Replace small section of cabin sole

[FamilyCircus]

Hello. While removing a trash compactor from our sailboat, I ripped up a 12" X 12" chunk of the teak and holly laminate sole. Are there any easy and cost effective ways to repair and/or replace? The teak laminate is layed over plywood. The laminate seems to be pretty damn thin. The piece that pulled up is ripped and cracked to pieces and not salvageable to re-secure to the plywood.

Will post a picture next time I'm at the boat.

Thanks, Matt

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by FamilyCircus

Hello. While removing a trash compactor from our sailboat, I ripped up a 12" X 12" chunk of the teak and holly laminate sole. Are there any easy and cost effective ways to repair and/or replace? The teak laminate is layed over plywood. The laminate seems to be pretty damn thin. The piece that pulled up is ripped and cracked to pieces and not salvageable to re-secure to the plywood.

Will post a picture next time I'm at the boat.

Thanks, Matt

You removed the trash compactor?!?!?! What next??? The towel warming rack or the tanning bed??? Where does it end Matt???

Pretty shocking how paper thin those laminates are huh??? There's lots of sources, but matching it is going to be tricky....

[psk125]

We found that the standard teak & holly laminate plywood from the local plywood guys matched what was in our 1981-built boat exactly. Even the spacing and width of the holly inlay was the same. Our trouble came when we epoxy-coated the pieces after we cut them to shape. Humidity from the basement workshop (wintertime wet...) clouded the epoxy, so we had to sand it all off and re-do it, being VERY careful not to sand through the thin veneer. Other than that, and the expense, not a problem.

[FamilyCircus]

Originally Posted by HappyMdRSailor

You removed the trash compactor?!?!?! What next??? The towel warming rack or the tanning bed??? Where does it end Matt???

Pretty shocking how paper thin those laminates are huh??? There's lots of sources, but matching it is going to be tricky....

Yeah, that is exactly why that thing had to come out. No respectable sailboat should have a trash compactor. LOL!

Yes, I am shocked at how thin that laminate is. Too bad it was solid teak and holly.

[FamilyCircus]

Originally Posted by psk125

We found that the standard teak & holly laminate plywood from the local plywood guys matched what was in our 1981-built boat exactly. Even the spacing and width of the holly inlay was the same. Our trouble came when we epoxy-coated the pieces after we cut them to shape. Humidity from the basement workshop (wintertime wet...) clouded the epoxy, so we had to sand it all off and re-do it, being VERY careful not to sand through the thin veneer. Other than that, and the expense, not a problem.

Thank you very much for the reply. It makes me feel a little better that it is, in fact fixable. I will try and source a small section from a supplier and give it a shot! Thanks for tip on the epoxy as well.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by FamilyCircus

Thank you very much for the reply. It makes me feel a little better that it is, in fact fixable. I will try and source a small section from a supplier and give it a shot! Thanks for tip on the epoxy as well.

It's COMPLETELY fixable... And you should be able to get a piece to match the dimensions of the holly/teak... Problem is blending the finish, and the finish discoloring, wearing, and aging differently than the rest...

One thing for sure... It's gunna look much better than what ya got goin' on right now... Perfect undetectable repair??? Highly improbable.... Pretty darn good repair not noticed by the casual observer??? Very likely!

[La Porte Rouge]

We have a small section of sole that is discolored and delaminating, and found that a small throw rug solved the problem.

Seriously, I need to repair/replace my sole, but haven't done so because it is very thin and curls up at the outer edges (this was by design). I was given a complete sole from a Catalina 36, but can't use any of it because it is too thick. I did refinish a piece of it and it came out beautiful, so if anyone can use a piece of Catalina sole, let me know. I'm in Baton Rouge.

[HappyMdRSailor]

A PS to my thoughts.... Replace and finish to match, and then refinish the entire sole with a UV resistant product... This way the whole thing ages and wears similar...