Material for screw retention

[Shug21]

I am building a J16 Kit boat and am wanting to not mount anything with screws into the floor as they are known to cause water intrusion into the foam in Carolina skiffs. I am wanting o mount 2 live wells that screw down and need to mount a board with epoxy and fiberglass first so that the board takes the screws and nothing goes thru the original floor. I know plywood will work but then the worry is rot. What plastic/composite type board will have high screw retention and also glue without problem?

[Jaysen]

You don't need anything fancy.

0. Use meranti or oakum ply not some fir or random "not boat building" ply.
1. On the ply, drill your pilot hole like normal and test fit everything
2. Remove everything from the ply then over drill your pilots by 3x the diameter of the screw go ALL THE WAY THROGH
3. coat the ENTIRE piece of ply with straight epoxy. Get all the ends, down in the screw holes. The ENTIRE board.
4. Repeat
5. Put a piece of tape over one side of the screw holes
6. Fill screw holes with epoxy. Fill slow so there are no voids created by trapped air
7. Let that sucker sit a day or two.
8. Re drill with the pilot bit. IF you did it right the dead center of the filled holes will be slightly indented, but you still need to measure and check.
9 Mount your board, then your stuff

Nothing fancy needed.