Duckboards on sink floor

[cyrus]

As I return to re-engineering my kitchen into a darkroom (I had put it off for the summer) I am thinking of building the ultimate darkroom sink on wheels (it will go over the existing kitchen counter and drain into the existing kitchen sink, so I don't have to tear out the counter)

What is a good material to build duckboards out of? By duckboards, I mean the mats that go on the bottom of the sink, to hold the trays a bit higher than the bottom of the sink so the trays don't float away when the sink bottom is full of water.

I was thinking that regular wood would be too prone to rot, even if coated with a layer of epoxy. I'd like to have somethign out of plastic but can't find anything suitable (and inexpensive). It has to drain well. Can't use metal of course.

[Greg Lockrey]

How about a criss-cross type door mat made from used tires?

[Louie Powell]

Another option could be to use the plastic grating intended for use as a diffuser in light 2x4' suspended ceiling light fixtures.

[John Kasaian]

How about perforated rubber mats intended as cushioning on cement floors? The advantage over a recycled tire door mat is there is no metal to corrode.

[Doug Dolde]

Try McMaster Carr. They have plenty of industrial grade floor materials.

http://www.mcmaster.com/

[Brian Ellis]

I bought two lengths of the plastic or metal things that are used to hold up adjustable book shelves (the things that you buy four of to screw into the interior sides of the shelf) and cut them to fit lengthwise to rest on the bottom of my darkroom sink. Cost a couple dollars and held the trays up high enough to allow water to drain under the trays. Since they don't need to be physically attached to the sink it's easy to occasionally remove them and dry them off or replace them as needed.

[Vick Vickery]

Try a 1" to 2" PVS pipe...rip it in 1/2 lengthwise on a table saw and you've got 2 pieces that are impervious to almost any chemical.

[Vick Vickery]

Oops...make that PVC pipe!

[Steve Duprey]

I found that the wire shelving that you can get at various DIY stores in various lengths works very well. Just attach some 1.5 inch PVC pipe to the long sides of the shelving with zip-ties so it stays level in the sink, and there you go!

Trouble free, easy to set up and relatively sheap.

Best regards,

-Steve Duprey

Semper paratus!

[Keith Pitman]

I found this "Dri-Dek" tile material at a restaurant supply outlet:

http://www.dri-dek.com/?gclid=CLehuO...FSSQYAodMzBUIA

The tiles snap together and make one big mat and can be configured to fit any size sink. Can't remember the price, but they gave me a discount because they thought I was a restauranteur!