A 2018 guidance document produced by the OCIMF, “Deck Cargo Management Onboard Offshore Vessels”, suggests that there may be deck sheathing in use made from reconstituted plastic. I am currently compiling a guidance document myself, and would be interested to know if anyone has come across the stuff.
I’ve seen aft decks topped with recycled plastic to prevent the steel from getting gouged by tow gear.
Thanks for your response. I’m presuming this was on a conventional tug not an offshore ship. And since only you answered my query there is either no plastic or no interest.
personally I would rather have wood chips in the water than plastic pieces from your deck.
will plastic hold up to abuse?
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I have been trying to establish whether it is being used at all for OSVs, since I doubt that it would prevent the cargo sliding about in adverse weather, and as you say, might rapidly degrade. Fine for the decks of cruise ships but not elsewhere.
My experience with plastic sheet flooring in an industrial environment (far from the sea) was that it performed very well - right up to the point where it disintegrated rapidly with large pieces spalling off causing the entire surface to fail in short order. Since one of the destruction vectors was UV/sunlight exposure, I would be leery of using it in a maritime environment (other than things like yacht or cruise ship surfaces, where the loads are less).
Since this was ~20 years ago, perhaps better plastics have appeared, I wouldn’t know. I do know that imitation “teak” plastic decking is quite popular in the yacht world.