I found out the hard way not to use the newer treated plywood in an aluminum boat.

In 2004 the EPA made the treated plywood companies take out the arsenic and they put more copper in the wood. Well...copper and aluminum are dissimilar metals on the galvanic scale and once you add water it creates an electrical current, like like if your carpet and deck stays wet or a period of time, the copper will interact with the aluminum and eat holes in your hull and completely trash your boat. It appears to have dripped and/or pieces have fallen down to the inside surface of the hull.

Electrolysis or galvanic corrosion whatever you want to call it, is bad news, and can cause severe depression upon discovery. It even soaked/wicked upward through the carpet and munched away at the bottom surface of my aluminum live well that sits on top of the carpet.

If you think you may have this newer treated plywood in your boat I would think it is best to keep the deck as dry as possible (water or a solution is necessary for this take place-my understanding) or better yet replace the deck. Leaving a boat with such a deck uncovered out in the rain like we have been having around here lately I would think would most definitely be a problem.

You can google something like "treated plywood aluminum corrosion" or try some different search terms. There is quite a bit online about this.

You will probably come across some instances of folks with fairly new boats (anything 2000 and above is new to me) that reported holes and bubbles in their transoms. The plywood was eating up the transomes from the inside out. Some manufacturers apparently were not aware of this and they used the copper laced treated plywood in the transoms. Some of the stories are pretty bad as some manufacturers where not acknowledging the problem and being very quiet about it.

There are even some stories of treated plywood bunks being a problem which makes sense to me having seen the bottom of my live-wells. Now I would not think the bunks would be as big of a problem as the deck because it does not seem like the bunks would have the opportunity to stay wet as long as the deck. Marine carpet has a rubber backing that should prevent the copper from wicking upward but the backing on my carpet had deteriorated allowing the copper to interact with the bottom surface of my aluminum live-well (what else could explain it). Also bunk carpet gets torn up pretty quickly and exposes the wood. I am replacing the bunks on my old trailer which is under my new (used) boat sometime soon.

Building contractors probably know about this problem but it does not seem to be as will known around here as it is up North as it relates to boats. If you go to a plywood or lumber association website there are instructions not go use treated plywood near aluminum siding on houses. They also instruct to use coated fasteners as copper will eat up traditional fasteners.

-- The one question I have, if there are any scientists on here is:

Does ice have the same effect as water on this process?

For example if a boat were sitting outside in the winter in rain and snow and the carpet/deck had ice on it would that be the same as water?

One guide up north had a good take on this. He said "I ride with nothing but glass under my bottom" Replace the word bottom with something that rhymes with "glass".