Did some minor Amtico-ing this am

[MikeP]

Been meaning to amtico the bow statroom for a year now but kept finding a reason not to do so. We carpeted it in 2 years ago when we recarpeted the boat but frankly never liked it in there and wished we had done amtico there as well as the helm area, galley and passageway. We are recarpeting the rest of the boat again in a couple of weeks because we don't like the carpeting. I had asked the Admiral to find carpet that wouldn't show dirt. She did and it works perfectly for that purpose but we both decided we hated it because it makes the boat too dark (she said that at the beginning and I'm surprised she actually went along with my request). But I made a big deal out of being able to do work without constantly worrying about the carpet. Now I've decided that I'd rather have a better look and I have several tarps so what the heck!

ANyway, back to the bow area...So I spent most of yesterday random-cutting/piecing the "teak and holley" pieces to get the look I want - no individual board joints lined up across the floor. Took several hours, even for that relatively small space.

Of course first I removed the almost new carpet and then discovered - I should say "re-remembered" that the floor was covered with the original asbestos-based linoleum so I had to remove all that. So my "several hour" project took all day yesterday and 1/2 the day today.

This morning I applied the adhesive and set all the individual pieces. I'd like to say how well it went but laying all the individual pieces ia a total PITA and, as usual, I ended up with adhesive all over virtually everything. But now, after cleaning up (me as well as the floor) it looks good and matches the galley. I'm hoping it's the last boat flooring I ever lay!


Here's a pic of the floor after I removed the carpet with the oem stuff still in place. At the bottom of the pics you can see the carpet that was on the floor still on the step. That's coming off today - I had to be sure I had enough Amtico left to do the steps before I ripped off the carpet. Also still have to add the trim around the hatch.

Here's the amtico cut and taped together to allow it to be removed, adhesive applied, and replaced is several large sections

ANd here it is in place...

[DAlter]

Mike,

Nice job..the smallest ones are often the toughest. It is nice to keep the carpeted space to a minimum in case of spills...oil wipes up so easily off the wood floors! I think it is about time you told Loretta to retire so she could help with all your projects.

[Mambeaux]

That looks great!

PLEASE tell me how wide each board and strip are and where did you buy it?

Thanks

[mobilemn1]

That looks real good Mike,,,,great job!

[MikeP]

I did this with left-over Amtico from 4 years ago when I did the upper helm area, galley, all heads, and the passageway. The materials are Amtico "Teak" for the wide boards and Amtico "warm beech" for the narrow strips. I purchased it directly from Amtico in Atlanta in '05. THe strips of holly were ordered precut into narrow 1/4 inch strips. THe teak is in their standard width which is 3".

IMHO the key to a decent install is to random cut all the "boards", including the holly strips to ensure that no adjacent "boards" have a seam at the same spot. This adds considerably to the look but also adds really dramatically to the time it takes to do the install. If I didn't care about seams being aligned and installed it in the easiest way posslble, I could have installed the V-berth floor in an hour or two at most instead of a day and a half!

I have been very impressed with the Amtico - the flooring I installed in '05 has been essentially bulletproof - extremely durable and easy to maintain.

[TopHattandTails]

Mike,
great job. Did you place the "holly" in random lenghts as well?

[MikeP]

Yes - the holly is random-cut as well though I have to admit that is probably overkill in a small space like this. You really can't see the "holly" seams from a standing position for it to be that noticeable. On a larger space, like the galley or the helm area, I think it might be more apparent but even then I'm not sure it would matter for the holly because the different pieces of "holly" strip does not have varying grain/color as the "teak" does.

However, IMHO, any main-board seams that align or are fairly close to aligning is eye-catching and annoying if the same-seam boards don't have at least 3 boards between them. Ideally, none of the boards would have seams that align with any other boards but if there are only a couple it works out as long as there is a good bit of distance between them. The random cutting makes it look like real wood as opposed to teak/holly plywood. I have had people (including two yacht brokers on Long Island) down on their knees closely examining the flooring, swearing that it was real wood.

Good stuff!

[jim rosenthal]

Nice job, very nice. Maybe part of Blue Note is due for a makeover...like the head flooring.

[richardoren]

Real Nice Mike,

It looks even better (ie more like real wood) than the other areas - are you improving at the task? If so then it's a real shame that you want to retire from Amtico installing.

[Traveler 45C]

Looks real good Mike.