March I noticed the lids were rotting pretty bad on some.  I am looking for ideas since this is an old boat, to come up with better ideas on lids so they will not rot in a year.

 

Ideas so far are these.

- Baltic Birch plywood sealed on all edges then carpeted.

- Baltic Birch plywood sealed with fiberglass and cat hair.

- Advantec OSB with same methods as above.

- Regular plywood with same methods as above.

- Gluing up solid wood and prepping it like above.

 

Any other ideas are welcome.  If it would last a few years and I have to do it again, not a problem.

 

Thanks!

[MN Fisher]

10 minutes ago, kshays said:

Any other ideas are welcome.  If it would last a few years and I have to do it again, not a problem.

Plain old BCX plywood is sufficient - long as you double-coat it with oil-based spar urethane to keep the wet out.

 

If you don't seal it, even the best wood you can get will start rotting. Note: using pressure treated wood is contra-indicated...especially if it's an aluminum boat. The chemicals used in pressure treated lumber will start corroding the aluminum.

[kshays]

I did think about coating it with polyurethane as well.  My first thought was to get regular ply, coat it all over, put carpet and fasten carpet on bottom side and call it a day lol.

Boat is a 16' fiberglass.

 

I've read the same thing on pressure treated wood too.

 

thanks!

 

Kevin

[gim]

My lids are reinforced aluminum. Could you replace the wood with a sheet of aluminum or is that not feasible? I think what @MN Fisher recommended would work but why not completely remove the wood if possible? Most modern boats have wood free construction I think.

[MN Fisher]

9 minutes ago, kshays said:

I did think about coating it with polyurethane as well.

Make sure it's Spar Urethane - regular polyurethane won't hold up to the wet as well.

 

10 minutes ago, kshays said:

put carpet and fasten carpet on bottom side and call it a day lol.

I not only fitted/stapled the carpet to the underside, I also used outdoor rated carpet glue.

 

My project from winter 2021-22 - all done with aluminum angle, rivets and sealed BCX plywood with indoor/outdoor carpet.

 

 

[kshays]

Hey MN,

Yeah, that is what I used for my rocking chairs I built from construction lumber to seal them.  They are holding up really good, even though they do sit on a covered porch.

 

When I re-carpeted my boat I used the same type of glue for that project.  I'll post some pics here in a minute of before and after.  I'll also post a pic of the storage compartment I will be working on too.

 

Your boat looks much nicer now

 

Kevin

Hey gimruis,

going to link a pic of the compartment.  I could probably fiberglass a compartment lid for a good fit, guess some plywood under the lid after I got the fiberglass shaped how I want it.

 

The maroon was when I got it and I tore it all out and used outdoor rated carpet glue to put down the grey.  

 

[@reelChris]

You can always get aluminum drop in lids from the Tiny Boat Nation store:

 

https://tbnation.net/products/dry-storage-hatch-lid-pre-built