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Replacing the Cabin Sole

file:///C|/T34_tech_articles/t34sole/index.htm[8/24/2011 2:30:22 PM]

Installing a Teak and Holly Plywood Cabin SoleArticle and photos by Jack Waddell, 1972 T34C #215 Vixen

Introduction

One of the few things that has not stood the test of time on the T34C is the sheet cork cabin sole that was installedduring the first few years of the production run. When we bought Vixen, we found the previous owner's solution hadbeen to install carpet. By his admission, it was not that successful. It smelled, held dirt and required cleaning/airing outall the time. Underneath the carpet, the cork sole was badly patched, stained and soiled. Replacing something so uglyon such a pretty boat became a priority.

Cabin Sole Photo Series

The Original Cork Flooring

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The OptionsResourcesPlanningCork RemovalCutting the Teak andHolly Plywood

FittingBonding andBracingHatchboardsTrimFinishingSummaryPostscript

The Options

I briefly considered replacing the original cork sheeting and found a source for it (www.mcmaster.com) as part of a"restoration" to keep the boat "stock." But I gave that up because I just don't think the cork works - it stains, it holdsmoisture, and it just isn't as beautiful as teak and holly. Although I heard second hand that a T34C owner who does alot of offshore sailing loves it for its great traction.

George Colligan, one of the most accomplished boatwrights and staunch traditionalists among T34C owners,suggested real teak and holly - 3/8" x 1 3/4" rabbeted planks of teak with holly splines. I checked out a Bristol 29.9 tosee how it was done and seriously considered this option. It is gorgeous and is, no doubt, the best long-term solution. Igave up on this for several reasons: Cost - close to twice as much as plywood; time - while actually simpler to do, ittakes much more time to cut and fit; and skill - I just simply don't have the experience, tools or capability to handlefitting the planks to all the compound curves on the cabin sole, nor could I figure out how I would easily handle thegreater depth of the new sole around the engine box, ladder and head doors. I also would discover when I took up thecork, there's very little plywood area on the sole where the planks could be screwed and bunged - a lot of the plankingwould have to be bonded and clamped to the hull. Finally, the boat was three hours from the house. I just didn't havethe time to do that much of the work at the boat. No doubt George has solutions for all of this and I look forward withenvy to see how he accomplishes the "real deal."

In the end, I decided to go with 1/4" teak and holly veneer plywood. Pictures of David Shiff's installation on Odysseyon the Tartan Owner's FTP site were a big factor. I liked how the plywood could take the extreme curves in the v-berthand galley.

http://www.mcmaster.com/

ftp://ftp.sailnet.com/tartan/T34/Odyssey/



Resources

I found two descriptions of installations on the Net. One was part of a truly great site where the owner has documentedhis extensive restoration of a Pearson Triton in detail although his was a much simpler cabin sole configuration. Theother was a brief recount on a Morgan mail list.

Vixen's previous owner, David Bland, bought a Tartan 37C (hull #166) called Blue Yonder and trucked it up fromFlorida over the winter and had started a similar project in the same yard in Connecticut as Vixen. He had a number ofhints and suggestions that helped in the installation. His main advice, though, as he neared the end of his project, wasto pay somebody else to do it. He also said that even after building a house all by himself, laying the teak and hollysole was the hardest project he had ever done. Now, having done it too, I believe him.

My source for the teak and holly plywood was a company called Quality Woods, Ltd. in Flanders, NJ (973 585-7554/[email protected]). They are a small wholesaler of exotic woods that I bought some teak from years ago.Not really set up for retail, they will, however, sell direct. In addition to two sheets of plywood, I picked up some oddteak pieces for trim. The plywood was $145 a sheet. Call ahead if you want to use them - they have to "dig" theplywood out from their small, packed warehouse.

Finally, there was me. I have what I consider moderate woodworking skills, but I am no Norm Abrams, YankeeCraftsman. This project would push my skills, patience and tool inventory to the limit. Plus, as I'm getting older I'mfinding I don't have the patience I once did. And this project requires lots of patience.

Principle tools used in the project included: 10" portable table saw, jig saw, 7 1/4" hand held circular saw, plungerouter, belt sander, finishing sander, c-clamps, bar clamps, 3/8" driver/drill, pry bars, wood chisels, hammer, tapingknife, dumbbells, floor joist jack and extensive vocabulary of curse words.

