I am thinking about replacing the flooring in the stern portion of my 1983 H34 with a teak grating. My plan is to enclose all of the wiring and make the hoses look neat, paint the bilge flat black, and then install three pieces of teak grating. One in the galley area, one in front of the engine and one that runs into the stern berth. Since my teak and holly plywood is delaminating in the galley it needs to be replaced. I plan on leaving the teak and holly plywood under the sink counter. This project sounds a lot easier than replacing the existing flooring with teak and holly plywood (I don’t have to take out the cabinets for the sink) and it will probably be cheaper since I can have the teak grates made to fit and there is no waste. I will try to find a way to fasten them down but keep them so I can remove the grate for cleaning and access to the wires, hoses, keel bolts, etc. My questions are: Has anyone done this or seen a boat with grating on the inside? Since I have never seen my boat with the floorboard out, it is hard to picture what this section will look like with a teak grating. I have seen several pictures on the web site that have the entire interior taken out, but I don’t get much of perspective about what the stern would look like with a teak grating. I would be grateful to anyone who has seen the ‘innards’ of the stern section to give me their opinion. Is there any structural integrity from the plywood flooring? Will the inner liner shift? I don’t have any experience with this. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
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Sounds like a nitemare to me.
Peter: I think that the grate is going to be a problem. If you are not going to remove the flooring around the galley, the grate is going to higher than the rest of the cabin sole. Our H'31 has a grate in front of engine compartment (came that way from the factory). You are going to replace the ply on the starboard side with the grate, so why don't you just replace it with new teak/holly ply. For the galley area we purchased a product from Catalina (Loncoin). We applied it over the sole in that area and it looks great. This stuff is like linoeum. You cut it to size and glue it down (end of story). You should be able to see what it looks like by looking at the Photo Forum. http://www.sailboatowners.com/upload/display.tpl?folder=Dion73061279998
Peter: I think that the grate is going to be a problem. If you are not going to remove the flooring around the galley, the grate is going to higher than the rest of the cabin sole. Our H'31 has a grate in front of engine compartment (came that way from the factory). You are going to replace the ply on the starboard side with the grate, so why don't you just replace it with new teak/holly ply. For the galley area we purchased a product from Catalina (Loncoin). We applied it over the sole in that area and it looks great. This stuff is like linoeum. You cut it to size and glue it down (end of story). You should be able to see what it looks like by looking at the Photo Forum. http://www.sailboatowners.com/upload/display.tpl?folder=Dion73061279998
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Bill Murray
Not a great idea
My old boat had cabin soles made of teak grating. The previous owner replaced the plywood soles with grating. He made it himself - custom grating for every inch of flooring. I'm a pretty good woodworker, but I can only imagine the work it must have taken to create these puzzle pieces. It must have been quite a job and I have to beleive would be far more expensive than plywood teak and holly replacement pieces - even if you did it all yourself and already had the tools it would take. When I bought the boat I thought it looked neat. In practice- it was awful. It always looked dirty no matter how I tried to clean it - including periodic removeal from the boat and floating it over the side to loosen up the stuff. Then you could try to clean out every little hole with a tooth brush and screwdriver scraper. What stuff? I sailed with children at the time but I'm not sure that mattered much. Every cookie crumb, peanut butter sandwich, potato chip, piece of candy, juice box leaks, beer spills, piecces of diced onions, french fries, etc. etc. stuck to the grates in the inside of those little holes never to be released no matter how hard I tried! Also, the bilges were thus exposed, and not being a boat with completely dry bilges, in rougher weather the bilge water would splash over stuff in the cabin. Pity the crewmember who didn't stow his pillow well and had to sleep on a soggy one all night - ugh. Rugs didn't help. They wouldn't stay put and were constantly soaked from the humidity creeping up from the bilge. Every tool, button, coin, nut, bolt, washer and screw ended up in the bilge. As Steve says - it was a night mare. I think you can get the picture. I would never consider this again. BTW, I had cockpit grating that shared most of the same problems. The only saving grace from all this was that the stuff makes "grate" non-skid. Sorry to rain on your parade but that's what my experience was. Bill Murray Good Faith - h29.5
