Bulkhead Progress

After a bit of a reprieve from normal New England temperatures this time of year, the thermometer has started to head down.  The temperature yesterday never got much above 38 degrees F, but unlike previous boat work years, I was able to get a bunch of work done down in the cabin with an electric heater and the hatches shut.  It was quite cozy.

Before installing the beadboard I put a coat of semi-gloss acrylic latex paint (good grade household interior paint) on the front and back of all the boards.  Once that dried, I picked up a few tubes of construction adhesive from the local hardware store and got to work.  A note on construction adhesives: there are so many different types I had trouble making a decision.  I hope what I chose will work; it's a general adhesive that should bond wood to multiple surface types so I'll cross my fingers.

The process for installing all the boards was simple. Lay each one down backside facing up and run a wavy pattern of adhesive along the back and then press into place.  Repeat until done.  I ended up using just 1 of the 3 tubes I purchased.  It was way easier than I thought it would be and didn't run into a single snag.  I had blocked off 2 hours of time to get it done, but found it only took about 30 minutes, so I ended up putting another coat of paint on before I left. 

After letting it set up overnight, I came back the next day and use a few pieces of paper to template the section around the chainplate bolts for a piece of mahogany.  I didn't want to put the beadboard there, because the soft wood would crush under the tightened down chainplate bolts.  I took the template back to the shop and cut out another piece of the old coamings and planed it down to 5/8". I traced out the template pattern and cut out the shape on the wood with a jig saw.  

I headed back to the boat with a rasp and the new chainplate board (I don't know what to call it) and after a bit of filing away, I had the board fitting nice and snug.  I screwed the rest of the trim (I still have a few small pieces left to make) and was happy to see that everything fit quite nicely.  Of course all the trim had to come off to get sanded and the first of several coats of satin varnish (I'm just using Helmsman Urethane for the interior) before final install, but it's looking more done than not now.  

So given that both bulkheads are almost identical in size, I can estimate now that for each bulkhead the cost breakdown is as follows: $14 per package of beadboard (used just shy of 1 package), $3 for each tube of construction adhesive (used 1), and $3 for a box of 25 3/4" stainless steel #6 screws (will be enough for both sides).  This brings my grand total for each side to about $18.50.  Of course, I had free trim mahogany so if I had needed to purchase it, I would say it would have probably doubled the price, but still one of the cheaper boat projects I can think of. 

A Cheap, Fun Project

Now that the boat is back in working condition and the topsides are squared away, it's time to turn my attention down below.  The interior was never in bad shape, but it needed a little updating.  The woodstove has been gone since I've owned the boat but I never bothered to patch up the hole in the bulkhead and the steel heat shield that was leftover.  It just looked a bit crappy and wanted to give the interior a more classic look.

The hole in the bulkhead had to be fixed but there weren't that many options that didn't require ripping the entire bulkhead out and replacing with a new one.  After a bunch of googling, I realized that I could simply cover the bulkhead and discovered that beadboard is commonly used in classic wooden yachts.  There were two options, beadboard plywood or real beadboard.  I've never been a huge fan of beadboard plywood and decided that it would be a bit of a pain to cut out and fit a big piece of plywood with lots of crazy angles and curves.

I found some solid pine beadboard at the local hardware store and decided to give it a try. I started in the center of the boat where the bulkhead meets the door to the head.  Using this as the 'straight' line, I measured the length with a tape measure and simply cut the board to fit it.  The boards are only 3/8" thick so it was easy to cut with a Japanese pull saw. Then it was just a matter of cutting the next one at an angle slightly shorter and generally following the contour of the headliner.  I ended up at the chainplate on the outboard edge of the bulkhead.  It didn't have to be perfect because the edges will be covered with a mahogany trim strip.

I really wanted to keep this project cheap because it's entirely cosmetic.  The total cost of the beadboard for both sides of the bulkhead was just $28, but I didn't really have a large supply of wood suitable for trim (ie. mahogany/sapele).  I considered going over to the sawmill to see what I could find, but realized that the old partially rotten cockpit coaming boards that I replaced were sitting on top of my woodpile holding down a tarp and might have some decent wood left in them. 

I cut a chunk out of it and ran it through the thickness planer and found that the wood was still in good shape once I planed off the front and back surfaces.  Excellent, free Honduras mahogany!  I proceeded to plane down the rest of the coamings and then cut out a bunch of 1 inch strips for the trim.

Some of the trim that ran along the cabin headliner needed to be curved so taped up a paper template in the cabin and trimmed it so it fit perfectly along the curves of the headliner.  Then I traced the pattern on a wide piece of the planed mahogany (I planed the old coamings to 3/8") and cut it out with a jig saw.  I took a rasp and rounded over one of the exposed edges and took it back over to the boat for a test fitting.  I was pleased to find that everything fit pretty darn well and I would only need to make some minor adjustments to have a perfect fit.

To finish up, I took all the cut beadboard and gave the front and back a coat of acrylic latex semi-gloss interior paint.  I wanted semi-gloss so it could be easily wiped down, but didn't feel it necessary to spend much money on marine paint.  House paint would do just fine for this since it won't be exposed to anything other than humid conditions.  

I ran out of weekend to get everything re installed, but I'm hoping I'll find some time this week.  My plan is to use some liquid nails on the beadboard backing along with some screws to get it fixed in place. Then I'll put some more paint on before getting the trim installed.