CD 27 Interior Redo

[dougw]

My CD 27, 1978 hull # 8, is in need of an interior redo. The wood venier which is actually some type of contact vinyl needs to be replaced and at the same time I would like to add shelving and certainly redo the paint finish.

Does anyone have a recommendation or experience in replacing the vinyl, possibly teak slats...?

Thank you

[Carl Thunberg]

This may be heresy to some on this Board, but that's never stopped me before, so here goes. Have you ever considered painting what you have, rather than go to the expense of replacing it with teak? In my opinion, the interior of almost all of the Cape Dorys is too dark. With the correct surface preparation, which includes a light sanding to give the contact vinyl some "teeth" for the paint to adhere to, white paint would go a long way to brighten things up. You may decide you like it, and if you decide you don't like it, you're only out a quart of paint.

If you decide you like the look of real wood, consider something other than teak. The cabin interior is not exposed to the weather like the exterior teak. Cherry or Mahogany can be had for less than half the cost of teak. Just something to think about. This is actually a very straightforward project if you're a woodworker with even modest skills. You can use the old panels as a pattern for the new ones.

Anyway, these are just brainstorming ideas. You may not like them, and that's okay.

[Shinok]

We are in the same situation. The prior owner of Mariah (1977 #28) drilled a ton of holes in the bulkheads for cabinets and such. We've been dealing with functional stuff at the moment, but our next big project is to overhaul the interior.

It's interesting to see someone in the same situation, because we couldn't identify the type of wood used in the bulkheads and throughout the rest of the interior. I'd be curious to see what you end up doing. All the interior wood is in rough shape for us. It's "solid" in the sense that it's not rotting and the bulkheads are in good shape, but they are a cosmetic mess.

We actually considered the slats as well, but I worried that it would make hanging new stuff inside tedious. I will post some other ideas I got later. I don't really like the painted look.

[Shinok]

Sorry if this double posts. Interior thoughts/brain dump follows.

First a little history. Two owners prior of Mariah installed a bunch of custom cabinets inside the boat, which involved a ton of small screw holes in bulkheads (a ton being ~20). In other words, the interior was trashed. While it's "livable", I want it to be functional, cleaner, and sellable when the time comes. Things aren't "that bad", but it's not exactly how I like things to be (I'm very, what's the nice word for OCD? Meticulous?). Aside from the holes, the wood veneer has begun to wear out/streak in certain areas, some of the wood has stains/streaks on it, and it just generally looks icky. I'll post some pics later, when I get out to the boat next. I'd venture that over time, all the 1977 models have had similar issues (drill holes aside). It's worth noting that the wood has held up really well inside aside from the cosmetics, whatever it is (any ideas?), because none of it shows any signs of rotting or wear.

That said, they changed the interior substantially in later models (1978 I believe) and there are some areas of weakness inside that I'd like to address to beef things up some. The wood under the V-berths is kindof flimsy (not the supports under the cushions, but the "cosmetic" wood around the base of the berth). The same problem is in the aft two settees, where the wood is holding up fine, but it needs some extra support. I was going to drill supports inside of all 3 berths (not visible) to provide some support for the wood pieces used to hold up the berths. This seems pretty simple and is just a matter of taking some blocks of wood and screwing them into the bulkheads that hold up the berths. I believe this non-cosmetic and non-visible fix will help to support the berths, not that they necessarily "need it", but I can see that when the berths are under some kind of heavy load, they move around a small amount under the weight and I'd like to keep that from getting worse. I'm also evaluating ways of cleanly improving access to the areas under the cushions, maybe adding some hinges and a latch.

Lastly, I am not really SUPER happy with the interior layout of the CD27, mostly the way the galley is set up and the lack of a chart table and substantial storage.

