Interior veneer

[Philip Tanner]

Spring projects begin. Seems that my focus on making the exterior look good the last few years was at the expense of the interior. Now I'm paying for it. In the main salon of my 28' where the interior sides of the bunks meet the sole, there are strips on either side that, at an angle, join the sides with the sole. The veneer has lifted off the substrate having gotten wet somehow. The veneer is very thin, maybe an 1/16" to 1/8". The substrate is probably 1/4" thick and in good condition except for a small portion which I believe I can dry and glue back down. The sole and bunks seem fine. I've managed to remove all the veneer and am ready to replace. I hope I've articulated the problem properly. Now the questions:

Do I replace just the veneer or do I have to replace the substrate as well?
What kind of veneer do I purchase and where can I get it?
What kind of adhesive would be best for this job?
If anyone has done this job and can provide any advise, it would be appreciated. Specifically, how do I get the right shape? (I thought I could use paper to prepare a template and then transfer it to the veneer)

Thanks in advance, Phil

[Oswego John]

I'd like to get answers also.

O J

[tjr818]

Do you have any pictures? How big of an area are you talking about? If it is a small area I would try to reglue the veneer. If you check into prices you might find that 1/4" - 3/8" veneered plywood is about the same price as replacement veneer, however you probably have to buy a whole sheet of the plywood. Veneer usually can be bought in smaller sizes. Please post a photo.

[svreleaseme]

As Tim stated. It depends on specifics of the situation. Pictures would help. However. The first think I would do is figure how it's getting wet. Is there a leak that is working its way down to that spot? If so you want to fix that before repairing the wood. If it gets wet just with the normal traffic in the boat then maybe consider sealing the wood with clear epoxy after repairing the wood.
Regards,
Randy

[Steve Laume]

The problem with replacing the plywood in that area is the sequence in which it was laid. I believe it was the vertical surface first, then the problem piece and finally the sole on top. I could be wrong but there are some tricky shapes there and it would be very difficult to replace with plywood as you are dealing with a whole lot of shape with compound and curves and varying angles. CD had wiggle room when they originally built the boat because the sole went over the angled piece.

I think you have the right idea with a paper template and a veneer surface repair, unless you want to get involved with the sole as well.

You are definitely not going to want to use a contact cement on this job, Steve.

[Ron M.]

As Steve mentioned - contact cement, the volatile stuff. In my experience chewing gum works better than water based contact cement.

[jen1722terry]

In a former life as an antique dealer, I did a fair amount of veneer repair. It's pretty easy if you can get even clamping pressure on the work, in which case I would use waterproof wood glue, which is much easier to work with than contact cement and is quite permanent.

However, I doubt you have that luxury of even clamping in the space you are working in.

Also note that some veneers expand a bit when water-soaked and can be difficult to re-glue. Careful trimming with a new single edged razor blade helps. This expansion may not be so pronounced in oily teak, not sure.

And it's important, though a bit difficult, to remove the bumpy remnants of the old glue from the substrate and veneer, a delicate project.

I agree that solvent-pased contact cement is the way to go. As soon as you mate up the glued veneer to the glued sub base, use a hard rubber roller to roll the repair hard to remove all air bubbles and ensure adhesion over the entire work area.

I usually thinned the contact cement a bit with the appropriate solvent (check the can label) to make it easier to spread evenly, as it can get lumpy and very stringy.

Lastly, I used a NOISH-approved cartridge respirator and a fan when I worked with contact cement, for the solvents can be nasty, particularly in confined spaces like boat saloons.

Just some radome thoughts. Hope they help.

Terry

[Steve Laume]

The reason I discounted contact cement of any kind is that you only get one shot at lining everything up perfectly. You could slip waxed paper under the veneer until you get everything lined up but it would still be iffy in this situation.

You could use water poof carpenters glue which will allow you to move things around a bit. This would be the perfect place to use a vacuum bag to clamp things in place until the glue dries. You might also be able to use lots of sand bags to weight it down.

One other method of gluing veneer is to coat both sides with carpenters glue and let it dry. It can then be heated with an iron to form the bond. I am not sure how well this would hold up in the marine environment. You might want to do some tests.

You could certainly use epoxy and the bagging. The nice thing about epoxy is that it doesn't require much clamping pressure and it would definitely stay put.

I coated all of the sole veneer with penetrating epoxy before I finished it on Raven. This seals all the edges and plasticizes the wood so there should be no future problems.

I would also plan to do it in two pieces. This would help you with alignment and you could leave an overlap to be cut with a razor to form the splice. You might not be able to find a piece of teak veneer that long anyway, Steve.

[Philip Tanner]

Thanks to all who helped on this. I actually purchased some teak veneer from amazon today. I have some epoxy left over from a previous project, so I think I'll use that as an adhesive as Steve suggested. My plan now is to sand the sole, stain the new veneer, cover the new veneer and the sanded sole with epoxy(as Steve described) and then finish it all. Phil