Graduate 2024 Innuendo Restoration - Part 3: Re-decking
by Andrew Wilford 17 Jun 2012 08:00 BST
Coating all surfaces with Epiglass on 'Innuendo' © Andrew Wilford
Re-decking
Having carefully coated all surfaces with Epiglass I discovered a small area of “soft” ply just aft of the rear bulkhead. This did not extend through to the outer skin so the top layers of ply were carefully “peeled” back and a new section of ply bonded in pace with resin.
I am NOT a boat builder and whilst the above was well within my scope I would not attempt to re-deck the boat… this work I entrusted to a professional! I thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted Sapelle decking or standard “Rose” cut veneers. Dave Butler’s words about a boat looking like an internal door constantly echoed in my head but the Sapelle won in the end! Sapelle with Maple inlays … sounds good to me!
Re-decked and ready for finishing
During this process (which proved particularly tricky) I wanted the decks to be secured WITHOUT using any pins try and hide all the “end grain” ply. Eventually this was achieved but not without rigging up all sorts of complicated “wedges” and “supports”!
When completed using contrasting strips of Maple and Mahogany the result certainly looked pleasing. The gunwales were laminated from four alternating strips of Mahogany and Maple. These are 40mm wide at the maximum tapering away at either end of the boat to virtually nothing.
Part 4: Epoxy coating, painting and varnishing can be found here