Planning and Pattern Making

I decided to make the sole in 8 sections: The v-berth to the aft head bulkhead; starboard and port pieces straddling thebilge hatches back to the engine box and galley bulkhead; the galley area; the quarter berth area; and the three hatchcovers. Unlike David Shiff's installation, I decided not to make the sole seamless-looking across the hatches, but ratherframe the hatches with 1/4" teak to selvedge all the edges of the plywood and to build in a little fudge factor.

The section from the saloon bulkhead back to the galley/ladder on the starboard side could have been done as onepiece since it's almost exactly 8 feet on Vixen. I made it two pieces, however, so I could more easily transport it insidethe wagon.

I first removed all the teak trim from around the sole, numbering each piece. In the process, a theme was establishedfor the project: Everything is harder than it looks. Many of the bronze screw heads, after 30 years and previousremovals, were shot. A number of them had to be drilled out. I also discovered the cabin sole was not designed for asix foot, 200-pound man to crawl around on all fours.

I made the patterns out of brown paper. Using the technique described on the Triton web site, the paper was roughlytrimmed with scissors inside the vertical edges. Then a straight edge was placed flush with the edges and a line drawnon the paper. This made for very accurate patterns that were easy to make and easy to transfer to the plywood. Whileyou're at it, establish a "center line" on the pattern that runs from the forward edge of the v-berth back into the saloon.This will be your master mark to make sure all the holly lines up perfectly fore and aft and, ultimately, athwartships.

Also mark on the pattern all the major places where the sole curves (v-berth, starboard settee, galley, quarter berth).

Removing the Cork

http://www.triton381.com/

http://www.geocities.com/bill_dietrich/BoatBasics.html#Cabin



This wasn't that hard once I landed on the technique. After raising a blister the size of a quarter on my palm using ascraper alone, I used a 4-inch wide taping knife and a hammer to attack the cork. In some areas, it came up in bigslabs. In others, it came out in small bits that required considerable persuasion. Be aware that there are finishing nailsthat were used here and there to hold the cork down while the glue set. They play heck with the edge of the knife.

Once up, the cork revealed the plywood underlayment, Bondo and the fiberglass hull. Take note of all of this, as youwant to avoid screwing into the hull and the Bondo.

Cutting the Plywood

It takes some care to layout the patterns on the plywood to insure that all the holly stripes line up in the end. If youcould buy half sheets of plywood, it could probably be done with a sheet and a half but two sheets gives you someroom for error. I cut the fore and aft pieces first and then worked off them to match up the lines across the sole.

A tip as you transfer the pattern: Believe it. I didn't believe some of the angles - I couldn't believe there were no rightangles anywhere. There aren't. Nothing is square. As a result, I had to do some re-cutting at the boat.

Also, use something other than a pencil to mark the lines. I didn't and had a lot of trouble distinguishing the pencillines from the dark grain lines in the teak when the lines ran parallel with the grain.

After transferring the lines with the same straight edge used to make the pattern, it was time to cut the plywood. Theedges that would ultimately be covered by trim I cut carefully with a jigsaw. Where possible, the edges that would be"naked" (in front of the two head doors, against the edges of the hatches and around the engine box) I cut with thehandheld saw against a clamped-on wood guide. The hatch pieces I cut on the table saw. Make sure the blades in allyour saws are designed for fine cuts in veneer plywood.

Using the hand held rotary saw I then cut many kerfs about halfway through the plywood in line with the bends theplywood would have to make when laid in the boat.

Fitting

If you've made the pattern and done the cutting with care, fitting the pieces into the boat is not difficult. With oneexception: the v-berth piece. I have one word for the experience: #$%^&!

I decided to work fore to aft to make sure the holly lined up. The v-berth would prove to be a real learning experience.I began by soaking the bottom of the plywood piece with a water-filled sponge that had a little dishwashing detergentmixed in to help it soak into the wood. Even with the kerfs and the soaking, the awkward L-shaped piece cracked andcrackled ominously when I sort of had to jam it in place and use my foot and knee to slam it home. It fit perfectly - tooperfectly. Because it still had a lot of spring athwartships with the big curve, all the edges caught underneath thevertical edges of the cabinetry. It looked great. I just couldn't get it back up. It was wedged solidly. I used crowbars,screwdrivers, hammers, and fingernails in a vain attempt to get it back up so I could glue it. The problem was that youhad to bend it to get it out from under one side of the cabinetry. To do that you had to stand on it. If you stood on ityou couldn't pull it up. You get the picture. After full day of cursing, straining, pulling, hammering and contemplatingjust cutting and ripping the whole thing up, I finally enlisted the aid of a yard hand and together, with four hands andhim laying on the v-berth to pull, we managed to extricate the piece. David Bland ran into this same problem on hisT37 and ended up cutting the piece out and matching it up on the holly lines.

