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Permalink Reply by chris towles on December 17, 2011 at 11:13am

if its fir, it will check...only way to prevent it would be to sand heavy, then glass over the surface with a light glass 4oz or so. did you varnish over the west? that varnish will have to come off if you are gonna glass. personally if its just cosmetic i woulden't worry about it much especially if its on the side panels which wont hold water. on the floor, if you are worried about water finding its way in  and being held in by gravity and having nowhere to go, potentially rotting your floor, thats a legitimate concern. you could glass over the floor and then paint or bedliner, but if you have a framed boat, the time to glass was before you assmebled the boat unfortunatly. you can still do it, but its way more work than draping a few yeards of cloth over plywood and wetting it out. i like a sealed floor personally..mine is wested and painted..but i did not glass, which was a mistake. my next wood boat if i ever make one will have a glassed and painted floor inside. by the time you put in the wood finshed floorboards you can hardly see the paint on the floor anyhow

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Permalink Reply by Christopher M. Gosselin on December 18, 2011 at 7:14am

Thank very much!!! I have been noticing the checking for a couple of years now....I think I will keep it as is...going to paint my hull this spring, so I'll get into it then...getting cold out here.  I will also paint my floor and inside hull too....I also have cedar floorboard strips which I varnished with the grit stuff for traction...they work great...My latest project is a rear fishing brace...the one I designed is too wiggly...I am looking at all the neat types from pictures on this site...

Thanks and Happy Holidays!!!

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Permalink Reply by Lawrence E. Long on December 18, 2011 at 9:12am

Christopher:

Too late now, but I leave cedar floorboards unfinished- just as they come off the saw.  No sanding, no grit stuff.  They are fine with felt soled waders as well as bare feet.  They do get a weathered look but require no maintenance whatever.

Good Luck 

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