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Yet another sole thread... T & H veneer?

Mitch

Member I
While reading all of these sole replacement threads, I was reminded of my recent musing about sole refurbishment in our E-27. The 27 has a molded fiberglass sole which we have covered with a carpet. The admiral and I have long lusted after the teak & holley soles we see in other boats and were contemplating installing it in ours.
The project, as I envision it, would require gluing down a T&H veneer to the existing sole. Since I am 6' 1" and the headroom is 6' as it is right now, I do want to keep any added thickness to a minimum. The fiberglass sole would be sanded down, a template made, veneer cut to fit and then expoxied down and finished. The access hatches to the bilge would require a little more work, but that should be fairly easy.
Has anyone undertaken a similar project? Any comments, or ideas about how this would work out? I am a fairly handy guy, but have never done any veneering. Would vaccum bagging be necessay or could sandbags work to hold the veneer in place while the expoxy does its thing?
Thanks for any comments.

-Mitch
 

Mike.Gritten

Member III
I have been following this thread over the past few days because we, too, are contemplating a teak and hollie sole installation on our 35-2. We have the white gelcoat floor (similar to Mitch) and have covered most of it up with various throw rugs. The admiral loves the warm look and feel of the wood floors in friends' boats and aspires to same in ours.
 

richmcn

Member I
teak and holly sole

I replaced a t and h sole in a friend's boat.

I bought t and h veneered marine plywood at $250 a sheet with freight, and epoxied and varnished and screwed it back into the boat the way the first (wet) one was. Looked nice, was a pretty easy job.

Now since you want to put a sole where no provision has been made and if you don't have the inset built into the fiberglass, I still think it would screw down ok, you just want to be sure you aren't make holes where you don't want them. You really don't need a whole lot of screws to hold it down either. Flat is good and you don't want to be tripping over little lines.

One possibility as a dry run is buy a sheet of 1/4" luan. It will cost you $8 ir so at home depot. Varnish it. Trial fit it. See if you like it, or anticipate any problem areas where you would trip or dirt would catch or you wouldn't have access to the bilge, etc., etc., Also, it will definitely give you practice for cutting any radius's you might have before you sail into the more expensive stuff. Lastly, if height is an issue, I think you can get it in 3/8's and 1/2" thicknesses. Don't know about 1/4".

Marine mahogany is probably a third to half of T and H and would work just as well.

Good luck
Rich McN
Neegee
E-23
Monroe Harbor, Chicago
 
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