The lesson is you have to either make the v-berth piece shorter on the edges hidden by molding to give you some room(remember, the trim pieces cover about 1/2" anyway around most of the sole) or make it in two pieces. The alternativeis to trust your pattern and put the glue down before you fit the piece and just go for it - which is the tack I took withthe quarterberth piece.

The rest of the pieces went much more uneventfully. Sometimes some trimming was necessary, but only when I hadn't



believed the pattern. Sometimes the trimming required no more that some brushing with a belt sander to make it fit.Wetting the back of the v-berth piece caused some of the "holly" strips to come unglued in spots, but it was simple torepair this.

Bonding and Bracing

Once all the pieces fit, it was time to glue them down. I chose 3M 5200 after all I'd read. It is wonderful, miserablestuff. It worked beautifully in the end - cured like a rock. But it is just like the kudzu weed in the South. You got tocontrol it all the time - otherwise it just takes over. I used white which, at the time, was about a buck a tube cheaperthan black at West Marine. I ended up using about 8 tubes (more than half the value of a sheet of plywood). I worelatex gloves and used throwaway plastic grooved spreaders. I was absolutely meticulous in the process and thus didn'truin any clothes or imbed any of it under my fingernails. Any stray dabs I immediately attacked with acetone. DavidBland showed me his hands a week after using black 5200 - even with gloves. Not pretty.

The one resident expert yard hand who had done this on his own boat recommended epoxy, although he said theresults were a bit "squishier" than 5200. He also suggested a different hatchboard treatment - laying a single pieceacross the hatches, then drilling a pilot hole and using a thin laminate trimmer to cut out the hatch boards so theymatched perfectly. But that sounded way too easy.

Once down on the 5200, I used a bunch of 20 to 30 pound dumbbells to weigh down the flat sections and then severalpairs of 1x3 furring strips wedged against solid sections of the overhead and clamped together to hold down thecurves. The furring strips I'd start out with in sort of an x-shape, put on one c-clamp, then straighten to apply pressure,and then add the second c-clamp.

Left for about a week to cure, when I came back I found that one of the furring strip braces had slipped in a criticalspot - right where the v-berth and saloon sections met. The result was about a 3/8" height gap between the two pieces.This made me crazy - a flaw that no matter where in the boat you were, you could see. After trying to cut some trimpieces that would hide the gap, I attacked the problem itself. I stuffed some 5200 under the raised sole piece, soaked itwith water and then applied a floor joist jack that really put the pressure on. It worked.

While I didn't find it necessary - except in one spot - I know David Bland used short screws and fender washers tohold down the plywood while it cured. He then drilled out the holes and installed teak bungs.

Hatchboards

These were a project unto themselves - at least the way I approached it.

Here was the conundrum: The hatchboards match the height of the cork. With the cork gone and replaced withplywood, the hatchboards are now lower than the new sole. But if you put plywood on the boards, they are now higherthan the sole. I thought about replacing them with 3/4" Starboard but bonding it to plywood without a very expensivegluing system is not practical. I also considered using marine plywood replacements. In the end, I decided to use theoriginal teak hatchboards. They fit; they were solid and why waste them. Here's what I did:

I cut a rabbet around the perimeter of each with a 1/4" rabbet bit on a router. I edged them with 1/4-inch wide solidteak strips high enough to cover the edge of the plywood and glued them with waterproof polymer glue and clampedthem overnight with bar clamps. I cut the plywood to fit the "tray" thus created - making sure it would line up againstthe main cabin sole pieces. I then routed out the bottom edges of the hatchboards where they sat on the bilge braces tolower them to the same overall height as the rest of the sole - this ended up being about 1/16". A bench planer wouldhave been ideal.

