Wood for cockpit table?

[johnalison]

A guest tipped over a bottle of red wine in our then new cockpit some years ago, spilling over the teak seats and sole. In spite of our initial horror, the stain had disappeared within a week or two. What does stain bare wood is grease, and the marks from the crumbs from crisps tend to hang around, but not for ever.

 

[chriss999]

Buy an old and cheap wardrobe made from mahogany, use the sides and make a nice varnished mahogany table. Brown furniture is being thrown away at the moment.

I did that for my saloon table, using my grandmother’s old oak veneer table leaf, cut down to fit. But it wouldn’t work for a cockpit table unless stored below.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I made my cockpit table from strips of iroko glued to a ply base. the strips had a 5 mm gap that I filled with black sikaflex sanded and varnished.

I made my floors in the same way but the gaps were 5mm strips of jacaranda (white wood) looks similar to teak and holly.

Pics shown in the link in my sig.

 

[pipemma]

Thanks but no time for commissions until maybe after March next year.

Where did you source the sapele? Is it available in wide sheets or just strips that need gluing together like the teak Howells have quoted me for?

 

[Graham376]

Where did you source the sapele? Is it available in wide sheets or just strips that need gluing together like the teak Howells have quoted me for?

Bought it rough sawn at local timber merchants and put it through my PT. Small flaps are one width each + edgings, centre is 3 pcs jointed. IIRC cost was around £80 excluding bar top hinges which came off old table.

 

[pipemma]

Bought it rough sawn at local timber merchants and put it through my PT. Small flaps are one width each + edgings, centre is 3 pcs jointed. IIRC cost was around £80 excluding bar top hinges which came off old table.

Beautiful work.

 

[Graham376]

Beautiful work.

Thanks but took a chance with the breadboard ends, fortunately not enough movement to detach them. Problem with solid timber (unlike ply) is that it expands and contracts across its width so any capped ends with grain running the other way can come unglued.

 

[Amulet]

Iroko is fine as a more economical replacement to teak for durability. Bits of my boat are made of it, but not by me! I won't work with it because the dust really gets to my lungs.

 

[MikeBz]

I bought a cockpit table from https://www.marineteak.co.uk/folding--sliding-teak-tables - very pleased with it. As with buying ready-made from Howells it will be £££.

 

[Quandary]

If you want cheap and easy, go to Ikea, buy an outdoor table £15-30, take it apart and adapt to suit your needs. About 5-7 years ago I bought one for £15, it was a slatted wood top on a folding metal frame (they also do an all wood version) it has been outdoors for eight months each year, never painted or stained in our wet Scottish coastal garden, the wood looks darker but is still sound and the frame is rust free.
At the price I expected to get a year out of it.

 

[geoff9959]

Sapele, easy to work and good outdoors.

Hi Graham. Do you have the plans for this table?
Geoff.
geoff9959@gmail.com

 

[Graham376]

Hi Graham. Do you have the plans for this table?
Geoff.
geoff9959@gmail.com

No, just measured what would fit the cockpit and went from there. I bought rough sawn and planed it myself but some timber merchants stock ready planed. I machined the fiddles on router table and used full length splines on all butt joints which isn't technically correct for the breadboard ends but they're still attached. The danger of using solid timber as opposed to ply is that it can twist or cup after machining if not careful.

 

[Dilemma]

I made a lightweight demountable table using a carbon epoxy vacuum bagged laminate with 30mm foam core. Light, strong and faced with a sapele veneer from Crispin veneers of Beckton. It fits to a Lagun bracket and is light enough to put below when the cockpit is cleared for sailing.