Warn cabin sole boards

[Concerto]

We aren't?View attachment 126221

Oh yes you have a striped look. They are under your toes!

 

[Wing Mark]

that foot has seen better days !

He's photoshopped out one too many toes.

 

[Neeves]

Do we have a no-shoes rule in our car? You may even have a no-shoe rule in your house, but your house does not move. We do no-shoes some of the time, but if a person feels shoes are important to their safety, I would never say anything about it. I won't ask them to change into boat-only shoes because I don't. Many people require all workmen to board the boat in socks. I'll be damned if I'll slip-slide around in socks or kick cleats and step on sharp bits with bare feet.

A boat is a tool to get you places and to have adventures. If it gets some wear in the process...

"Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know “why” I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved." Will Rogers

I think the OP's floor looks fine, nothing a little sanding and varnish won't put right. But I wouldn't try to get deep marks out. You can damage the wood, and it's just "character."

The lack of shoes in Australia is common place, in the supermarket, in the doctors surgery, in the car. Why exactly do you wear shoes - because you actually need them or simply because where you are its conventional. At 8pm on a weekend it is common place to see girls out for a night in the pub, or wherever, walking to the destination, bare foot, carrying their fashionable shoes. Driving bare foot is common place here, as it is along the Med in the S of France.

Wearing everyday shoes on gel coat will do the gelcoat no good. If you have good non slip and decent handholds - you don't need shoes (except in winter when we wear Uggs).

But then we sail a cat and a lack of security is caused by the yacht bouncing about - not because you are unsure of your footing. You should not have sharp bits on a yacht - they tear sails and apart from one set of deck organisers - our decks are clear - even the windlass is under the deck and the sail track is on the cabin roof.

Jonathan

 

[Neeves]

Why is everyone stuck with the striped teak/holly Ikea look?

Not everyone.

We chose African Ash for the interior, largely doors - the rest is white gel coat, and then found a synethetic that best matched the wood - from the 'domestic' De Vinci flooring range.

We did not like the saloon table - and I made a new top. The cabin sole looks as good as it did when it was installed 20 odd years ago - but then it is a synthetic and we don't allow shoes on the yacht (except Ugg boots in the winter).



I don't have many interior pictures - this is the best I have - quickly.

Interestingly not one of our guests, who might sail with us for hundreds of NM and stay for a number of nights has ever objected to the requirement they are barefoot on our yacht. The only person to object was a punter at a boat show, our cat was the model for Lightwave, who did not wish to remove his shoes - He was denied entry (he was afraid someone might steal his shoes). The idea that a yacht should show its age (or miles, in our case around 80,000nm) is, frankly, silly. A yacht can be the second biggest purchase for a family - the idea you don't look after it, care for it - is bizarre.

And yes - no outdoor shoes in the house (common in most homes in HK) and in our car we have rubber mats that can be removed, cleaned and easily replaced. Cabin soles - they require considerable effort (and are the source of repetitive threads here) to keep looking less than tatty - and repairing the decks - almost impossible.

Jonathan

 

[geem]

Oh yes you have a striped look. They are under your toes!

Haha, winter carpet. Not sure where the toe went?

 

[geem]

Not everyone.

We chose African Ash for the interior, largely doors - the rest is white gel coat, and then found a synethetic that best matched the wood - from the 'domestic' De Vinci flooring range.

We did not like the saloon table - and I made a new top. The cabin sole looks as good as it did when it was installed 20 odd years ago - but then it is a synthetic and we don't allow shoes on the yacht (except Ugg boots in the winter).

View attachment 126267

I don't have many interior pictures - this is the best I have - quickly.

Interestingly not one of our guests, who might sail with us for hundreds of NM and stay for a number of nights has ever objected to the requirement they are barefoot on our yacht. The only person to object was a punter at a boat show, our cat was the model for Lightwave, who did not wish to remove his shoes - He was denied entry (he was afraid someone might steal his shoes). The idea that a yacht should show its age (or miles, in our case around 80,000nm) is, frankly, silly. A yacht can be the second biggest purchase for a family - the idea you don't look after it, care for it - is bizarre.

And yes - no outdoor shoes in the house (common in most homes in HK) and in our car we have rubber mats that can be removed, cleaned and easily replaced. Cabin soles - they require considerable effort (and are the source of repetitive threads here) to keep looking less than tatty - and repairing the decks - almost impossible.

Jonathan

We have bare feet or crocks. We have boat crocs and shore crocs. They are perfect bumpers on your feet. Having just done a major refit on the boat we have no wish to grind dirt in to the floors.

 

[jaminb]

Guess what? A year on and fun season of sailing and my sole boards remain untouched! I can buy a 8 x 4 sheet of Bubble Free Veneer for c.£450. Would it be feasible to glue on to the existing boards and eliminate all the rubbing down and varnishing?

Please don't give it too much thought as I have a feeling I will be coming to the end of next season and thinking those sole boards could do with tidying up!

thanks

 

[Hoolie]

Our cabin soles look a bit knackered so the PO fitted some carpetu8 - a custom we've followed through two replacements now. Resistant to bare feet, shoes and cat litter it's a lot cheaper and easier than most other options ... ...

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Guess what? A year on and fun season of sailing and my sole boards remain untouched! I can buy a 8 x 4 sheet of Bubble Free Veneer for c.£450. Would it be feasible to glue on to the existing boards and eliminate all the rubbing down and varnishing?

Please don't give it too much thought as I have a feeling I will be coming to the end of next season and thinking those sole boards could do with tidying up!

thanks

All it will do is put the evil hour off for a season or two, and there must be a question about how well the veneer will adhere to the old floorboards unless you do serious preparation work. It isn't that bad a job renovating the existing floorboards; best to take them out of the boat, remove every trace of existing varnish, use oxalic acid to refresh the colour, and then revarnish. The only part of that that is saved by using veneer is the oxalic acid treatment - which is the easiest part anyway.

 

[harvey38]

I tried that last year. I couldn't get any paint stripper to have much effect. All the ones available to the public have been completely emasculated by the change in legislation in what we are allowed to use. In the end I stuck fake teak and holly veneer down from Robbins directly on top of the old surface, and it looks like new again. I used 3M double sided adhesive sheets which are strong and waterproof, but you only get one chance to put it down. The 8x4 sheet of fake veneer was about £250 and the adhesive £50. I bought some cheap vinyl flooring to make a template - about another£20 - because my floor is all one piece, not separate boards. The fake veneer is tough stuff to cut. I found new dressmakers scissors the best.

I'm about to fit the very same stuff on four 8' x 2' ply boards that will be hinged and on rams, what did you use to cut it?

 

[AngusMcDoon]

I'm about to fit the very same stuff on four 8' x 2' ply boards that will be hinged and on rams, what did you use to cut it?

Dress maker's scissors. Practice first. It makes a clean cut on one side and cracks the other. I tried with a Stanley knife and new blade but it hardly touched it. For exterior curves scissors are fine. Interior curves are more difficult. I cut it roughly with scissors and then used a Dremel and grinding bit to finish off the curve. It really is tough stuff.