Once I fit the plywood and taped it for protection, I used a belt sander to fair and even the edges on the sides and topof the pieces.



In the process of trimming the bottom, I had to take off the teak "cleats" on the bottom of the main bilge hatchboard.This meant cutting out the bungs. Once I did, I discovered the 30-year old 1/4" stainless steel bolts and nuts still inperfect condition. Talk about over-built.

Finally, I fit round chrome Perko lift rings in two of the hatchboards about where the original finger holes had beenusing some Forstner bits and a wood chisel to mortise them in.

A lot of fiddly work it was. But, in the end, they looked pretty good and I liked that all edges of the plywood werecovered. The hatchboards were just a big, big investment in time - like the rest of the project.

Trim

Trim was simple. I replaced the 1/4" inch teak that lined the bilge hatches with new stock glued and screwed to matchthe new height of the plywood. Some sanding was necessary to get a perfect fit around the hatchboards. The trimpieces between the sections on the starboard side of the saloon were simply 1/4" thick teak cut to the width of the gapand bonded with black quick-setting 4200. Because I cheated too much in trimming the v-berth sole section once I gotit up, I had to add some trim to hide a gap under the aft head door. But this was all pretty easy.

Finishing

With scrap pieces of the teak and holly sole I experimented with a lot of different finishes - varnish, Watco Danish oil,Watco teak oil... even Cetol (don't start... the previous owner did the interior in Cetol and it actually doesn't look thatbad). I found that using the Watco teak oil before applying polyurethane gave the best color and hardened the woodenough to count almost as a coat of polyurethane. It also seemed to best preserve the "whiteness" of the holly. I chosefast-drying polyurethane rated for flooring in a satin finish. I preferred the look of high gloss, but was concerned abouttraction. Also, after my war with the v-berth section, I believed that some of the dings created in that conflagrationwould be more apparent with a high gloss finish. Plus, I can always go gloss later. I didn't want to apply a finish untilafter I glued the pieces because I was afraid soaking and bending the pieces would blush or crack the polyurethane.

After I applied the Watco teak oil to establish a uniform color, I treated the most serious dings with five minute epoxythat I bladed into dents and scrapped even with the surface using a single edge razor blade. After some spot sanding,then began the knee-numbing five-coat polyurethane/sanding samba.

One thing I do know - the teak veneer is very, very thin and extremely soft. It requires all the protection you can giveit. I put down five coats, sanding lightly with 240 grit and cleaning with acetone and a tack cloth between coats. I willprobably do more coats later when I have the time.

Finally, I caulked the edges of the plywood with 5200 to prevent water from getting into and under the plywood. I didthis after finishing because any 5200 drips and stains were easier to get off the varnished plywood.

Replacing the molding around the perimeter of the cabin sole meant drilling new holes and trimming the bottom of theexisting vertical trim pieces to accommodate the greater depth of the new sole. For this I used either a wood chisel or afine-bladed "razor" saw that hobby shops sell. I also used new bronze screws that matched the originals. These screwsare available from Chesapeake Marine Fasteners.

Summary

If I had it to do over, I would. The old sole was simply unacceptable. But, if I could find someone I trusted to do agood job, I would probably go that route first. But the point of this article is that it's a recount of one guy's attempt. It iscertainly not the definitive treatise. I am sure with more skill, experience and knowledge... and just plain better ideas...the process need not be such a slog. Hopefully, even without all that, having read through this diatribe, it might just beeasier for you if you decide to tackle it yourself.

http://www.chesfast.com/



One interesting postscript: The satisfaction from this job was strangely muted. Once done, the cabin sole looked to melike it should have all along. It wasn't like this was a big makeover with a startling difference (even though it was) - itwas more like, "Yeah, right, this is how it's supposed to be."

Postscript

After completing the cabin sole I came across a couple of additional ideas that are worth noting. In a recount in theTartan Sailnet list archives, Eric of Kimberlite fame mentioned how he had coated the bottom and edges of theplywood with epoxy before laying it down. I think this is a great idea as water damage is the ultimate curse for a floorlike this.

