New Teak & Holly Cabinsole – Project Update (in Beaufort, SC)

We took the quick route (aka: an airplane) back to Maine for a few weeks of work, leaving Brio safely tucked away at Lady’s Island Marina. There are so many reasons that this marina is quickly rising to the top of our favorite list, not least of which is the workshop (!!!) that’s available for cruisers to use.

So it felt like time for a little update on the project front, starting with my latest favorite — the cabinsole!

Jon and dad started this about a year ago, when Zephyr was 2 weeks old… we camped out in my parents’ hotel for the couple nights it took to install and varnish the flooring, and mom and I went on lots of baby-dates while the guys sweated the complex details involved in removing the old floor, patterning the new, and installing the beast.

The roadtrip down to Boulter Plywood (near Boston, MA), where we bought the teak & holly ply, was the first major roadtrip Zephyr ever did, at 10 days old… and our introduction to how much he (does not) love car trips 🙂 Who knew having a baby wouldn’t make boat projects easier??

Cabinsole replacement with teak and holly plywood in a Nor'West 33 cruising liveaboard sailboat

We commented a few times on how thankful we were that Brio’s floor isn’t any bigger… although there are a few super tricky compound curves that were even more fun in the smaller spaces! The forward curve especially required some serious kerf-cuts to get the plywood to make the bend.

Anyways, now that the project is done, we can’t stop commenting on how huge of a difference it’s made to the overall feeling of the boat, and especially how much easier it is to keep the floor feeling clean. “Why didn’t we do this sooner?!?” is the most common refrain 🙂

Here’s a before and after (mid-adding-storage-to-the-port-settee-project for the “before”, so excuse the slight mess haha)…

Teak and Holly Cabinsole Before and After Nor'West 33

In case you’re interested in the details, here are a few progress pics…

Teak and Holly Cabinsole Before Picture

(Most of the “before” pics I could find involved some level of ever-burgeoning belly 😛 )

Teak and Holly Cabinsole Before Nor'West 33

We’d already replaced the biggest hatch board, after the teak veneer had deteriorated beyond repair… the sink cupboard used to leak onto the floor, causing the most water-damage in this area, so it was a complete rebuild…

Cabinsole replacement with teak and holly plywood in a Nor'West 33 cruising liveaboard sailboat

Stripping & starting the pattern for the forward area…

Patterning to replace the teak and holly plywood cabinsole in our sailboat

Patterning the new floor (using super flexible door skins)

Patterning the teak and holly cabinsole replacement sailboat project

Cutting out the patterned piece… we were REALLY worried this wouldn’t fit down the companionway. It *just* made it!!

The cut out patterned cabinesole teak and holly ready to be moved into the boat

Epoxying the teak and holly plywood down using screws to hold everything tightly in place…

Screwing down the floor while the epoxy sets

Starting the many coats of varnish on the main floor piece (semi-gloss for build coats, followed by satin rubbed effect for a nicer final lustre on the finish)…

The guys finished the main floor, dad went home, and we proceeded to procrastinate the forward section for about a year (while carrying the sheet of teak and holly plywood around with us as we cruised south :P)

Babies don't make cabinsole replacement projects any easier

The workshop at Lady’s Island Marina, in Beaufort, SC made the forward section much more possible to tackle while living aboard…

Zephyr likes to be as close as possible to everything his daddy is working on…

Test fitting the forward piece, before epoxying it in place… note the tiny little sliver missing on the starboard side. Oops! We thought we’d cut a huge piece to bring with us for the forward section, but once we lined up the holly stripes, it turned out the piece was literally *just* big enough, minus about a 1/2″ slice that we had to sister in afterwards!

Test fitting the teak and holly plywood before epoxying it down

Wedging the plywood in place while the epoxy sets…

Wedging the teak and holly plywood while the epoxy sets

Jon hand-chiseled out each of the latches — we chose these for their low-profile, baby-friendly design and couldn’t be happier with them!

So nice to get to enjoy the back-side of this project, especially now that the little guy is so mobile!

– LMK

 

 


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