Teak/ Holly woodworking question.

[BAD ORCA]

I had to cut away a chunk of floor to get access to the forward part of the bilge/keel bolt in recent phase of refit. Now that thats complete, i'm working on some minor repairs under the shower pan and adding in some structural supports to the floor under the cutout. This cutout will become an access floor board that can be lifted up. I finished the structural repairs yesterday (no pic) and am making a floor board this week out of 3/4 marine ply to fit in the opening.

Unfortunately, I cant find teak and holly plywood that has the same width strips that match my floor, so my idea is to laminate 1/4" thickness teak and holly on top of this 3/4" floorboard im making, so that it matches the floor on either side of the cutout. Is there a very particular type of holly board that I should be looking for, for this application? I'm finding boards that are long enough, but have a greyish smudges and grain that seems to run diagonal. I will need to saw it into very clean and precise 1/8" width pieces, so it seems diagonal grain would break apart, but I have no experience with it. I'm finding nice solid looking, white holly, but only in short pieces so far. Its not cheap wood, so I dont want to order the wrong stuff.

For the teak, i will probably just buy 1/4" teak laminated plywood and cut it into 2.5" strips. I can source that locally. My biggest concern is the teak wont look the same. I know they used Burmese teak on the interior of my boat, but i'm not sure if thats the same for the floors. The floors i'm assuming were a more generic/standard premade laminate that was probably widely available back in 1980.

Also, any tips/trick/advice from anyone who has had to do this would be very welcome as well. I'm thinking of waterproof wood glue as the adhesive to laminate all of this with an epoxy coating on the bottom, varnished surface.

 

[Dave Satter]

How about 1/2 ply with 1/4 teak ply laminated on top. Titebond 3 will work fine. Then.....You paint the holly lines on. If you experiment and get the color correct with the fine line tape no one will know. Then of course varnish over all. Here's a photo of one I did. It's not teak ply, just fir ply but you get the idea. I know it sounds like cheating. But it can come out nice.

 

[william24424]

Have you thought about replacing the entire sole? You could check the stringers, replace or reinforce if necessary. I redid my entire cabin sole, plywood with teak & holly veneer, the old one lasted 30 years, hoping I get another 30 years out of this one. It's a big job, but very rewarding, used a poly to finish. I documented repair in Cabin Sole Replacement thread a few years back on this site.

 

[dlochner]

Maple might make a passable substitute for holly. Then you put down a rug runner to hide it.

 

[BAD ORCA]

Have you thought about replacing the entire sole? You could check the stringers, replace or reinforce if necessary. I redid my entire cabin sole, plywood with teak & holly veneer, the old one lasted 30 years, hoping I get another 30 years out of this one. It's a big job, but very rewarding, used a poly to finish. I documented repair in Cabin Sole Replacement thread a few years back on this site.

Thanks, i will look for that post. Thats not an option though. The entire sole was heavily epoxied on the underside to seal it and then glued into the boat. Its a structural component of the boat and essentially non-removable. Its actually in near pristine condition though, except where i have hacked into it, so no need to replace it. It only needs a re-varnish. The only section that was not done like this is the small area in the v-berth which will get replaced soon, so this hatch and another on by the companionway will be my test/learning pieces.

 

[BAD ORCA]

How about 1/2 ply with 1/4 teak ply laminated on top. Titebond 3 will work fine. Then.....You paint the holly lines on. If you experiment and get the color correct with the fine line tape no one will know. Then of course varnish over all. Here's a photo of one I did. It's not teak ply, just fir ply but you get the idea. I know it sounds like cheating. But it can come out nice.

Thanks for the tip, but i prefer to keep it as traditional as i can like it was originally done. I know its a lot of extra work though, but i want to preserve the overall feel/look of the interior.

 

[smokey73]

How big a piece of teak and holly ply do you need? I have some from a project on my boat I'll sell. What is the width of the teak and the width of the holly. This is factory made 3/4 inch thick teak and holly ply with the veneer applied at the factory, not applied by me. PM me if you are interested

 

[BAD ORCA]

How big a piece of teak and holly ply do you need? I have some from a project on my boat I'll sell. What is the width of the teak and the width of the holly. This is factory made 3/4 inch thick teak and holly ply with the veneer applied at the factory, not applied by me. PM me if you are interested

The teak is 2 - 9/16"" wide. The holly is 1/8" wide.

 

[BigEasy]

Thanks for the tip, but i prefer to keep it as traditional as i can like it was originally done.