Another thought I read somewhere adds time to the project but ultimately could save heartache and money. Aftermaking the pattern and before cutting the plywood, you could use the pattern to make templates out of show card(heavy paper) or foam core. These “test” templates could be fitted to your area to make sure your pattern is 100%accurate. You could also them to accurately plan where your holly stripes should fall fore and aft as well asathwartships. I should have mentioned, too, that planning where the stripes fall is crucial. You don’t want any to fallon a hatch board seam, for instance.

file:///C|/T34_tech_articles/t34sole/sole.txt[8/24/2011 2:30:41 PM]

Installing A Teak and Holly Plywood Cabin Sole

Article and photos by Jack Waddell, 1972 T34C #215 Vixen

One of the few things that have not stood the test of time on the T34C is the sheet cork cabin sole that was installed during the first few years of the production run. When we bought Vixen, we found the previous owner’s solution had been to install carpet. By his admission, it was not that successful. It smelled, held dirt and required cleaning/airing out all the time. Underneath the carpet, the cork sole was badly patched, stained and soiled. Replacing something so ugly on such a pretty boat became a priority.

The Options

I briefly considered replacing the original cork sheeting and found a source for it (http://www.mcmaster.com/) as part of a “restoration” to keep the boat “stock.” But I gave that up because I just don’t think the cork works – it stains, it holds moisture, and it just isn’t as beautiful as teak and holly. Although I heard second hand that a T34C owner who does a lot of offshore sailing loves it for its great traction.

George Colligan, one of the most accomplished boatwrights and staunch traditionalists among T34C owners, suggested real teak and holly – 3/8” x 1 3/4” rabbeted planks of teak with holly splines. I checked out a Bristol 29.9 to see how it was done and seriously considered this option. It is gorgeous and is, no doubt, the best long-term solution. I gave up on this for several reasons: Cost – close to twice as much as plywood; time – while actually simpler to do, it takes much more time to cut and fit; and skill – I just simply don’t have the experience, tools or capability to handle fitting the planks to all the compound curves on the cabin sole, nor could I figure out how I would easily handle the greater depth of the new sole around the engine box, ladder and head doors. I also would discover when I took up the cork, there’s very little plywood area on the sole where the planks could be screwed and bunged – a lot of the planking would have to be bonded and clamped to the hull. Finally, the boat was three hours from the house. I just didn’t have the time to do that much of the work at the boat. No doubt George has solutions for all of this and I look forward with envy to see how he accomplishes the “real deal.”

In the end, I decided to go with 1/4” teak and holly veneer plywood. Pictures of David Shiff’s installation on Odyssey on the Tartan owner’s FTP site (ftp://ftp.sailnet.com/tartan/T34/Odyssey/) were a big factor. I liked how the plywood could take the extreme curves in the v-berth and galley.

Resources

I found two descriptions of installations on the Net. One was part of a truly great site where the owner has documented his extensive restoration of a Pearson Triton in detail (http://www.triton381.com/) although his was a much simpler cabin sole configuration. The other was a brief recount on a Morgan mail list (http://www.geocities.com/bill_dietrich/BoatBasics.html#Cabin).

Vixen’s previous owner, David Bland, bought a Tartan 37C (hull #166) called Blue Yonder and trucked it up from Florida over the winter and had started a similar project in the same yard in Connecticut as Vixen. He had a number of hints and suggestions that helped in the installation. His main advice, though, as he neared the end of his project, was to pay somebody else to do it. He also said that even after building a house all by himself, laying the teak and holly sole was the hardest project he had ever done. Now, having done it too, I believe him.

My source for the teak and holly plywood was a company called Quality Woods, Ltd. in Flanders, NJ (973 585-7554/[email protected]). They are a small wholesaler of exotic woods that I bought some teak from years ago. Not really set up for retail, they will, however, sell direct. In addition to two sheets of plywood, I picked up some odd teak pieces for trim. The plywood was $145 a sheet. Call ahead if you want to use them – they have to “dig” the plywood out from their small, packed warehouse. Finally, there was me. I have what I consider moderate woodworking skills, but I am no Norm Abrams, Yankee


Craftsman. This project would push my skills, patience and tool inventory to the limit. Plus, as I’m getting older I’m finding I don’t have the patience I once did. And this project requires lots of patience.

Principle tools used in the project included: 10” portable table saw, jig saw, 7 1/4” hand held circular saw, plunge router, belt sander, finishing sander, c-clamps, bar clamps, 3/8” driver/drill, pry bars, wood chisels, hammer, taping knife, dumbbells, floor joist jack and extensive vocabulary of curse words.

