Table Work

The stock table is not only fairly ugly, mine was also falling apart.  The years of moisture and being ignored took its toll on that particular piece of the boat.  De-lamination was setting it so badly, there was no saving it.  On the advice of another boat restorer, I began to casually look around for a wrecked hardwood table I could salvage and replace my table with.   Its been a year without luck so I gave up and decided to fabricate something from scratch.

The old table was 27"x 46".  When I rebuilt the seats, I somehow managed to forget to ensure the replacements were square with each other.  As such, the replacement table had to be 46" long, but tappered slightly to allow the table to fold into a sleeping surface.  The edge over the swing keep was 27 1/2" wide, but at the hull, it was 26 1/4 wide....oops!   Time for more cowboy engineering.

I first grabbed some fairly strait pine that I recovered from another project.  The wood was painted black for that other use which helped identify where I needed to sand. 

I cheated and made two 12" x 2' boards and screwed them onto the back for structural integrity.

The top end you can see I also ran a thin strip of wood to enforce a perfect plain in preparation for the finished surface.

I totally cheated and used the tongue and groove flooring for the surface.  ($26 for a pack of 'hardwood' red oak at Home Depot)  After cutting the strips of flooring to match the area, I used Liquid Nails to bond the flooring to the pine.  Though I thought it would be faster, I figured out that Liquid Nail does not dry all that fast.  Also, the flooring had a tendency to want to lift.   Four clamps and a couple a pieces of scrap wood helped to force a good bond.   The next day, I would have needed a crow bar to bust them apart, just as I wanted it.

The Glueing process.

I took the remaining L-shaped corner moldings I had left over from the cabinet to create a nice edge finish.  The intent was to create a lip to go around the table which will help keep things from sliding around while at sea.  It won't keep a tackle box from rolling off, but it will slow down a bag of charts.

Getting the moldings on here proved to be one of the bigger hassles.  I know this is one detail that is going to be carefully evaluated for years to come each time someone sits down at this table.  It had to be as close to perfect as possible.  47 miter-saw cuts later, and I'm done.

Comparison of old vs. new. 

 After reattaching all the hardware, I manhandled it back into place.   There were a number of adjustments I had to make that I did not expect.  With my rhomboid design, the brackets that lock to the hull (under the shelf which you can't see) had to be repositioned off-center and and different depths.  The folding leg was the easiest.   I just eyed it.

Of course you have to have a down position so you can have another place to sleep.  I replaced the two runner boards (which you also can't see) that hold the table in place  while down.  To place them it was just a matter of figuring out the depth of the table and screwing in slats of wood the appropriate depth below the edge of the seats  My new table is 1 1/4" deep.  

If you want to pick at my workmanship, I know it is a tad longer than it needs to be, but I'm not willing to mess with it any further.  It will just stick out over the edge a bit.

I'm thinking that carpet may be an option.  I just did not get the surface appearance I wanted on these seats. I'm also considering adding some panneling to the walls.  Others have done this.  I just have to figure out how it is done so it looks professional.