maple cabinets getting hazy

Sun&moon34Ray

New Member
Feb 26, 2020
1
Salem ohio
Boat Info
2001 searay 340 sundancer
Engines
7.4 mpi mercruiser v drives
what can be done if anything with the maple cabinets in my 2000 sundancer 340 that look hazy
 
what can be done if anything with the maple cabinets in my 2000 sundancer 340 that look hazy

In my '98 we have the birdseye maple and I use only a slightly damp rag to clean the surface. You might re-evaluate what you are using to wipe them down. They are very sensitive to cleaning products. I know if the damage is already done this won't help, but maybe somebody else might learn something. One thing you can try is waxing an area and see if it helps... Entire cabinet re-surfacing will cost thousands of dollars.
 
All excellent points. If the problem is a milky haze....the laminate is beginning to separate from the subsurface.

Here is an example 1:
rs=w:1300,h:800


This is mildew example 2:

rs=w:1300,h:800


In either case, the laminate must be removed and replaced. It cannot be reattached. We have been selling the laminates that Sea Ray used for 12 years and it frequently comes down to whether you want to keep the boat or sell it.

Half of the calls we receive at Restoration Marine are people looking to buy boats that have these problems and are looking for an estimate to use to "knock down" the Seller's price. Eventually the owner pays for it one way or the other.

In regards to the price....it comes down to who does the work. The materials are about 50% of the costs and the rest is labor. We sell our laminate to marine contractors, Marine Max, Sea Ray and boat owners. Probably 50% of the boat owners take on the installation themselves if they are handy with woodworking or handling laminates with excellent results.

Last year we had several boat owners purchase laminates for a complete color change on their boats. In most cases the original finish had some damage in areas (or was no longer available) but the owners wanted to update the rest of their interior as well (carpet, flooring and surface coverings). If you use your boat a lot it can make sense since it is usually far cheaper than upgrading a residential kitchen.
 
I would like to educate everyone on laminate but some on here will disagree especially people who charge for restoration work but considering I've been working with laminate since 1971 and owned my own custom cabinet shop for the last 30 years I got a little experience with it, so laminate is made up of thin layers of paper with a color sheet, then a sheet with the grain pattern and finally the top layer which is a piece of clear plastic, this then goes into a oven and heated an goes into a press and is pressed together under pressure. All laminate comes out with with a gloss finish, if the finish is satin then the laminate has been sanded to obtain that finish. The outside clear sheet on laminate is porus to some degree which is why you have to be careful with it. Some things affect it more than others. Shops all use lacquer thinner to clean the glue off of it. The hazing is more than likely moisture getting under the clear for a number of reasons. Unused laminate has a shelf life on how long its good to work with which varies with how it is stored. It gets brittle which means it will crack easy and it will start to bow from moisture getting it to it from the back side from moisture because its not cleared. There are 3 grades of laminate, 1-verticle grade which is used for cabinet faces usually 1/32" thick, 2-post forming which is used for rolled counter top or any other rolled edge items and 3-standard grade 1/16" thick which is used for flat surface counter tops. Price wise verticle is least expensive up to standard being most expensive. The are many companies making laminate with Wilson Art being one of the better in quality which is one of the brands you will see at Lowes or Home Depot. The laminate in your see ray boats is supplied for just them or the companies that make their casework ( cabinets ) which is why its so hard to get and also why they charge so much. Some off the prices I see on here are just out of sight!! If you want to change the color in your boat you can order laminate from Lowes or Home Depot in any of their woodgrain colors and you can get them in gloss or satin or go to a cabinet shop and get them to order it. I don't know what Lowes or Home Depot charges but my cost for verticle grade is $2 a square foot for colors $2.20 / sq ft for gloss wood grain last I checked which works out to $64 for a 4 x 8 sheet to $70 for gloss. Also some people are going to tell you there stuff is marine grade which is bs according to all my suppliers. One last thing is do not use the contact cement you can get at Lowe or Home Depot as its water or chlorine based and is JUNK!! You need To go to a cabinet shop and get solvent based which is basicly dissolved rubber products in a lacquer solvent which can't be sold to the private user because of the flamability of it and it will get you high as a kite without ventalation. Hope this helps and clears up things for everyone.
 
