Paneling

Every time I've tried to finish the prep-work on the deck, it's been raining or simply too late in the evening to start.  Sunday would have been perfect, but all that snow the folks up north are now getting, started out as steady showers for us down here.....and its still raining.  Yay.

I elected to take on a task inspired by other more eager rebuilders, that being to place paneling inside for improve the aesthetics.  Given that I'm not skilled at fitting wood to contour to all the curves of the hull, I had to choose the areas I would improve carefully.

First off, I obtained a 1/4" sheet of 4x8 hardwood plywood.  After staining it with two coats and a follow-on coat of varnish, I had the base material I would cut from.

My first area of choice is the port area under the window.  For anyone considering this change, it really is quite easy once you look it over.  The CM has a recess along the under-sided of the hull where you can brace the top edge of a panel, eliminating some of the responsibility to secure the piece.   The panel I replaced it with simply had to increase in size from 5 1/2" to 7 1/2" to match the shape of the area.  I then put some glue along the bottom edge, and braced it to ensure a solid bond.

Note: the front 15" is a separate piece from the rest of it in case I needed to get to those side-stay bolts.

Also, I primarily used glue and strategically placed 1/4 round to hold it in place.   Drilling into the hull did not seem like a good idea.

Throwable life preservers and expandable poles were used to hold the paneling flat against the hull while the glue set.

The forward berth entrance way needed a little something.  Granted, its not important, but every little bit helps. 

 

Since this boat always gets wet, I did not extend the wood all the way to the floor.  Its paneling and will get ruined with consistent exposure to water.

The SB quarterbert.  You really have to stick your head in there to see that I did not extend the paneling all the way to the rear.  Who's going to see that anyway?  

This picture has something to be desired.  Though I would have liked to include the entire inside in this project, I can't figure out how to do outside curves with any finesse. It will just have to remain white for now.

This is a tip to cut down on wear to the stern gelcoat.  Though I tried a few other ways to do this, I've settled on permanently attaching this piece of furniture slider padding.  Its made of that incredibly slippery plastic....called ????  I forget, but you can buy it in all kinds of shapes at Home Depot.   My tiller was eating into my boat and I had to stop it some way.