Interior wood-related questions...

[Jonathan]

We're going to be adding some cabinetry, and I want everything new to match the current stuff, so I have some questions for those who are most likely to know.

1) Interior bulkheads / ply woodwork - what's the veneer?  I think it's oak - am I nuts?   Is it a 'formica'-type veneer, or real wood?

2) That 'trim bead' that sits between the cabinetry and the hull - is it just brown vinyl fabric with foam in it?  Is it just a bead ( looks like an 'o_' from the end) screwed/stapled/etc to the top of the bulkheads?

3) The trim on the radiused bulkhead between the nav seat and the settee (at least on the 33 ) - it looks like it's a bazillion pieces laminated together to allow the curves; has anyone tried (and hopefully subsequently succeeded ) to duplicate it?

Thanks.

[Lloyd Lofland]

The bulkheads and most of the cabinetry on Sybarite are plywood with a thin imitation woodgrain formica. Almost looks like walnut.

The vinyl trim on the edges is just piping similar to what is used in upholstry work. Not sure what's inside but the vinyl is sewn around it.

The Teak trim on the radiused bulkhead between the nav station & setee is laminated from about 9 or ten thin (flexible) strips. It was probably steamed & bent in a jig then glued up.  The trim around the galley sink is the same thing.  I never tried to do that but read about it when I was researching bending some teak for the top rail. 

Lloyd

     

[Peter Roach]

Jonathan - While most boats have either white or wood grain formica, mine is actually oak plywood and trim pieces. It is my understanding the reason they used oak below (besides price) is to somewhat copy the sailing yachts of old (mainly British). They used a lot of white oak in their boats. If you see some of the really old interior wood on old boats the oak is incredible. Also, it is my understanding that white oak does not wick water like a lot of other woods. The really old sailing ships (when they shot at each other with cannons) tended to stay away from teak since a teak splinter is a lot more likely to cause nasty infections.

I have just refinished my main cabin and sanded the oak down to remove the finish. I blended Light oak stain and Mahogany stain (@90% / 10%) to give me a match with the existing finish. It is a little more orange than the original but not very noticeable after 2 coats of clear varnish and two coats of satin Interlux Poly #90.

Good luck and let me know how it comes out. Also, if you find a filler that somewhat matches the finish I would like to know. I used Oak and it does not look as good as I had hoped.

Peter

[Jonathan]

Cool, thanks all!

I think I have the imitation wood formica that 'sort of looks like walnut' too.   I have a bulkhead out of the hanging locker that I think is the same, so I might just bring that in with me and see if I can find the same or damn similar.

I'm planning to add a similar curved bulkhead on the end of the L settee; I think I might just put in a rounded corner handle corner handle instead - never can have too many handholds - since 'steam and bend' sounds like something I'd probably screw up.   

[Harry L. Rezzemini]

Re:  that piping between bulkheads and the roof, on La Nostra it is a vinyl tubeing filled with some sort of fabric saturated with black tar-like goop.  When the boat sits in the heat for a few months it starts to melt and run down the bulkheads making a real mess.  Only way I've found to clean it is with lacquer thinner or paint thinner.  I plan to replace it in the near future, but have not found an appropriate substitute.

[Harry L. Rezzemini]

As for the formica surfaces, it they are in poor condition we've found that the best cure is to wash them thoroughly to remove any oily resudue, then scuff sand them and paint them.  I've used both semigloss interior alkyd enamel, one-part polyurethane enamel and a specialty product from Pettit, a latex type semi-gloss white designed for the marine environment.  All have worked fine.  We like the brighter look inside.

[Jonathan]

Cool.  I think I'm gonna go visit an upholstery shop and have them fire up some ugly brown piping with closed-cell foam as a bead - rather than trying to source the ewwy-gooey tar crap.

[RosalieAnn]

We have painted most of the vertical surfaces because we don't like the original dark interior.  We left the real wood trim. 

Philip Fleming covered his walls with Naugahyde.  He did a terrific job of it.  Looks wonderful.  I took pictures but I don't have a very good one of that - this is the best I could do - it is of the port side of the main cabin

The tennis balls on the metal port dogs are his idea to keep from hitting his head on them.  We've done the same in the V-berth
 

[Jonathan]

For what it's worth (and for the record ) we took a piece of the ply (the hanging locker shelf) to a plywood shop, and it is in fact Walnut.

[Charles S Jackson III]

I built a trim piece to go on a bulkhead that I installed in the aft cabin.It was about 3 1/2" wide.The teak needs to be ripped into 3/32" thin pieces x 3 3/4" wide. Takes a very powerful table saw to make that deep a cut. Once all the strips are cut , you will need to make a form to bend it against. Steam it in a steam box until it is flexible and then slowly bend it around your form, clamping it in place as you go. Allow it to dry overnight before gluing the whole thing together, epoxy is best here. Once the epoxy cures you can machine the piece to get your moulding.