Planning and Pattern Making

I decided to make the sole in 8 sections: The v-berth to the aft head bulkhead; starboard and port pieces straddling the bilge hatches back to the engine box and galley bulkhead; the galley area; the quarter berth area; and the three hatch covers. Unlike David Shiff’s installation, I decided not to make the sole seamless-looking across the hatches, but rather frame the hatches with 1/4” teak to selvedge all the edges of the plywood and to build in a little fudge factor.

The section from the saloon bulkhead back to the galley/ladder on the starboard side could have been done as one piece since it’s almost exactly 8 feet on Vixen. I made it two pieces, however, so I could more easily transport it inside the wagon.

I first removed all the teak trim from around the sole, numbering each piece. In the process, a theme was established for the project: Everything is harder than it looks. Many of the bronze screw heads, after 30 years and previous removals, were shot. A number of them had to be drilled out. I also discovered the cabin sole was not designed for a six foot, 200-pound man to crawl around on all fours.

I made the patterns out of brown paper. Using the technique described on the Triton web site, the paper was roughly trimmed with scissors inside the vertical edges. Then a straight edge was placed flush with the edges and a line drawn on the paper. This made for very accurate patterns that were easy to make and easy to transfer to the plywood. While you’re at it, establish a “center line” on the pattern that runs from the forward edge of the v-berth back into the saloon. This will be your master mark to make sure all the holly lines up perfectly fore and aft and, ultimately, athwartships.

Also mark on the pattern all the major places where the sole curves (v-berth, starboard settee, galley, quarter berth).

Removing the Cork

This wasn’t that hard once I landed on the technique. After raising a blister the size of a quarter on my palm using a scraper alone, I used a 4-inch wide taping knife and a hammer to attack the cork. In some areas, it came up in big slabs. In others, it came out in small bits that required considerable persuasion. Be aware that there are finishing nails that were used here and there to hold the cork down while the glue set. They play heck with the edge of the knife.

Once up, the cork revealed the plywood underlayment, Bondo and the fiberglass hull. Take note of all of this, as you want to avoid screwing into the hull and the Bondo. Cutting the Plywood

It takes some care to layout the patterns on the plywood to insure that all the holly stripes line up in the end. If you could buy half sheets of plywood, it could probably be done with a sheet and a half but two sheets gives you some room for error. I cut the fore and aft pieces first and then worked off them to match up the lines across the sole.

A tip as you transfer the pattern: Believe it. I didn’t believe some of the angles – I couldn’t believe there were no right angles anywhere. There aren’t. Nothing is square. As a result, I had to do some re-cutting at the boat.

Also, use something other than a pencil to mark the lines. I didn’t and had a lot of trouble distinguishing the pencil lines from the dark grain lines in the teak when the lines ran parallel with the grain.

After transferring the lines with the same straight edge used to make the pattern, it was time to cut the plywood. The


edges that would ultimately be covered by trim I cut carefully with a jigsaw. Where possible, the edges that would be “naked” (in front of the two head doors, against the edges of the hatches and around the engine box) I cut with the handheld saw against a clamped-on wood guide. The hatch pieces I cut on the table saw. Make sure the blades in all your saws are designed for fine cuts in veneer plywood.

Using the hand held rotary saw I then cut many kerfs about halfway through the plywood in line with the bends the plywood would have to make when laid in the boat.

Fitting

If you’ve made the pattern and done the cutting with care, fitting the pieces into the boat is not difficult. With one exception: the v-berth piece. I have one word for the experience: #$%^&!

I decided to work fore to aft to make sure the holly lined up. The v-berth would prove to be a real learning experience. I began by soaking the bottom of the plywood piece with a water-filled sponge that had a little dishwashing detergent mixed in to help it soak into the wood. Even with the kerfs and the soaking, the awkward L-shaped piece cracked and crackled ominously when I sort of had to jam it in place and use my foot and knee to slam it home. It fit perfectly – too perfectly. Because it still had a lot of spring athwartships with the big curve, all the edges caught underneath the vertical edges of the cabinetry. It looked great. I just couldn’t get it back up. It was wedged solidly. I used crowbars, screwdrivers, hammers, and fingernails in a vain attempt to get it back up so I could glue it. The problem was that you had to bend it to get it out from under one side of the cabinetry. To do that you had to stand on it. If you stood on it you couldn’t pull it up. You get the picture. After full day of cursing, straining, pulling, hammering and contemplating just cutting and ripping the whole thing up, I finally enlisted the aid of a yard hand and together, with four hands and him laying on the v-berth to pull, we managed to extricate the piece. David Bland ran into this same problem on his T37 and ended up cutting the piece out and matching it up on the holly lines.

