Discoloration on Cabin sole

[jobrantley]

Hi,
I am in the wonderful position of looking at boats to buy. I recently looked at a boat (a 1996) with some discoloration of the cabin flooring (teak and holly). Some places looked faded and washed out compared to others. Would standing water be the only thing that could cause this or are there other possibilities?? I believe this boat to have been neglected by its previous owner and current owner so I think wear and tear from foot traffic can be ruled out.
This being a relatively "newer" boat I'm trying to get to the bottom of this.

thank you for all and any help on this,

jon

[camaraderie]

Most teak and holly sole is thin laminates over plywood and standing water will cause both disoloration and delamination if the varnish is penetrated. One would expect to see extensive discoloration if there was widespread standing water and minor and spot discoloration if there were small leaks that worked their way down to the floor. This is no big deal and can happen if a port gets a leak over the winter etc. so it really is just an indicator that you should look for where the water came from and that there is no other damage and the source is fixed.
The other thing that can cause discoloration is partial sanding and recoating with a different finish that gets taken up by the wood differently in different places, With really thin laminates it is difficult to remove prior varnish without sanding away the laminate itself. This is usually easy to spot as you get a section where you don't get the alternating teak and holly strips since you are down to the plywood.
Hope that is herlpful.

[Cruisingdad]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Most teak and holly sole is thin laminates over plywood and standing water will cause both disoloration and delamination if the varnish is penetrated. One would expect to see extensive discoloration if there was widespread standing water and minor and spot discoloration if there were small leaks that worked their way down to the floor. This is no big deal and can happen if a port gets a leak over the winter etc. so it really is just an indicator that you should look for where the water came from and that there is no other damage and the source is fixed.
The other thing that can cause discoloration is partial sanding and recoating with a different finish that gets taken up by the wood differently in different places, With really thin laminates it is difficult to remove prior varnish without sanding away the laminate itself. This is usually easy to spot as you get a section where you don't get the alternating teak and holly strips since you are down to the plywood.
Hope that is herlpful.

Exactly. Nice write-up Cam.

One other thing, it is not always long-standing water. The floor discolored where we kept our dog bowl when we lived and cruised on our previous boat. I never knew it until one day the sun shined right and I noticed some discolorization. THus, expect the worst on this particulair boat, but do not be suprised if it is something as simple as that. If it is a production boat, like a Catalina for example, you can order that exact piece of flooring. Very simple take in/out. I would assume other mfg do that also. On that model boat, it will not be an exact match (ie, if you replace you will be able to tell it was replaced because of fading and the strips will not match exactly). Many of the newer boats (04+ on Catalina if I recall correctly) use a synthetic type of flooring (like a Pergo) so that future replacements are an exact match.

Now, you know more than you ever wanted to know about flooring!!! Good luck in your search.

- CD


- CD

[jobrantley]

Thank you guys for your quick and in depth responses. The boat appeared to be pretty dry (except the bilge had a good amount of water in it, presumably from the heavy rains the night before and morning of me looking at the boat).
Maybe it was from a port left open at one time. The boat spent three years on the hard and has been in the water for the past two years but has definately been neglected.
This is a first boat purchase so I am entering new territory. I will definately get whatever boat I decide on surveyed. In my short life as a boat shopper I have already had to walk away from one after a survey revealed some damage that I hadn't seen on my inspection....lessons learned $$$$.

thanks again guys for your help.

jon