My old boat had cabin soles made of teak grating. The previous owner replaced the plywood soles with grating. He made it himself - custom grating for every inch of flooring. I'm a pretty good woodworker, but I can only imagine the work it must have taken to create these puzzle pieces. It must have been quite a job and I have to beleive would be far more expensive than plywood teak and holly replacement pieces - even if you did it all yourself and already had the tools it would take. When I bought the boat I thought it looked neat. In practice- it was awful. It always looked dirty no matter how I tried to clean it - including periodic removeal from the boat and floating it over the side to loosen up the stuff. Then you could try to clean out every little hole with a tooth brush and screwdriver scraper. What stuff? I sailed with children at the time but I'm not sure that mattered much. Every cookie crumb, peanut butter sandwich, potato chip, piece of candy, juice box leaks, beer spills, piecces of diced onions, french fries, etc. etc. stuck to the grates in the inside of those little holes never to be released no matter how hard I tried! Also, the bilges were thus exposed, and not being a boat with completely dry bilges, in rougher weather the bilge water would splash over stuff in the cabin. Pity the crewmember who didn't stow his pillow well and had to sleep on a soggy one all night - ugh. Rugs didn't help. They wouldn't stay put and were constantly soaked from the humidity creeping up from the bilge. Every tool, button, coin, nut, bolt, washer and screw ended up in the bilge. As Steve says - it was a night mare. I think you can get the picture. I would never consider this again. BTW, I had cockpit grating that shared most of the same problems. The only saving grace from all this was that the stuff makes "grate" non-skid. Sorry to rain on your parade but that's what my experience was. Bill Murray Good Faith - h29.5
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John K Kudera
How about this
My cabin sole is in good shape, and I have no need to replace anything, But, has anyone thought of Pergo or a similar style sole? I know it is a floor that "floats" but may be a solution. My boat is usually dry, I have no leaks, don't use the fridge drain, and seldom use the shower on board. So I have berber carpet cut and bound to fit the three separate areas, I own the boat 12 years, same jute backed carpet, we clean it in spring, keep it vaccumed til fall, has been great.
My cabin sole is in good shape, and I have no need to replace anything, But, has anyone thought of Pergo or a similar style sole? I know it is a floor that "floats" but may be a solution. My boat is usually dry, I have no leaks, don't use the fridge drain, and seldom use the shower on board. So I have berber carpet cut and bound to fit the three separate areas, I own the boat 12 years, same jute backed carpet, we clean it in spring, keep it vaccumed til fall, has been great.
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John Thomas
Not Pergo!
Pergo is NOT waterproof. It is some kind of plastic laminate on MDF. If it gets wet it swells up and is ruined. The Pergo instructions warn not to mop the stuff with too wet a mop, even! It's hard to beat the teak/holly plywood.
Pergo is NOT waterproof. It is some kind of plastic laminate on MDF. If it gets wet it swells up and is ruined. The Pergo instructions warn not to mop the stuff with too wet a mop, even! It's hard to beat the teak/holly plywood.
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fred miller
Grtating Bad Idea
I agree with Bill; I put down teak grating in the cockpit. Dirt collected underneath in a checkboard design. I could not keep it or the floor beneath it clean. It also hurt to walk on barefoot. Fred Miller S/V M Squared
I agree with Bill; I put down teak grating in the cockpit. Dirt collected underneath in a checkboard design. I could not keep it or the floor beneath it clean. It also hurt to walk on barefoot. Fred Miller S/V M Squared
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Peter Roach
My thoughts
What I had thought about is making the teak grating in three different pieces - one in the galley, one in front of the engine, and one that goes into the quarter berth. This is so I can easily pick up each part of the grate and vaccume under it. I did not think about the 'hurt the foot' part or the drop anything and it goes through the grate. That alone might discourage me from putting it down. I found a company that will make me teak grating for $46 / sq.ft. It is more expensive than the teak and holly but it would last a lot longer. Thanks for the input. I will let you know what I end up doing.
What I had thought about is making the teak grating in three different pieces - one in the galley, one in front of the engine, and one that goes into the quarter berth. This is so I can easily pick up each part of the grate and vaccume under it. I did not think about the 'hurt the foot' part or the drop anything and it goes through the grate. That alone might discourage me from putting it down. I found a company that will make me teak grating for $46 / sq.ft. It is more expensive than the teak and holly but it would last a lot longer. Thanks for the input. I will let you know what I end up doing.
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