Replacing salon paneling

[Bill Root]

I've finsihed replacing the bridge deck window glass and re-sealing all the salon windows. Wow! What a difference. Many thanks to Jimmy Watts, as well as Chris and Roger Weatherington at Jarrett Bay for their advice along the way.Now I'm ready to move on to repairing the salon paneling.

The salon paneling is water stained in all the usual places, particularly around the lower corners of the windows. I will need to replace some of the 1/8" surface sections below the windows and above the fore/aft rail. Also some of the core, although it looks like I caught it before it got too bad. How is that 1/8" veneered surface paneling attached? I see no screw or nail holes. Is it stapled and glued to the core?

Also, some water dripped down inside the wall and rotted out the bottom edge of one section of the side paleling where it joins the floor. I'll need to replace all of that. Is that paneling attached to frames? Is it glued and stapled as well?

Thanks for your help. I just want to get an idea how it's assembled before I start rippinmg it apart.

 

[yachtsmanbill]

Hey Bill... the '74 58 paneling is attached to frames with well hidden black #6 screws, plus Hatt used a lot of hidden brads with putty over the heads.
Lots of guys are dead set on re-doing paneling as close to OEM as possible, but Ive done some with nice all wood 1/4" paneling
(oak and cherry etc) from Menards etc thats worked out swell. Just seal all 6 sides! Use the originals for a spot on template too.
Ive come to the realization that as neglected as my boat was, anything is an upgrade/improvement and if done right will out last me! With the way the boat market is, I could care less about resale value at this point, and she'll never be a million dollar boat anyway. Good luck! ws

 

[Vincentc]

I recovered the veneer around the mid cabin windows on my 43DC and did some repairs. Take a look at "coating teak" thread for photos. I used afrimosa veneer from sams, not cheap but one sheet did the whole area. Easy to cut with scissors and utility knife.

After repairing the bad spots with filled epoxy, I attached the veneer with contact cement. (solvent, not water based)

I also cleaned out the wet/rotted balsa coring around the windows and filled that with epoxy thickened with wood flour.

Did not dig into the area near the floor, but assume it it the same veneered plywood.
Vincent
43DC Lilly Marie

 

[Bill Root]

Thanks for your responses. The core around the windows on my boat is plywood, not balsa. The PO did that about 5 years ago, but a poor window sealing job caused them to leak again resulting in the current damage.

I was able to source the original style feather grain teak veneer (actually called Mozambique). I'll make the lower paneling repairs using that to match
what is there now. The paneling around the windows is just straight grain teak.

I'll send a post when finished to describe exactly how I did it.