Winter Interior Work

Time to move inside to the workshop and get going on restoring and replicating the interior cabinetry.
First up, recreating the sill that sits under the window at the bow side of the head. This was a marginal call, as the original plywood was in decent shape after years of water damage and could have been bleached. But I decided to use a good section of partially-damaged plywood from the salon bulkhead to create a replacement















The original is on the bottom, the replacement above. The diagonal line shows the water damage from the leaking window.

The v-berth has also taken a beating from water damage cause by outdoor storage and good, old fashioned neglect. Here I used marine grade ribbon-cut tiama as a replacement. I've been told finding Philipine mahagony plywood is next to impossible, and ethically questionable given the overharvesting post-World War II. Some at Noah's Marine in Toronto suggested using ribbon cut tiama. It's much redder in colour than the orginal, but bleaching should take the colour out, leaving a grain pattern that's a very close match for the original. More on that later.















The original is one the left, the replacement on the right. The rotted bottom is gone. This is from the port side of the v-berth. The starboard piece was salvageable, but having new wood beside old means I really do need to match the look.

The salon has also been subjected to water damage, so the port panel must be recreated. Here, I used 1/2 inch to replace the original 3/4 plywood to save on some weight. The door are orginal. After stripping, sanding, bleaching and restaining, they should look as good as new. Again, I could have easily replaced them, but I'd like to reuse every piece I can.















The new port salon panel. In one conceit to modernity, I've left the left side empty to eventually mount a flat panel television there.