This is all baloney. You lay on half a dozen coats of the best gloss spar varnish on your box deck planks and screw them down with the stainless fasteners and strips. Then what? What happens if you use the truck and scratch the darn thing? Get out the touch up and sandpaper?
I haven't got around to the box on my '49 AD yet, but the more I hear about these showpiece decks, the more I lean toward getting a flat of 1/4-inch diamond steel to fit, block it up to the right thickness, bolt it in, and put a couple of good coats of rust preventive black on it. Then when somebody says, well it ain't authentic, I will drag out this piece of bed-size marine plywood, varnished like glass and studded with stainless screws and strips. I will flop it in the bottom of the truck and say, You want authentic? How's that for authentic?
It's a truck. How do you haul a load of gravel or fertilizer home with a darn show quality yacht deck in the bottom?
