Faux Teak & Holly Sole

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betzhunter

betzhunter

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Apr 14, 2010
248
Hunter 34 Slidell, La.
While I was searching for what to use on the sole of our h34 and after seeing the cost of teak & holly flooring I was looking for another idea on what to use for the sole. I came across an article on another board about how they created a fake teak and holly sole out of the existing board that was on there boat. So, i decided to play around with a piece of hardwood ply and some whitewood boards. The following is what i did and I think it came out pretty well. I had a piece of original teak & holly floor that was the only good piece left on the boat. I used it for dimensions and spacing for the holly strips.

I cut out the v-berth flooring from a template I made and began routing out the holly lines. Once I completed routing the lines (1/4") I than sanded and stained the ply with a natural teak stain from Zar. After the stain was dried I glued in the strips of holly (whitewood) and applied some marine semi-gloss poly. I than sanded in between coats and reapplied the poly. I used 7 coats in all. The following pictures are from when I started laying the strips in until the final coat and than placed on the v-berth for looks. What you think?
 

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Ron Roman

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Dec 4, 2003
90
Hunter 356 sandusky ohio
I think it's excellent. I like it better than what I have in my boat. Why do I think you work out of your living room.
 
betzhunter

betzhunter

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Apr 14, 2010
248
Hunter 34 Slidell, La.
Ron Roman said:
I think it's excellent. I like it better than what I have in my boat. Why do I think you work out of your living room.
Click to expand
Thanks guys, My wife and I enjoy wood working so we thought we would give this a try. And, of course she wants the rest of the sole to look like this.
And no, it's not my living room! A friend of mine lets us keep our boat at his dock along the bayou and he has a boat house that no one is using so, to keep as much dust off the varnished ply I assembled it in the living room.
Nice guy! He also gave us use of one of the garages he dosen't use so we don't have to go back and forth when we are working on the boat.
All this and no rent. All he wants in return is to go sailing with us.

Bub
 
Don Crowther

Don Crowther

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Sep 4, 2007
766
Hunter 33.5 Elbow, Saskatchwen, Can.
I like it!! You can't tell it's not teak and holly.
Gives me incentive to look at redoing our sole next winter. Did you finish both sides of the plywood?
 
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Forrest15112

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Jan 22, 2008
423
Catalina 30 Mandeville, La.
That looks fantastic! Do you worry about the plywood delaminating? I had an idea at one time to modify the sole in my 23.5. It has very little wood and the sole is just molded resin like most everything else. It's low maintenance though. I usually just kept a scrap of carpet in there or a couple of rugs but I had seen a vinyl floor that I though would work well. It was simulated wood and came in long thin "planks" that could be glued down. It was pretty expensive and I never did it. I may try again soon.
 
betzhunter

betzhunter

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Apr 14, 2010
248
Hunter 34 Slidell, La.
Forrest15112 said:
That looks fantastic! Do you worry about the plywood delaminating? I had an idea at one time to modify the sole in my 23.5. It has very little wood and the sole is just molded resin like most everything else. It's low maintenance though. I usually just kept a scrap of carpet in there or a couple of rugs but I had seen a vinyl floor that I though would work well. It was simulated wood and came in long thin "planks" that could be glued down. It was pretty expensive and I never did it. I may try again soon.
Click to expand
Not really worried about it. If need be I could just replace it. Based on what I spent on the whole sole I could redue it 7 times over vs the cost of replacing it with teak and holly once.
 
jebenz

jebenz

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Jun 2, 2004
14
Hunter 37 New Orleans, Louisiana
That looks really good, Betz, and maybe the answer I'm looking for to replace my cabin sole. How about some more details. What type of plywood did you use, Oak? How did you rout out the groove for the inserts, before you cut the form or after? Were any special tools required? Please excuse my ignorance, I'm not a great woodworker though have done some minor work in the past.
 
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Steve Dion

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Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
Betz:

While this look wonderful you are still stuck with the typical maintenance issue.

I don't know what this costs, but I am guessing that it is going to be close to using some of faux materials that they are using in the newer boats. The look is sure not as elegant as your solution but the maintenance issue goes away.

http://hunter.sailboatowners.com/in...d=267&cat_id=43&aid=7572&page=article&mn=40.5

What type of wood did you use and what are some estimated costs?
 
betzhunter

betzhunter

.
Apr 14, 2010
248
Hunter 34 Slidell, La.
jebenz said:
That looks really good, Betz, and maybe the answer I'm looking for to replace my cabin sole. How about some more details. What type of plywood did you use, Oak? How did you rout out the groove for the inserts, before you cut the form or after? Were any special tools required? Please excuse my ignorance, I'm not a great woodworker though have done some minor work in the past.
Click to expand
The ply I used is called Sandeply Hardwood Plywood from HD 3/4" sheet runs $44.00 per sheet and the 1/2" ran $31.00 per sheet. I used 1/2" in the vberth instead of 1/4". I chose this ply because I liked the way the grain ran and to me resembled teak in the grain pattern. I did have to dig thru 10-15 sheets before I found the ones I liked. 2 pieces of 1x4x8 of whitewood (holly apperaence) $6.00. I had to buy a 1/4" straight router bit to perform the straight line cuts. ($14.00) I used stain called Natural Teak made by Zar. $8.00 per quart. The epoxy and the polyurethane I used was giving to me by my son (his co. repairs tug boats) so that was no cost to me. Other than the following tools that I already own I used:
Table Saw
Router
Skill saw
Circular Saw
I roughly have $150.00 into the project not including the poly's..
That's the cost of one sheet of 1/4" teak & holly.

As for as maintenance goes, not sure how it will hold up. But this was just an experiment and probably should of used of different ply (not sure) only time will tell.

Before and after pictures of the v-berth.
By the way, this is how the boat looked when we bought it. In need of much repair. We've had it right at one year. I should have a before and after post to see the improvements we made. Maybe later.

Thanks, Bub
p.s. "Betz" is Beth (my wife) she named it "betzbeau" in honor of my dad who always called her "Betz" (I think he did it just to pi$$ her off)
 

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rivettw

rivettw

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May 3, 2009
88
H Cherubini 37 Madisonville, La., Pontchartrain
Betz,
Really nice job. Impressive. Did mine with Brazillian Cherry, but I don't thinks it looks as good as yours does. Nice work.
Wally
 
betzhunter

betzhunter

.
Apr 14, 2010
248
Hunter 34 Slidell, La.
rivettw said:
Betz,
Really nice job. Impressive. Did mine with Brazillian Cherry, but I don't thinks it looks as good as yours does. Nice work.
Wally
Click to expand
Thanks Wally, I appreciate that. The salon area is under construction as I type and the galley area is next. I'll have updated pictures as I go.

Thanks again,

Bub
 
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Steve Dion

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Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
Well this is definetily less expensive than the faux (plastic) materials. It really looks great. You really don't have that much invested so if you get 4-5 years out of it you have done yourself well.
 
betzhunter

betzhunter

.
Apr 14, 2010
248
Hunter 34 Slidell, La.
Updates

Completed the salon area and test fit. I am just doing the area that is visible. I plan on adding trim around the edges to give it a clean look.
Coated with 5 coats of marine poly. Galley area is next...
 

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