Conference unifix::sailing

The price of teak is never reasonable. My source (Boulter Plywood in 
Somerville) charges $7.95 per board foot, but in exchange you can pick 
your own boards from the pile. Quality is good.
     
The Gougeon Brothers boatbuilding book discusses how to install a teak 
deck by epoxying thin teak strips to the deck. The same technique would 
work well for a cabin sole.

I would suggest buying 3/4" or 7/8" thick teak boards to make you own 
planking. Rip into inch and a half wide boards, bandsaw the boards in 
half, and plane smooth. Holly is hard to find. You might try ash 
instead. Teak is heavy, so the thinner your planking, the lighter it 
will be. 5/16" or 3/8" would be amply thick, I think. 

This is likely to be a $200 to $400 project that will take many days to
complete, but you'll like the results (our cabin sole is solid teak with
holly strips installed at great expense by the factory). DO NOT varnish
the sole. It will be extremely slippery when wet if you do. Safety
first, then beauty.

    I havent purchased any teak for a while, but every time I have priced
    ANYTHING from Boulter Plywood it has been significantly more expensive
    there. Convience and selection may be worth a few bucks extra when
    you are only buying one board.
    
    I would check Palmer and Parker in Tewksbury. They had the best
    prices when last I bought Teak.
    

    There's also a place in Littleton Ma, on Taylor St. call Hard Wood
    and some-thing-or-other.  I don't know if they have teak but you
    might want to check if your close by.
    
    Tom
    

    Hi Jim!  Re:.2 and .3
      I've been looking for teak as well.  The place in Tewks is now
    called Holt and Bugbee.  Unfortunately they will not have any for
    another 90 days, so I'm told.  I checked NE Hardwood in LTN and
    they do not have any teak and only will special order it for large
    quantities.  The only place that has any is Somerville.  Let me
    know when you are going-we can go together and I can take my pickup
    if you're going to get some quantity.
    
    Joe
    

    Try Littlefield Lumber in Portsmouth no-sales-tax-NH. I haven't bought
    any teak there in a while... but as I recall the price pbf wasn't that
    bad. They're also a very good mill. If you ask them to mill to 7/8, it
    will be exactly 7/8!
    
    Gary...
    

    Another possibility is Hingham Boatworks in Hingham Shipyard. Don't
    have the numfber at work but you can get it from the operator. They
    should have a good supply in now. 
    
    I don't know about the quality of their work. They were very helpful
    (ie honest, straightforward) when I talked with them about building a
    grate for the cockpit.
    
    Ed 

See note 221.* for more "where to find wood" info.

Also the NOTES command DIRECT/TITLE=wood might find some more wood-related
references.

    Also note: Holt & Bugbee and Palmer & Parker are two different
    establishments, within about 1/2 mile of each other. P&P is more
    likely to have teak.
    
    Ross Faneuf
    

    Heres a different question about teak cabin soles. My center section
    comes up quite nicely. It is in 3 sections, each 36x15 inches. these
    puppies have a bit of heft to them. 
    
    Now then, How does one secure them. I am thinking about UFOs
    (Unintended Flying Objects) in rough seas or a rollover. Should there
    be a line attached to the bottom and secured to the bilge?
    
    
    

It's a good idea to secure them if they're heavy. If you don't open them very
often you could use screws. There are also some very nice flush latches
available, e.g. put a lip under one end to keep that end down, and install
a flush latch at the other end. The flush latches generally have a ring that
you lift to release them. I've never installed one of these latches, but
presumably you need a hole saw of the correct diameter to do it.

I think Boat US carries the flush latches. Probably also Bliss, etc.

--RS

I'm replacing some 1/4" teak plywood used in the interior of my sailboat.
 (It was damaged due to a leaking port and although now dry, is unsightly
 and beyond repair).

I've heard that this material can be bought in 4' x 8' sheets but I only
 need a fraction of that (18" X 48").

If I'm lucky, perhaps one of you in the greater Boston area may have a
 "reminant" that you'd be interested in selling.  If not, do any of the
 suppliers listed offer sheets for less than 4' x 8'? Or even better,
 would any one be interested in splitting a sheet?

A few years back I split the cost of a 4' x 8' sheet of 3/4" marine
 grade plywood with a friend. I still have much of the 4' x 4' section
 left if anyone's interested. 


Bill Corkum ("A Crewed Interest")
276-9499
STOWOA::CORKUM

    RE:.11 
    
    Bill,
    
    I just received a catalogue from Boulter (sp?) Plywood in Sommerville. 
    They advertise partial sheet prices for Teak playwood so I assume you
    can buy partial sheets.  I received my catalogoe by just calling and
    asking.
    
    btw; I got the pointer to Boulter from other notes in this file.
    
    good luck!
    
    John           
    

	I have just painted most of the teak interior of "Grace"
	by applying one coat of Cetol followed by two coats of
	satin finish polyurethane. Look great!

	The cabin sole and the companionway steps, I left
	alone as I don't want them slippery, 
	and now they look *really* shabby.

	Is there any non-skid solution?

		Mike

On my companionway steps, I used some of the sticky-back non-skid strips
intended for bathtubs. They work really well, and they look OK, too.
Just put your desired wood finish on first, then paste 'em on top of that.

You only need one or two narrow strips per tread to eliminate the hazard.
If you buy large ones, you can cut them down to the desired shape.

--RS

    One non-skid approach, which will cost a little money, is to add
    interlux's nonskid to the last coat of polyurthane. (SP?) I did this on
    my cabin sole and never had a problem. For the companion way ladder I
    used some of the English non-skid material. (Decking material one glues
    down). It is hard on the feet but you will not slip, at least that was
    my experience.
    
                      Bill                 

    I covered the step down from the companion way and the cabin
    teak floorboards that I had just refinished with a clear
    plastic carpet/floor runner.  The runner is ribbed so its not 
    slippery, it protects the floors and at 62 cents per foot from 
    Home Depot was pretty inexpensive.  Looks pretty nice too!
    
    Robyn