Amtico - teak & holly

[Walter P]

I was at the boat today (in dry dock) to do a few things. It was 50 this afternoon - fantastic for Jan in NJ.

When I was kneeling in the passageway near the galley, I noticed a small opening developing at the junction of each "plank". The ends of the planks were installed quite tight against each other and unless I just failed to notice the problem before, I suspect that the cold weather may have shrunk the planks lengthwise. The spaces are probably 1/32 - 1/16". There does not seem to be any shrinkage in the width.

Has anyone else experienced the same problem? I plan to contact Amtico but I thought I would find out if it's only me or a normal occurance because of the cold. Hopefully, they will re-expand when the weather warms up this coming spring.

Walt

 

[MikeP]

2 things - first, did you use the epoxy adhesive? Amtico's tech was adamant in his discussion with me that the epoxy was mandatory for marine use due to the temp extremes that would exist.

Second, although I have not seen this at all on our Amtico installation (yet?), it is not really too surprising since nearly every material known to man expands and contracts based on temp. Real wood, of course, would do exactly the same thing. If it was installed at say 80 degrees and it's now 40, that's a pretty big temp change.

As I said, so far I have seen no contraction - the boat interior temps have been down to 38 but no lower as of yet...

 

[Walter P]

Mike....

Please keep an eye on your installation and let me know if you notice what I have. Also I would appriciate comments from anyone else on this forum that has installed this product.

Relative to the adhesive, I don't think that the adhesive whichever was used could contribute to this problem. I appears that the expansion coefficient of the base plywood is greater than the Amtico and adhesive should not change that. The 2 part adhesive from Amtico should provide better adhesion in the damp or wet conditions we normally associate with boats, but
in reality the interior of our boats are hopefully not awash. Be that as it may, I used the 2 part on most of the interior and only a small area with the RTU. Both areas have the same problem.

Thanks.................... Walt

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I just received my Amtico for the heads a couple of days ago. I bought the 2-part adhesive, so I should be okay there. Now about installation. Should I be paying any attention to temperature? It should be about 60 degrees in the building when I'm installing it. Also, what did you say, Mike, about the ratio of adhesive? I may want to mix smaller batches for ease of installation.

 

[MikeP]

Sky, the recommended temp for Amtico installation is 60-85 degrees. I laid it at around 70-75 degrees. Be sure to let the Amtico sit in the boat for a couple of days beforehand to adjust to the "local" temp. Their technical manual is available here:

http://www.amtico.com/home/technical_manual.asp

As far as the ratio for the adhesive - here's what I did: I opened the adhesive can WITHOUT punching the hole through the lid (when you punch the hole, you allow the activator to drain into the adhesive). I covered the advhesive container with tin foil (OK - ALUMINUM foil). I then placed the lid section which contains the activator over a 2 qt graduated plastic container and punched the hole through the lid, allowing the activator to drain into the container. I also covered that container with foil.

When ready to make up a batch, by estimation I put 1/3 of the adhesive in another plastic container and poured 1/3 (by graduated measure on the side of the container) of the activator into that container and mixed it up. Doing it this way will allow you to use the larger adhesive container sizes without the adhesive hardening before you can lay it all. This was a BIG problem for me initially. If you are random cutting, you cannot dry lay it, spread the adhesive, and re-lay it fast enough to use a gallon of adhesive before it sets. I probably wasted at least 1/2 of the first gallon I mixed.

I kept the two parts separately in their two containers for up to 3 days with no trouble at all. I suspect they would keep just fine as long as they are covered.

If you are more confortable doing so, you could also measure the actual (1/3) amount of adhesive but there is no problem with estimating the amount of - your adhesive/hardener ratio would have to be waaay out to cause an actual problem with bonding the surfaces. Obviously, my choice of 1/3 of the amounts was just based on my estimation of the time it takes to apply and lay the materials. You could just as easily use 1/4 or 1/2.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Thanks Mike. I'm putting down the 12" tile that look like marble so it should be a little easier than your install. I just couldn't remember how you did the adhesive. I want to lay the tile in one head at a time and I didn't want to have to hurry too much before my adhesive set up. I just bought the .44 gal can, but I still should only need 1/3 of it for each head. I should be all ready to go. I just have to decide what to use to cut the stuff. I plan on taking my circular saw, but I thought I'd try the heavy-duty 4" Craftsman shears first. I have cut shingles and tin with them before, so I thought they might work okay.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I just installed the Amtico in all 3 heads this weekend. Total time to complete was only about 4 hours. That included cutting, dry fitting, and then gluing it down. That stuff is great! I cut it with some big shears with no problem. It looks just like marble tile (without the weight). I highly recommend it.

And thanks Mike for the pointers re: install. That really made my job easy.

 

[Paul45c]

Anybody know where to buy Amtico in the South Florida area?