As for the floor boards, if you intent to keep the dinghy for several years
i.e. 5 years or more, I had very good success with high grade marine plywood
(5Ply).
If you are not able to get this type of plywood construction grade will do.
Avoid low quality ply made in China.
Once you have cut the boards to size the void should be filled. Then the
boards saturated with thin layers of epoxy. Three coats of epoxy or more
will ensure a long lasting job.
Because epoxy is not UV protected two or three coats of waterborne diamond
urethane vanish will finish the boards well and protect the epoxy from the
sun. After that refreshing the waterborne vanish every season or when need
it is easy. This may look overkill. Not at all I have witnessed one friend
doing it the way I have described and one other doing it quickly.
After two to three years the quick way was about ready to rott and the
overkill way was and still looking good after more than 6 years.
If you are happy about the configuration of your old boards you may use them
as templates to cut the new one. If not, doing some prototype cut outs with
inexpensive composite material or cardboard is a sure way to make these new
boards fit properly.
BTW even with hight grade marine Ply I saturated the cut outs with epoxy
before and after assembly.
In the US and Canada only one type of waterproof glue is used in the making
of indoor or outdoor plywood. They use the same glue for both.



"Jere Lull" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Dave wrote:

On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 05:11:18 GMT, Jere Lull said:

Though I love Cetol, the floorboards can be taken home to refinish
properly and varnish is better for this application as it stands up to
abrasion better.

Which would you choose for a tiller? (Mine's stripped and ready to
finish.)

Whatever Practical Sailor's rating tops in a clear, hard finish. Cetol
just doesn't cut it with a laminated tiller as the contrasts are too
pretty to hide with an opaque finish, and tillers are subject to
abrasion and dings.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/