Diy interior woodwork fixtures

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jpay

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I wanna 'accessories' my boat to make it more 'homely' for 'her'.

I'm happy to eat out the frying pan and save on washing up, to leave the sleeping bag out and stuff it under the quarter berth rather than stuffing and pulling every time I wanna snooze.

However... to encourage participation on cruises I plan to partake in some gentle woodwork. I'm not very good with wood (yet) have a general knowledge and basic tools but I want to make us one of them plate racks, maybe a cutlery storer and the biggy a table.

Has anyone done this? Got any pictures? I've been looking at other stuff online but the skills, joints, cleanliness is something I'm not bothered by or able to reproduce.

Thanks, Jason
 
Yep, I put in new hardwood trim around Kindred Spirit's cabin, a new saloon table folding in two directions, a chart table with a Yeoman plotter concealed inside it which runs on wheeled tracks to hide and reveal the fridge and sink, and various smaller items. Quite happy with all of it, except possibly the finishing of the saloon table which I rushed to get ready for a cruise and didn't do a thorough enough job of preparing for oiling so it's a bit dull and rough rather than smooth and silky like the other bits.

You didn't really ask any questions though, so not much I can answer.

My one piece of advice would be to get a router. If you ever want to do more than knock together bits of ply in B&Q inspired bodgery, you need either old-school craftsman's skills with planes and chisels, or a decent router (and you will still need a chisel or two even then).

Pete
 
Get a decent dowling jig like this : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wolfcraft-B...F8&qid=1368563612&sr=8-6&keywords=dowling+jig and a decent circular saw and you'll be well away! Find a veneered or melamined chipboard that you like and get building - ok, it's just simple dowled butt joints but once you've learned to measure carefully and cut in a straight line, they will look fine.

I bought one many years ago in the January sales at B&Q or some such and dropped it in the garage, promptly forgetting about it. A few months later, my wife discovered it and read the instructions. She was not workig at the time (looking after our toddler son) and was getting bored. She discovered that she could go into B&Q with a cuting list and come away with all the boards accurately cut to size - every evening I came home from work to find another bookshelf/table/cupboard somewhere in the house. There's still one in the garage now...
 
Chipboard in a boat? Rather you than me. It certainly doesn't have to be expensive Robbins Super-Elite marine ply, but I'd want something that doesn't turn to spongecake with a bit of moisture.

It is worth finding your local timber supplier - most of what they sell in the DIY sheds is not really suitable. Given the time you will spend on it, you might as well produce something decent. Work out what your first project will be, order what you need for that, being a bit generous on the quantities and lengths. The offcuts and leftovers will probably see you through a project or two after that. I bought one batch of sapele from my local (non-boat-buildy) timber merchant, sized for the trim and the two tables, and I still have a fair bit left after doing everything else as well.

Pete
 
prv said:
Chipboard in a boat? Rather you than me. It certainly doesn't have to be expensive Robbins Super-Elite marine ply, but I'd want something that doesn't turn to spongecake with a bit of moisture.

It is worth finding your local timber supplier - most of what they sell in the DIY sheds is not really suitable. Given the time you will spend on it, you might as well produce something decent. Work out what your first project will be, order what you need for that, being a bit generous on the quantities and lengths. The offcuts and leftovers will probably see you through a project or two after that. I bought one batch of sapele from my local (non-boat-buildy) timber merchant, sized for the trim and the two tables, and I still have a fair bit left after doing everything else as well.

Pete
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We are talking furniture, not structure... You obviously haven't looked at the construction of all the current generation of AWBs, have you? Most of the interior of the Jeanneau we've recently sold was veneered chipboard.
 
maby said:
We are talking furniture, not structure... You obviously haven't looked at the construction of all the current generation of AWBs, have you? Most of the interior of the Jeanneau we've recently sold was veneered chipboard.
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Wat?
 
maby said:
Most of the interior of the Jeanneau we've recently sold was veneered chipboard.
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Glad I don't have one, then :)

I've been a bit underwhelmed with some of the interior woodwork in our new 15 year old Maxi, but at least it's all in proper ply!

Fibreglass boats more than a few years old invariably seem to leak, from above not below, so the idea that anywhere in them is guaranteed to stay 100% dry at all times is wishful thinking. If you want a guaranteed absence of leaks you need welded metal - and then you may well get condensation instead!

Pete
 
I've been looking at marine ply, then went ooch at the price. Missed out on several items of teak garden furniture, but picked up a 5ft by 5ft mahogany wardrobe for £20 from a local furniture dealer. Plenty of timber for a switch panel and some other fittings I'm looking at...
 
prv said:
Glad I don't have one, then :)

I've been a bit underwhelmed with some of the interior woodwork in our new 15 year old Maxi, but at least it's all in proper ply!

Fibreglass boats more than a few years old invariably seem to leak, from above not below, so the idea that anywhere in them is guaranteed to stay 100% dry at all times is wishful thinking. If you want a guaranteed absence of leaks you need welded metal - and then you may well get condensation instead!