The lesson is you have to either make the v-berth piece shorter on the edges hidden by molding to give you some room (remember, the trim pieces cover about 1/2” anyway around most of the sole) or make it in two pieces. The alternative is to trust your pattern and put the glue down before you fit the piece and just go for it – which is the tack I took with the quarterberth piece.

The rest of the pieces went much more uneventfully. Sometimes some trimming was necessary, but only when I hadn’t believed the pattern. Sometimes the trimming required no more that some brushing with a belt sander to make it fit. Wetting the back of the v-berth piece caused some of the “holly” strips to come unglued in spots, but it was simple to repair this.

Bonding and Bracing

Once all the pieces fit, it was time to glue them down. I chose 3M 5200 after all I’d read. It is wonderful, miserable stuff. It worked beautifully in the end – cured like a rock. But it is just like the kudzu weed in the South. You got to control it all the time – otherwise it just takes over. I used white which, at the time, was about a buck a tube cheaper than black at West Marine. I ended up using about 8 tubes (more than half the value of a sheet of plywood). I wore latex gloves and used throwaway plastic grooved spreaders. I was absolutely meticulous in the process and thus didn’t ruin any clothes or imbed any of it under my fingernails. Any stray dabs I immediately attacked with acetone. David Bland showed me his hands a week after using black 5200 – even with gloves. Not pretty.

The one resident expert yard hand who had done this on his own boat recommended epoxy, although he said the results were a bit “squishier” than 5200. He also suggested a different hatchboard treatment – laying a single piece across the hatches, then drilling a pilot hole and using a thin laminate trimmer to cut out the hatch boards so they matched perfectly. But that sounded way too easy.

Once down on the 5200, I used a bunch of 20 to 30 pound dumbbells to weigh down the flat sections and then several pairs of 1x3 furring strips wedged against solid sections of the overhead and clamped together to hold down the curves. The furring strips I’d start out with in sort of an x-shape, put on one c-clamp, then straighten to apply


pressure, and then add the second c-clamp.

Left for about a week to cure, when I came back I found that one of the furring strip braces had slipped in a critical spot – right where the v-berth and saloon sections met. The result was about a 3/8” height gap between the two pieces. This made me crazy – a flaw that no matter where in the boat you were, you could see. After trying to cut some trim pieces that would hide the gap, I attacked the problem itself. I stuffed some 5200 under the raised sole piece, soaked it with water and then applied a floor joist jack that really put the pressure on. It worked.

While I didn’t find it necessary – except in one spot – I know David Bland used short screws and fender washers to hold down the plywood while it cured. He then drilled out the holes and installed teak bungs.

Hatchboards

These were a project unto themselves – at least the way I approached it.

Here was the conundrum: The hatchboards match the height of the cork. With the cork gone and replaced with plywood, the hatchboards are now lower than the new sole. But if you put plywood on the boards, they are now higher than the sole. I thought about replacing them with 3/4” Starboard but bonding it to plywood without a very expensive gluing system is not practical. I also considered using marine plywood replacements. In the end, I decided to use the original teak hatchboards. They fit; they were solid and why waste them. Here’s what I did:

I cut a rabbet around the perimeter of each with a 1/4” rabbet bit on a router. I edged them with 1/4-inch wide solid teak strips high enough to cover the edge of the plywood and glued them with waterproof polymer glue and clamped them overnight with bar clamps. I cut the plywood to fit the “tray” thus created – making sure it would line up against the main cabin sole pieces. I then routed out the bottom edges of the hatchboards where they sat on the bilge braces to lower them to the same overall height as the rest of the sole – this ended up being about 1/16”. A bench planer would have been ideal.

Once I fit the plywood and taped it for protection, I used a belt sander to fair and even the edges on the sides and top of the pieces.

In the process of trimming the bottom, I had to take off the teak “cleats” on the bottom of the main bilge hatchboard. This meant cutting out the bungs. Once I did, I discovered the 30-year old 1/4” stainless steel bolts and nuts still in perfect condition. Talk about over-built.