For the galley area, this isn't an option for us, but I saw a 198? CD27 that shortened one settee and turned one end into a galley area with full stove/oven. I regret not saving a photo of it, because it was done really well. The problem with this for us is, we both prefer sleeping in the aft settees, not in the v-berth, so shortening one isn't really an option. If you were undergoing substantial interior adjustments, it may be worth considering. I'm not sure how we are going to deal with this for us yet, though. I'm also not a fan of permanent adjustments that can't be undone.

I feel the chart table and storage dilemma can be fixed by converting the forward v-berth into a small navigation and storage area. We don't sleep up there, so I was thinking about building the forward v-berth in such a way that 3/4ths of the berth can be safely used for storage and the other 1/4th can be a navigation area. I was going to try and make it easily convertible, so with a few screws it can go back to being a sleeping area and allow easier access to the water tank.

Thoughts? Mind sharing photos of your interior? I'd like to see what one that hasn't been taken apart looks like. I'll post photos of ours next week.

EDIT:

I forgot about the cosmetic parts.

First, the bulkheads. The veneer is in rough cosmetic shape and we probably need to put something over it. I have been evaluating using the same types of slats that are on the side of the cabin on the bulkhead. My concern with doing so is the thickness of the slats and the difficulty it would introduce when installing new instruments (e.g. barometer, clock, etc) against the bulkhead. While that's not a frequent occurrence, I am concerned about being able to do it "cleanly" and make it still look nice. I also have to consider that we are going to add a fold down table at some point (the fixed table is MIA). I don't think the slats would play well with those things, but maybe I'm wrong?

I've also evaluated sanding down the veneer that's currently there, filling the holes, and laying a teak veneer on all sides of the bulkhead. I'm not sure how well this would work, but it's certainly a cheaper solution. I worry about my ability to lay the veneer cleanly and well, though. If we go this route, I may find a woodworker with more experience to follow through with it.

The other solution is using thin wood panels and bolting/screwing them in place. I haven't really thought much about this, but it seems to be a clean and easily "fixable" way of cleaning up the bulkheads. I'm not really sure how to cut it all to look decent, though.

As for the settees, primarily the lower areas that support the settee and the back areas with the cabinets, they are a mess too. I am not sure what the best solution is for fixing those, I'm not sure I like any of the above ideas. I'd worry about being able to do any of it cleanly.

The cabin floor is a bit messy, I was going to sand it and paint it white. I'd really like to get a cabin sole like what the newer boats had, but I figure the expense is gonna be too high and reward too low. We'll probably leave it painted for now.

The headliner is a mess as well. We have areas with holes drilled in it, some cracking, and a few filled holes. I'm not sure what to do about the liner, to be honest. I've thought about cutting it out all together, similar to what someone did with a CD36, and replace it with something cleaner. This is obviously a chore though and I'm not so sure it'd be wise. I'm going to sand it and repaint white, any trouble areas I'll cut out and replace with teak circles or shelves. I don't really like the idea of the headliner, it makes removing old wiring a pain and is hard to repair well, but it's not a trivial task to remove it and I'm not sure I have a good plan for replacing it. I'd cut it in a heartbeat if I knew I could replace it with something better, but I'm not sure I can just yet.

Anyway, that's my brain dump of ideas. I probably make things sound worse than they are, Mariah isn't in that bad of shape, I just like things to be done a certain way (modular, easily repairable, and cosmetically appealing).

[jbenagh]

I think that painting white is an attractive option, recommended by L Francis Herreshoff in "Sensible Cruising Designs". I do like the teak look also, but as a DIY'er I would paint. In fact, I did paint the veneer portion in the main salon of Carl's and my former boat that way and left the trim as varnished teak. It looked so good, I wished I had done the whole boat. I used Interlux Perfection. I am not sure I would bother with their primer unless you need to level the surface because following their directions resulted in all of the primer being removed since the veneer is so smooth.