Pete
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The OP is a self-confessed novice and his objective (current) is to "... make us one of them plate racks, maybe a cutlery storer and the biggy a table" - he's going to make mistakes and will be far better off doing it on a board that cost a fiver. If he gets enough water into his boat to turn his plate rack into mush, then I would suggest it will be the least of his worries. The table probably needs something different, but even that will be more down to strength than water resistance. If he enjoys it, then he will progress to better quality materials, but it really does not make sense for someone that has never lifted a saw in anger to start hacking at top quality wood.
 
I have been making a few things at the mo. My joinery skills are a little agricultural and generally involve butt jointing the ply with some hardwood to cover the end grains so it still usally looks decent in the end. I use epoxy for the glue so its always strong dispite my joinery skill or lack therof!!
Right now im making a wooden locker for my code flags (they seem to cost hundreds to buy). 40 pigeon holes. using 9mm and 6mm decent WPB ply and what they call merranti which seems to be any old hardwood for the rest. I'll stain it dark before I varnish it so the wood should look uniform in colour. Its built but I was a bit messy with the epoxy and its a right barsteward to sand off inside the little holes. doing 2 holes a day to keep it enjoyable. I'll try and post a picture later.

Next on the list is a bookshelf to be made the same way and using the above materials. think Im going to go for about 2 foot wide with the section of the nautical almanac as a yardstick - be grateful for any advice if you guys have built one too small or large and regretted it later....

Could do with a wooden holder for my winch handles inside and also I picked up a lovely 7x50 compass monocular a while ago thats going to get damaged soon so its crying out for something to mount it on the bulkhead.

for what its worth in my opinion I wouldnt go anywhere near chipboard on a boat. decent WPB ply is fine for inside and its cheap. even if the chipboard doesnt dissolve it weighs a ton and the dust you produce when you work it is horrible and surely much worse for you than normal sawdust? the finish seems hit and miss on the WBP (some bits good, some lots of knots and filler) so rather than just asking for a quarter sheet at my builders merchant I have a rummage through whats there and specify a certain sheet that has a nice face. 1/4 sheet costs like a fiver or something silly.
 
maby said:
If he gets enough water into his boat to turn his plate rack into mush, then I would suggest it will be the least of his worries.
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Not really - all it takes is one headsail track bolt leaking a bit and funnelling rainwater into the plate rack. Funnily enough I had exactly this in Kindred Spirit until I completed my exhaustive leak-eradication programme. I regularly had to empty water out of the stowed mugs.

I completely agree that the OP shouldn't be let loose on big baulks of old-growth teak, but I draw the line at chipboard. WBP ply would be fine - I've just made a new engine-bay bulkhead in the Maxi from it.

Pete
 
maby said:
We are talking furniture, not structure... You obviously haven't looked at the construction of all the current generation of AWBs, have you? Most of the interior of the Jeanneau we've recently sold was veneered chipboard.
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I was on a brand-new French sailing school boat last season, an RM1060, and was surprised to see the iron-on edging falling off parts of the furniture to reveal MDF!
 
contessaman said:
Next on the list is a bookshelf to be made the same way and using the above materials. think Im going to go for about 2 foot wide with the section of the nautical almanac as a yardstick - be grateful for any advice if you guys have built one too small or large and regretted it later....
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I made a little bookcase a while ago and kept it down to about 8", which was big enough for my favourite reference books. Everything else is on a Kindle which contains far more books than I would ever be able to fit on a boat.
 
maby said:
Indeed - these days a lot of the non-structural woodwork on an AWB is chipboard or MDF.
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That's cos it only needs to hold together long enough for the original owner not to complain to the builder :)

They call it "value engineering", I believe.

(In fact I would hope that they're at least using some kind of moisture resistant board, which is not what the OP would be getting from B&Q.)

Pete
 
I my day in Engineering, "Value Engineering" was reducing the cost of production without reducing the quality or effectiveness of the product. Not just making it cheaper regardless of quality.

Seems times have changed in the last 25 years.
 
Rogershaw said:
Seems times have changed in the last 25 years.
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The accountants got hold of it :)

Plus the consultants who insist that "quality" does not mean "good", it merely means "close to whatever was specified". So if you specify that something should be crappy, crappiness means high quality.

Pete
 
prv said:
That's cos it only needs to hold together long enough for the original owner not to complain to the builder :)

They call it "value engineering", I believe.

(In fact I would hope that they're at least using some kind of moisture resistant board, which is not what the OP would be getting from B&Q.)

Pete
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There is no reason why MDF type materials cannot be used for non structural items like doors and non structural bulkheads. Like ply they are composites of wood fibres and resins and no reason why they should turn to mush.

All the doors in my 13 year old Bavaria are veneered MDF type panels in a solid wood frame and are indistinguishable from ply - and no sign of "turning to mush" - but then the boat does not leak!

For small DIY projects such as the OP is asking about MDF would be fine if a painted finish is required, but if natural wood finish then ply makes sense as it has a woody veneer. However on factory manufactured panels like doors, veneered MDF is easy to produce economically. Many new boats go one stage further and use veneered foam cored panels - lighter and probably even more economical once you have the equipment to produce them.
 
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