I think that @dlochner ’s idea of using maple is the best alternative. Readily available and less expensive. You can stain it to match your existing holly strips before assembly and then overcoat teak/maple with the same poly that is used throughout the cabin sole. Should get a very close match. Even if you can source holly in the lengths that you require, you’re going to have to stain it to match the “aged” holly of your existing sole.

 

[smokey73]

The teak is 2 - 9/16"" wide. The holly is 1/8" wide.

My teak is 2 - 7/16 wide and the holly strip is 1/8 inch wide.

 

[smokey73]

Have you considered using 3/4 solid teak and maple or holly for the stripes, glueing the strips together. Depending how much you need to replace, it might be just about as cheap as 3/4 inch marine ply plus veneer. Just a thought.

 

[UpperPintle]

I used white oak to separate the teak on my sole. Turned out ok.

 

[BAD ORCA]

I used white oak to separate the teak on my sole. Turned out ok.

Thats gorgeous. It looks very similar in color to my old varnished holly strips. I might experiment with white oak and maple. I can get those locally in small pieces.

 

[BAD ORCA]

My teak is 2 - 7/16 wide and the holly strip is 1/8 inch wide.

darn. ok thanks anyways for the offer/checking.

 

[BAD ORCA]

Have you considered using 3/4 solid teak and maple or holly for the stripes, glueing the strips together. Depending how much you need to replace, it might be just about as cheap as 3/4 inch marine ply plus veneer. Just a thought.

Im currently starting to think what i might do is, using teak plywood laminate instead. I could rip the grooves in the teak plywood on the tablesaw or router precisely the width i need them, and then glue in the wood stripes (whatever wood looks best) instead of trying to laminate them all side-by-side. When looking closer at my floor piece, thats what they did. The holly strips are not very deep. Less than 1/16". I can buy 3/4 teak plywood locally. I would just need to use some 1/4" ply on the bottom to create a 1" thick hatch board. This might be the easiest solution but still look really nice. I guess thats essentially what original veneer was in essence.

 

[dlochner]

I can buy 3/4 teak plywood locally. I would just need to use some 1/4" ply on the bottom to create a 1" thick hatch board.

It might be less expensive to use ¼" teak ply and ¾" generic marine ply. Laminate them together and then cut the strips for the holly.

 

[UpperPintle]

If you're going solid, consider this.. . I used solid wood and created these "plus" cross section in the white oak. Note that the bottom of the white oak is a little short, to guarantee that it didn't protrude and cause issues. The top of the white oak sticks up a bit to guarantee it wasn't too short. Top was sanded off once in place. Glued in just a few places. Screwed and plugged in strategic rows, as few as possible. Pressure and tight fit with a few screws keeps it all in place. It's screwed to a molded fiberglass pan, not traditional floors.

Additional photos: Cabin Sole | Boat Pictures

 

[BAD ORCA]

It might be less expensive to use ¼" teak ply and ¾" generic marine ply. Laminate them together and then cut the strips for the holly.

I agree, good idea, however I realized after thinking about it, i will need some large pieces of 3/4 teak plywood when I rebuild the navigation desk. I would need a large chunk of a sheet for that, so i could save the rest of the sheet for when its time to rebuild that and make the hatches from a smaller chunk of it for now. Totally overkill but I could kill two birds with one stone. I do have a workshop I could store the big piece in safely until then. I also need to replace the floor in the v-berth, so a full sheet might be just about enough.

 

[BAD ORCA]

If you're going solid, consider this.. . I used solid wood and created these "plus" cross section in the white oak. Note that the bottom of the white oak is a little short, to guarantee that it didn't protrude and cause issues. The top of the white oak sticks up a bit to guarantee it wasn't too short. Top was sanded off once in place. Glued in just a few places. Screwed and plugged in strategic rows, as few as possible. Pressure and tight fit with a few screws keeps it all in place. It's screwed to a molded fiberglass pan, not traditional floors.

Additional photos: Cabin Sole | Boat Pictures

Thanks for the advice. I will check out those pictures. Looks interesting.

 

[UpperPintle]

FYI: My teak width is 2" and white oak width is 1/4". Sourced the teak at a hardwood flooring place, that's why there are grooves on the underside of the teak. Flooring was 3/4" thick and I planed a little off the tops and bottoms to remove factory milling defects. Of course, I had to cut the tongue and grooves off, but it was cheaper and less work than milling from large pieces.