Teak Interior Refinish Project Dcumented
- Thread starter Tim R.
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I did not Dave. It is still in very good condition.
I may someday and I have always liked the look of beadboard with teak battens. This is a firiend's Ericson where he replaced the headliner. Relax folks, this is actually a California boat not a Maine boat!
That is A LOT of beautiful woodwork!
How did you know how to re-install the veneer surface? It looks like all the prep work had to be very time consuming nevermind the finishing itself. There is a lot of woodwork in that boat!
We started finishing our interior this fall. Our woodwork is mostly trim and not so many surfaces to do. We took out anything that could be removed easily and varnished in place the rest. The photos show the bulkhead on the stbd and port sides. You can see the damage from water saturation to the bottom corner of the port bulkhead. The bulkheads are teak plywood, and they were simply screwed into the fiberglass supports. The first time I tightened the rigging (just a little bit), I noticed compression and the bulkheads (particularly the port side), bowed out just enough to cause the door latch to be misaligned. I think this problem became more serious over time as the edges of the plywood dry out and lose integrity with dry rot. The original screws were simply not holding anything anymore.
I wanted to solidify the joints. With my first attempt, I used some stainless steel bolts that weren't substantial enough and I snapped a few of the heads off as I was tightening them down. I then decided to use a strip of solid ash for the dual purpose of trim and to press the bulkhead against the fiberglass support. The ash is 3/4" thick and is rock solid. I also used the beefiest ss machine screws that I could find. This has worked very well as you can see this done on both sides. Unfortunately, I screwed up the bottom trim on the port side as I drilled the wrong size recess and then tried to fix it with larger bit. So instead, I bolted the plywood directly using large washers for support. I could leave it this way and simply hollow-out the trim to cover the screw heads. I'll use 1/2" bungs for the trim that has the screws bolted thru.
I found that if I drilled the right diameter hole in the fiberglass, I was able to tap the machine screws into the fiberglass and they hold. I had to be carefull to make the hole size large enough in the wood so the thread wouldn't bind on the trim piece instead of tightening the bulkhead to the fiberglass backing. There seems to be enough thickness to the fiberglass that it holds rock solid right now. If it doesn't hold, my back-up plan would be to get longer machine screws and back them up with washers and bolts, but the access is not easy so I'm hoping this works. I'm assuming that with more threads on the machine screws, the holding power will be stronger than with wood screws. I'm making the assumption that the fiberglass will hold the screws.
Anyway, the other views are the backside of the bulkheads over the head (stbd) and vanity (port). As you can see, I re-installed some trim work that we varnished this fall. Most of our trim is screwed in with wood screws (no bungs!). Anything with bungs, I didn't bother to remove!
Fortunately, our wood had never been finished and was very clean. We used a product called Liquid Sander by Kleen Strip to clean and de-gloss the wood. The surfaces you see were varnished with a West Marine product called WoodPro Plus Semi-Gloss. It is made for West Marine by Epifanes and was cheaper than the Epifanes label so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm pleased with the results, we did 3 coats on all interior surfaces inside the cabin.
All of the trim that I brought home was lightly sanded and I decided to try Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane. I put on at least four coats (of the trim that I have done so far). Most of it, except a few pieces, is down in my basement and will be installed in the spring! I can't tell any difference between the finish using both products so far.
How did you know how to re-install the veneer surface? It looks like all the prep work had to be very time consuming nevermind the finishing itself. There is a lot of woodwork in that boat!
We started finishing our interior this fall. Our woodwork is mostly trim and not so many surfaces to do. We took out anything that could be removed easily and varnished in place the rest. The photos show the bulkhead on the stbd and port sides. You can see the damage from water saturation to the bottom corner of the port bulkhead. The bulkheads are teak plywood, and they were simply screwed into the fiberglass supports. The first time I tightened the rigging (just a little bit), I noticed compression and the bulkheads (particularly the port side), bowed out just enough to cause the door latch to be misaligned. I think this problem became more serious over time as the edges of the plywood dry out and lose integrity with dry rot. The original screws were simply not holding anything anymore.
I wanted to solidify the joints. With my first attempt, I used some stainless steel bolts that weren't substantial enough and I snapped a few of the heads off as I was tightening them down. I then decided to use a strip of solid ash for the dual purpose of trim and to press the bulkhead against the fiberglass support. The ash is 3/4" thick and is rock solid. I also used the beefiest ss machine screws that I could find. This has worked very well as you can see this done on both sides. Unfortunately, I screwed up the bottom trim on the port side as I drilled the wrong size recess and then tried to fix it with larger bit. So instead, I bolted the plywood directly using large washers for support. I could leave it this way and simply hollow-out the trim to cover the screw heads. I'll use 1/2" bungs for the trim that has the screws bolted thru.
I found that if I drilled the right diameter hole in the fiberglass, I was able to tap the machine screws into the fiberglass and they hold. I had to be carefull to make the hole size large enough in the wood so the thread wouldn't bind on the trim piece instead of tightening the bulkhead to the fiberglass backing. There seems to be enough thickness to the fiberglass that it holds rock solid right now. If it doesn't hold, my back-up plan would be to get longer machine screws and back them up with washers and bolts, but the access is not easy so I'm hoping this works. I'm assuming that with more threads on the machine screws, the holding power will be stronger than with wood screws. I'm making the assumption that the fiberglass will hold the screws.
Anyway, the other views are the backside of the bulkheads over the head (stbd) and vanity (port). As you can see, I re-installed some trim work that we varnished this fall. Most of our trim is screwed in with wood screws (no bungs!). Anything with bungs, I didn't bother to remove!
Fortunately, our wood had never been finished and was very clean. We used a product called Liquid Sander by Kleen Strip to clean and de-gloss the wood. The surfaces you see were varnished with a West Marine product called WoodPro Plus Semi-Gloss. It is made for West Marine by Epifanes and was cheaper than the Epifanes label so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm pleased with the results, we did 3 coats on all interior surfaces inside the cabin.
All of the trim that I brought home was lightly sanded and I decided to try Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane. I put on at least four coats (of the trim that I have done so far). Most of it, except a few pieces, is down in my basement and will be installed in the spring! I can't tell any difference between the finish using both products so far.
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Nice work Scott. Great finish. The ash looks factory. You can use a forsener bit to create hollows on the underside of the ash to cover the screws and washers.
I am not sure I understand your question.
The Japanese make a very nice little finish saw with all the teeth set to one side to do what you did with the multimaster. Great looking job.
Thanks John, I have a few japanese saws but the multimaster did a better and faster job. The wood blade I have for the multimaster is very similar to a japanese saw with flat teeth to keep from scratching the wood.
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