Bamboo decks

[Mawibo]

Hi all,
The previous cedar battens had made their time.
Located in Thailand, I decided to give a go at bamboo.
Made a few mistakes but learn a lot along the way, so far so good.

[Éric Bouvéron]

Hi, it looks nicd,but aren”tyou afraid by the baambou pins in your feet?

[Mawibo]

You must be talking about green bamboo which they were when I cut split and round their edges. (Gloves on)
Exposed to Weather as they are, it takes a few days to dry and change colour.

[Dean Wilkerson]

Unique!   It doesn't look comfortable on bare feet though.  Bamboo is amazing material.  My personal direction is toward solid decks aft (cockpit area).  Bamboo has a low rot resistance compared to cedar or cypress.   Sealing against water intrusion is a questionable practice IMHO....... as I've seen in the past that sealing seems to be more effective at keeping moisture in than keeping it out ;-(.  With bamboo at least the grain is very linear, and that should present a natural resistance to intrusion over the length of the pieces.  I'm in cottonwood country, and it is like a great big straw, sucking moisture in from the ends.  I have virtually no experience with bamboo, but it looks like it similarly would draw from the ends.......... I'd naturally be obsessive about sealing the ends with epoxy.

                                                                                 D.W.

[Mawibo]

The first bamboos I could lay my hands on ,where I refitted the boat, were not what I was looking for. There are many species but the urge to get back on the water forced me to get on with what I had. That explain why I weaved the front deck to had stiffness as you always stand on bent batten. It also creates holes for splashing waves to wash away.
I did notice a little more flex when wet but it stiffens as it dry.
For straight battens, I like to work with a thickness of 6 mm minimum and I cut to length after the knots with 50mm of play. This prevent the bamboo from splitting which you want to avoid.
Splitting big diameter bamboo gives you wide battens from which you keep the middle part after rounding the excess edges off.
I use a bamboo à saw, a machete, a hammer and very little sandpaper.
I like to keep the integrity of the material and don't seal the tips. It seems they don't age from there anyway.
I didn't find the bamboos in the jungle, I bought them. One 6m long piece cost 3 usd.
Now that is affordable. Isn't it?

[Levi Verwoest]

Beautiful decks

I just did similar on my tiki30, but nowhere near as nice. mine was slapdash to get a deck in place for delivery

Free though

[Éric Bouvéron]

Levi, I'm impressed, you're very ressoursfull.

[patrick lennon]

Great idea. Bamboo can last quite a few years in Thai climate it is cheap and renewable. There are ways to increase its longevity. Were in Thailand are you sailing?

[Mawibo]

I sail mainly between Langkawi and Phuket during school Hollidays.
Island hopping.

[Ian R]

I looked into bamboo when making my decks, but ruled it out because it has very low durability.

There's enough low durability built into the designs, no need to add any more.

[Mawibo]

´There's enough low durability built into the designs, no need to add any more.´
I know what you mean.

[Ian R]

Thanks - it's the great unspoken.