Leoma. Salon Sole

[JD-MDR]

I decided to finish the sole in the main salon. I am leaving the old veneer in place. It seems to have a good bond and it will be a nice flat surface for the teak strips also i can use 1/2” brads to tack the strips in place while the epoxy sets. I will keep the brads to a minimum and I hope they don’t make ugly black stains in time. Maybe it will be ok with 5-6 coats of varnish. I’m leaving the two access hatches as is. I wanted to enlarge them to make it easier to stow my spare anchor etc. but I managed to get it down there and out again. I’ll leave well enough alone and I don’t want to weaken the structure. More to come.

[JD-MDR]

Here is what I got done today. All the easy square cut pieces are set in thickened epoxy. I sanded the veneer ply first. I didnt need to use many Brad nails. Only 4. Im looking for Couple nice bronze pull things to put on the access hatches. We have a consignment store here by the marina. Tomorrow I’ll start on the end pieces with the bevel where it meets the sides. This is not a very easy job. It’s really hard to get all the strips lined up and tight togeather. I can see now that the planks in the v-berth area are not parallel with the centerline.

[Jim Walsh]

Nice work. Always interesting to see the latest projects on Leoma.

[jbenagh]

It looks really good to me. Great to see this progress!
Jeff

[JD-MDR]

I finished setting all the pieces. I guess I should have used the maple strips on the sides of the access hatch frames. They line up perfectly. Maybe I’ll change that. I ordered two brass finger pulls from defender marine.
This job was really difficult and I’m not very impressed with my work. Good thing it’s for me I’m not selling it to someone. I have a lot of sanding to do then varnish. It’s gonna be a mess.
I think I spent about $1000 for materials and 4 days labor. I can see an expert charging about $4000 to do this ( include v-berth and galley). I guess I did ok for my first time.
I’ll post one more photo after I varnish

[JD-MDR]

Sanded today. I hope I can get it all to look like these hatch covers. I used glue and teak sawdust to fill in some seams that weren’t perfectly tight. It looks good

[JD-MDR]

Here is two coats of varnish. I’ll put 4-5 more. I removed the sides of the access frames and replaced with the maple. It looks so much better. It’s probably gonna bother me that they are not long continuous strips. Some day when I’m bored. I think I can cut them out with a small router and fix it better. Brass ring pulls arrived but I found different ones online that match the round ones from spartan. That are on the refer. But they are not bronze. $100 compared to 10 for brass

[Jim Walsh]

That looks great, came out really well. I need to give my cabin sole a light sand and a couple coats of varnish. Thought I might get it done after the boat was hauled but it was last on my list and it’s too cold now. It’ll be an easy job in the spring
Leoma must be very happy. You’re taking very good care of her.

[JD-MDR]

Finished. With the brass ring pulls

[John Stone]

Great work JDM. Looks very nice.

[JD-MDR]

That angle doesn’t do it justice because of the step. Actually the strips line up perfectly except way forward at the v- berth they go off on a slight angle. It’s not really noticeable.
Thanks everyone. I’m excited to head down to Mexico in two weeks to haulout and reseal the hull/deck joint. After cruising the Sea of Cortez maybe I’ll try to go to Kodiak again. I hope so

[jbenagh]

Looks great! Wishing you a great trip south.
Jeff