How to - Making a cockpit dining table

[Privilege]

I decided to make a new cockpit dining table. Here's how it was done.

Starting with a sheet of plywood, I cut it to shape.



Next up...make a wood steamer. Strips of red oak are placed inside the PVC tube. The water in the empty propane tank is boiled and the resulting steam is routed to the PVC tube which has holes drilled in the top to prevent the pressure from building up too much and exploding the tube. The oak is steamed for 20 minutes until they are ready to be bent.



As soon as the oak is pliable, it is bent around the form and clamped in place. Each piece is left overnight to dry-out before it is epoxied in place



One piece at a time, the oak strips are built up and glued in place.



I added black colouring to the epoxy resin so that the joints are visible.



After plenty of sanding, the first coat of stain is added



After numerous coats of stain have produced the right colour, the border is given a coat of varnish to protect it during the rest of the process.



A sheet of cherry veneer is cut to shape. The compass rose is hand-drawn on it and cut out like a jig-saw puzzle.



The background of the compass rose is glued in place and stained.



The underside of the table is sealed from the elements with epoxy. I used various different types of wood to make the rest of the compass rose.



The remainder of the rose is glued in place, then starts the lengthy process of numerous coats of varnish, lots of sanding and lots of polishing



...and the table is complete.

[alctel]

That's beautiful!

[barnakiel]

Truly impressive!

b.

[Hud3]

Back when I had a woodworking shop, I used to make some pretty nice furniture, so I know how hard it is to get it right. I'm totally impressed with your craftsmanship!

[cabo_sailor]

WOW! I can't even imagine having the skills to do that. It must have taken hundreds of hours.

Rich


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[Privilege]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

[Tayana42]

Simply beautiful!


S/V B'Shert

[Rhapsody-NS27]

Wow, Beautiful piece.

[StuM]

Beautiful

[Rainh2o2]

That is beautiful and very awsome!

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[svmariane]

Well done! Looks great!

And thanks for including those step-by-step pictures! The method for bending the wood trim seems so straight-forward simple and down-right possible. Methinks that it's even possible to do aboard! Really - THANKS !!

[Macblaze]

I'm looking at maybe making a new salon table. But I was planning on stopping right after the "cut the plywood" stage. Truly impressive...

[Delancey]

Yeah well, looks nice but this is CF and someone has to be all negative so I guess I will step up to the plate and be that guy.

Red oak is like the worst. I really mean it. Terrible rot resistance and smells like ass when you cut it. Has no place on a boat. White oak on the other hand is a different story.

If this was like a crappy 22 footer and you were some kind of dirt bag hippy freegan and red oak was all you could score from the local dumpster I would be like rock on.

But this is for some kind of fancy expensive catamaran so I am like fail. You devalue you boat with a poor material selection. Red oak is only good for residential flooring for cheapskates with no taste.

Does look pretty though, so I'll give you that.

[Tientos]

Absolutely stunning!

[UNCIVILIZED]

Nice looking piece of work!
I hope that many a good tale is told around it. And that such events are of the kind which make life long memories.

Dare I ask if that was all hand drawn & cut, or was there CNC assistance involved? Just curious. Either way it's definitely pretty.

Delancy,
I'd reckon that if he can build such a (complex) thing, then keeping the elements from ravaging it shouldn't be a problem.