There may be alternative materials available nowadays as technology does evolve. I wonder if there are some synthetics that would provide more durability. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I replaced my sole with a vinyle product as I got tired of replacing panels that got moisture in them and delaminated. The exact name escapes me but you can find a number of options using Google. It comes in satin and gloss finish with a teak/holly look (there are other wood colors as well). This is actually what most builders are using on new boats.

The product comes in sheets 6' wide and as long as you want it. Some vendors sell something where you actually have to lay down each teak and holly strip. That's good if you have nothing to do all winter and want to go absolutely nuts.

I mounted it on 1/4 inch marine plywood, which I had sealed, then I used velcro tabs to keep the panels in place rather than screwing them down as Catalina originally did (no holes in the deck or in the plywood for sepage and they're easy to get up to clean under them). Since I'm in New Jersey with extreme temp changes summer to winter, the vendor recommended a 2 part epoxy glue to eliminate problems with expansion and contraction. The flooring will NEVER come off the plywood!

The only problem I had was getting the holly lines to line up from aft to forard. Thought I had everything lined up correctly on my deck at home, but when I put the pieces in the boat I was 1/4" off by the nav table going forward and the holly lines on the panel going into the Vee berth hook to port ever so slightly. Since we have throw rugs over the panel connections anyway, no one notices unless I point it out to them. Not sure how I'd correct that problem if I was to do it again.

The whole job cost about $800 and I'm very pleased with it. Any moisture or spillage gets wiped off very easily.

The sole in my 92 was pretty beat up and stained. I took it all out and had a furnature re-finisher, srtip and spray an epoxy finish. Looks like new, except for a few dents that couldn't be repaired. Pretty cost effective compaired to other choices. I looked at the vinyl choices but the commodore wanted to stay with wood.

We took ours out last summer, brought them home, stripped them and refinished them with Minwax. Yup, couldn't get all the dings out, but they look at lot better. Not as "professional" as some I've seen on the internet, but it works just fine for us. We had some water penetration near the shower/head door, so we did the edges, too.

Chuck, do you recall what was your source for the synthetic product?

Larry...

I was having a senior moment remembering the name of the product ... your question reminded me that I actually bought the vinyl from Defender.... the manufacturer wont sell direct. The product is Lonseal (at least on the Defender website.. the manufacturere might call it something else) and you can see pictures of it on-line in the Defender catalog. I seem to remember they had to special order the satin finish as they only stocked the gloss when I was buying.

One other point for those concerend about how it might look. Its easy to glue it to 1/4" plywood for the various pieces (other than getting the holly to line up) , but I was concerned about how to replace the bilge covers which are solid teak and not a laminate. Well, when I laid the real teak & holly bilge covers down next to the vinyl, I defy anyone to tell the difference unless I tell them. I used the orginal bige covers as they tend not to delaminate or get mold since they are not laminated.