Cabin Sole replacement

[william24424]

This is the type of look I'd like from my cabin sole. Replacement seems expensive/time-consuming, considered synthetics plasteek/flexiteak, but I'd prefer to salvage the existing teak and holly. Can I stain the spotted sections darker to hide the discoloration? (taping off holly) Has anyone tried this? I believe the thickness of the current floor is 1/4" teak laminate over a 1/2" marine plywood, I think I can sand down enough to remove varnish without removing thin laminate. Has anyone tried replacement with lonwood (lonseal flooring) teak and holly? Any suggestions?

 

[Ross]

A random orbit sander and some time will work

wonders if the wood is still sound. Once you have it polish sanded then you can work on the color. The dark stains will still be darker than the surrounding wood if you try to cover them with pigmented stain. Bleaching with oxalic acid and neutralizing with borax may remove or at least lighten the stain.

 

[Terry Cox]

Hi William, it is worth a shot rather than...

the replacement costs. I've not had to do it on our boat, but if so would do the following. The blue masking tape from HD works well for what you want. Remove all the old finish and/or sealers before you apply the stain. Work slowly with the stain and do it in stages. I've had better luck with the gel stain as opposed to liquid for improved application control. The gel stain should minimize any bleeding into the holly.Terry

 

[Alex]

Cabin sole refinish

Hi William,A 4x8 sheet of holly would cost me >$600 a sheet plus labour and varnish. I refinished the old cabin sole on my CS30 last winter with Untimate sole (see link). Although some uneven color still exist but over all it looks great and non-slippery. I also got a small scrap piece of holly to cut out as patches to repair any missing piece. Blended in with stain and you can hardly see the patch.There is a great instruction on the web site.http://www.ultimatesole.com/index.asp?ID=10

 

[jimq26]

Alex - that's a pretty steep price.

Did you check out Noahs? (see link)

 

[Ross]

With 100 grit and finer sanding disks it is pretty

hard to cut through the veneer. Anyway you only want to get down to it through the varnish. Artist oils blend well with spar varnish. I can't say about the high-tech finishes. Check a hidden area and see if the holly takes stain more than the teak. If you plan to mast off the holly then you will need fineline tape and be careful to rub it down well.

 

[Alex]

Noah

Hi Jimq26,That's the going price. Used to be $500 a few years back but has since gone up. My next slip friend just did his. oOuch.

 

[Ross]

I bet that you could do the entire floor

in Honduras Mahagany for that price, and I mean solid lumber not plywood.

 

[Rick D]

Lonseal

I am in the process of putting a Lonseal teak/holly overlay this weekend. I'll take photos of it installed.As background, I had a belly tank leak that damaged one section before I found it. I had a waterheater fail and damage another. And then a third leak damaged yet another. I stripped, bleached and stained everything, but after the third one, both the veneer and my patience were wearing thin. That and a service guy gouge and race crew dings.Another friend of mine is in the same position; he installed his a few weeks ago, altho it was a much easier install in a 30' race boat.I intend to open up two under-sole storage areas by adding access hatches if my installer assures me we can cut the Lonseal with a roto-zip without a mess.Rick D.

 

[Ross]

Sand Sailor, Tongue and groove? Be sure it doesn't

get wet for an extended period of time. If you sealed all of the pieces all over you will be fine . It looks perfectly great. Nice job.

 

[shorty]

Removed from boat to refinish?

A couple of questions/comments.I have an 85 Pearson 34 that will need attention to the sole soon. It seems to me that life would be a lot easier and healthier if all the sole boards (veneered) were pulled out & refinished outside the cabin. The fixed ones are blind fastened, does anyone know how this was generally done? Panel adhesive? Looks like GuyT may have had same situation.Comment on Bamboo. I run an architectural woodworking & hardwood lumber supply business & our experience w/bamboo (it got fashionable a few years ago) is that it moves around alot w/moisture changes. Flooring products seem to work OK when moisture changes are relatively controlled, i.e. change from summer to winter. Be careful going from AZ to the ocean, that stuff could grow big & fast.

 

[Steve]

Cabin Sole

Had the same problem with an O'Day 322 about five or six years ago. Removed old sole as carefully as possible so as not to break any sections. Sole was originally put down with what looked like construction adhesive. Bought 2 sheets of teak and holly cabin sole plywood from Exotic Lumber in Annapolis for about $325 plus Ultimate Sole sealer, cleaner, and top coat for maybe another $50. Used old sections as patterns for new pieces. All of the curved cuts were made with a jigsaw fitted with a fine tooth blade (14 teeth per inch). After making sure that there were no bumps on the cut lines I used a router to bevel the edges where needed to perfectly imitate the original sections. Finished everything according to directions that came with the Ultimate Sole stuff. No stain was needed. Reinstalled sole using short stainless steel flat head screws. Sold the boat a few years later and new owner was amazed at the condition of the sole. By the way, I had two estimates from marine woodworking shops in the Annapolis area to do the job and they were both in the $2200 area so I decided to do it myself. I am lucky in that the plywood cabin sole is easily available in the Annapolis area but I am pretty sure that any good lumber yard can order it. Good luck.