[tjr818]

Try this link to a few great ideas for a 27:

http://capedory27.blogspot.com/search?u ... results=17

[John Stone]

I think it depends on what you want to do. Either paining or installing wood can look fine depending on the look you want to achieve. Teak is extraordinarily expensive and has few advantages, if any, used below deck. You can buy teak veneer which is a less expensive alternative but be warned it normally requires epoxy with a lot of interesting clamping to make it durable.

In chose to rebuild my boat using African Mahogany. It is a little lighter colored than teak, weighs much less, and costs about 1/5 as much. It also bonds well with glue or epoxy. I think it looks gorgeous with high gloss varnish.

I don’t think a boat with a lot of wood has to look dark inside. My boat did when I bought it because the teak bulkheads and trim were oiled and did not reflect light. The mahogany I installed, with 6 coats of high gloss varnish, reflects the light well and I think it looks very warm, bright, and cheerful inside. I know lots of folks that like the white paint and wood trim but to me it was just too much white. Also, on bright days it is nice to be able to go below and give your eyes some relief . . . just personal choices.
Here is a link that has a general interior shot of my boat in it’s current state of rebuild. Go to the link and scroll down to the 25 Jan 13 entry and there is a good shot of the saloon.

http://www.farreachvoyages.com/dailylog ... esent.html

Installing the mahogany trim was not that difficult but it was time consuming on my boat since I did the entire boat with it. If one only wanted to apply mahogany staving to the main bulkheads it would not be that big of a project. Here is a link that explains how I approached it. There are other ways to do it—some easier.

http://www.farreachvoyages.com/millinstallstaving.html

I chose a path that would give me the best most professional look I could achieve and also add strength to the bulkheads. I had never done this before so most folks can do it if they are persistent. You could do the main bulkheads on a CD 27 pretty easily. I estimate maybe $200 for the mahogany. $40 for the T88 epoxy (no thickeners required and cures down to 35 degrees). You’ll need a small drill press to cut your own wood plugs (mine was a gift and well used when I got it) and a sharp chisel. You’ll need the ability to mill your own wood or pay someone to mill it. You can install the staving in less than a week (for just the main bulkheads) part time with another two weeks to install the wood plugs and apply the varnish (all part time). Most of the tools are not that expensive and you can buy them over time or find them used. The nice thing is once you have them and learn how to use them there is no end to what you can make. I have built all kinds of cabinets and built-in bookcases and cabinetry in my home that more than paid for every tool I own. But, I digress.


I removed the head liner from my boat and in its place installed ½” AP closed cell foam and covered it with ¼” marine plywood that I cut “V” grooves into with a router and a guide bar. I painted it bright white and it reflects much more like than the flat white on the stock fiberglass headliner. Here is a link to how I approached that project.

http://www.farreachvoyages.com/cabinsid ... rhead.html

I know this is more info than what you asked for but there are lots of options available to you—most if not all you can do yourself.
The web is full of great information which you can use to drastically reduce your learning curve. There are lots of projects you could do over the winter if you would like to make changes to your boat to better accommodate your needs. Keep in mind though, there are a surprising number of sailors that strongly object to one making changes to a factory built boat and they will feel free to share that opinion with you. Good luck.

[SurryMark]

This may be heresy to some on this Board, but that's never stopped me before, so here goes. Have you ever considered painting what you have, rather than go to the expense of replacing it with teak? In my opinion, the interior of almost all of the Cape Dorys is too dark. With the correct surface preparation, which includes a light sanding to give the contact vinyl some "teeth" for the paint to adhere to, white paint would go a long way to brighten things up. You may decide you like it, and if you decide you don't like it, you're only out a quart of paint.

If you decide you like the look of real wood, consider something other than teak. The cabin interior is not exposed to the weather like the exterior teak. Cherry or Mahogany can be had for less than half the cost of teak. Just something to think about. This is actually a very straightforward project if you're a woodworker with even modest skills. You can use the old panels as a pattern for the new ones.
.

SPOT ON.

[tartansailor]

I stripped the vinyl and laminated Formica.




Dick