Finally, I fit round chrome Perko lift rings in two of the hatchboards about where the original finger holes had been using some Forstner bits and a wood chisel to mortise them in.

A lot of fiddly work it was. But, in the end, they looked pretty good and I liked that all edges of the plywood were covered. The hatchboards were just a big, big investment in time – like the rest of the project.

Trim

Trim was simple. I replaced the 1/4” inch teak that lined the bilge hatches with new stock glued and screwed to match the new height of the plywood. Some sanding was necessary to get a perfect fit around the hatchboards. The trim pieces between the sections on the starboard side of the saloon were simply 1/4” thick teak cut to the width of the gap and bonded with black quick-setting 4200. Because I cheated too much in trimming the v-berth sole section once I got it up, I had to add some trim to hide a gap under the aft head door. But this was all pretty easy.

Finishing

With scrap pieces of the teak and holly sole I experimented with a lot of different finishes – varnish, Watco Danish oil, Watco teak oil… even Cetol (don’t start… the previous owner did the interior in Cetol and it actually doesn’t look that bad). I found that using the Watco teak oil before applying polyurethane gave the best color and hardened the wood


enough to count almost as a coat of polyurethane. It also seemed to best preserve the “whiteness” of the holly. I chose fast-drying polyurethane rated for flooring in a satin finish. I preferred the look of high gloss, but was concerned about traction. Also, after my war with the v-berth section, I believed that some of the dings created in that conflagration would be more apparent with a high gloss finish. Plus, I can always go gloss later. I didn’t want to apply a finish until after I glued the pieces because I was afraid soaking and bending the pieces would blush or crack the polyurethane.

After I applied the Watco teak oil to establish a uniform color, I treated the most serious dings with five minute epoxy that I bladed into dents and scrapped even with the surface using a single edge razor blade. After some spot sanding, then began the knee-numbing five-coat polyurethane/sanding samba.

One thing I do know – the teak veneer is very, very thin and extremely soft. It requires all the protection you can give it. I put down five coats, sanding lightly with 240 grit and cleaning with acetone and a tack cloth between coats. I will probably do more coats later when I have the time.

Finally, I caulked the edges of the plywood with 5200 to prevent water from getting into and under the plywood. I did this after finishing because any 5200 drips and stains were easier to get off the varnished plywood.

Replacing the molding around the perimeter of the cabin sole meant drilling new holes and trimming the bottom of the existing vertical trim pieces to accommodate the greater depth of the new sole. For this I used either a wood chisel or a fine-bladed “razor” saw that hobby shops sell. I also used new bronze screws that matched the originals. These screws are available from Chesapeake Marine Fasteners (http://www.chesfast.com).

Summary

If I had it to do over, I would. The old sole was simply unacceptable. But, if I could find someone I trusted to do a good job, I would probably go that route first. But the point of this article is that it’s a recount of one guy’s attempt. It is certainly not the definitive treatise. I am sure with more skill, experience and knowledge… and just plain better ideas… the process need not be such a slog. Hopefully, even without all that, having read through this diatribe, it might just be easier for you if you decide to tackle it yourself.

One interesting postscript: The satisfaction from this job was strangely muted. Once done, the cabin sole looked to me like it should have all along. It wasn’t like this was a big makeover with a startling difference (even though it was) – it was more like, “Yeah, right, this is how it’s supposed to be.”1

Postscript After completing the cabin sole I came across a couple of additional ideas that are worth noting. In a recount in the Tartan Sailnet list archives, Eric of Kimberlite fame mentioned how he had coated the bottom and edges of the plywood with epoxy before laying it down. I think this is a great idea as water damage is the ultimate curse for a floor like this. Another thought I read somewhere adds time to the project but ultimately could save heartache and money. After making the pattern and before cutting the plywood, you could use the pattern to make templates out of show card (heavy paper) or foam core. These “test” templates could be fitted to your area to make sure your pattern is 100% accurate. You could also them to accurately plan where your holly stripes should fall fore and aft as well as athwartships. I should have mentioned, too, that planning where the stripes fall is crucial. You don’t want any to fall on a hatch board seam, for instance.

replacing the cabin sole - tartan34library.com - sole/t34c_-_installing_teak_and...replacing the...

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