I would like to educate everyone on laminate but some on here will disagree especially people who charge for restoration work but considering I've been working with laminate since 1971 and owned my own custom cabinet shop for the last 30 years I got a little experience with it, so laminate is made up of thin layers of paper with a color sheet, then a sheet with the grain pattern and finally the top layer which is a piece of clear plastic, this then goes into a oven and heated an goes into a press and is pressed together under pressure. All laminate comes out with with a gloss finish, if the finish is satin then the laminate has been sanded to obtain that finish. The outside clear sheet on laminate is porus to some degree which is why you have to be careful with it. Some things affect it more than others. Shops all use lacquer thinner to clean the glue off of it. The hazing is more than likely moisture getting under the clear for a number of reasons. Unused laminate has a shelf life on how long its good to work with which varies with how it is stored. It gets brittle which means it will crack easy and it will start to bow from moisture getting it to it from the back side from moisture because its not cleared. There are 3 grades of laminate, 1-verticle grade which is used for cabinet faces usually 1/32" thick, 2-post forming which is used for rolled counter top or any other rolled edge items and 3-standard grade 1/16" thick which is used for flat surface counter tops. Price wise verticle is least expensive up to standard being most expensive. The are many companies making laminate with Wilson Art being one of the better in quality which is one of the brands you will see at Lowes or Home Depot. The laminate in your see ray boats is supplied for just them or the companies that make their casework ( cabinets ) which is why its so hard to get and also why they charge so much. Some off the prices I see on here are just out of sight!! If you want to change the color in your boat you can order laminate from Lowes or Home Depot in any of their woodgrain colors and you can get them in gloss or satin or go to a cabinet shop and get them to order it. I don't know what Lowes or Home Depot charges but my cost for verticle grade is $2 a square foot for colors $2.20 / sq ft for gloss wood grain last I checked which works out to $64 for a 4 x 8 sheet to $70 for gloss. Also some people are going to tell you there stuff is marine grade which is bs according to all my suppliers. One last thing is do not use the contact cement you can get at Lowe or Home Depot as its water or chlorine based and is JUNK!! You need To go to a cabinet shop and get solvent based which is basicly dissolved rubber products in a lacquer solvent which can't be sold to the private user because of the flamability of it and it will get you high as a kite without ventalation. Hope this helps and clears up things for everyone.
Thanks
 
I would like to educate everyone on laminate but some on here will disagree especially people who charge for restoration work but considering I've been working with laminate since 1971 and owned my own custom cabinet shop for the last 30 years I got a little experience with it, so laminate is made up of thin layers of paper with a color sheet, then a sheet with the grain pattern and finally the top layer which is a piece of clear plastic, this then goes into a oven and heated an goes into a press and is pressed together under pressure. All laminate comes out with with a gloss finish, if the finish is satin then the laminate has been sanded to obtain that finish. The outside clear sheet on laminate is porus to some degree which is why you have to be careful with it. Some things affect it more than others. Shops all use lacquer thinner to clean the glue off of it. The hazing is more than likely moisture getting under the clear for a number of reasons. Unused laminate has a shelf life on how long its good to work with which varies with how it is stored. It gets brittle which means it will crack easy and it will start to bow from moisture getting it to it from the back side from moisture because its not cleared. There are 3 grades of laminate, 1-verticle grade which is used for cabinet faces usually 1/32" thick, 2-post forming which is used for rolled counter top or any other rolled edge items and 3-standard grade 1/16" thick which is used for flat surface counter tops. Price wise verticle is least expensive up to standard being most expensive. The are many companies making laminate with Wilson Art being one of the better in quality which is one of the brands you will see at Lowes or Home Depot. The laminate in your see ray boats is supplied for just them or the companies that make their casework ( cabinets ) which is why its so hard to get and also why they charge so much. Some off the prices I see on here are just out of sight!! If you want to change the color in your boat you can order laminate from Lowes or Home Depot in any of their woodgrain colors and you can get them in gloss or satin or go to a cabinet shop and get them to order it. I don't know what Lowes or Home Depot charges but my cost for verticle grade is $2 a square foot for colors $2.20 / sq ft for gloss wood grain last I checked which works out to $64 for a 4 x 8 sheet to $70 for gloss. Also some people are going to tell you there stuff is marine grade which is bs according to all my suppliers. One last thing is do not use the contact cement you can get at Lowe or Home Depot as its water or chlorine based and is JUNK!! You need To go to a cabinet shop and get solvent based which is basicly dissolved rubber products in a lacquer solvent which can't be sold to the private user because of the flamability of it and it will get you high as a kite without ventalation. Hope this helps and clears up things for everyone.


No issues with the points you make.

Most of our customers want to pick something Sea Ray used not something that came from Home Depot or Lowes. The reason is simply resale. Pick a cabinet finish that Sea Ray didn't use and when you go to sell it becomes another discount item no matter how nice it looks. It may not matter to a boat buyer looking at a 1980s boat but it still matters from the 1990s up. There was a reason Sea Ray designed beautiful proprietary cabinet finishes for its interiors and it had nothing to do with selling laminate in the aftermarket.

I think Home Depot/Lowes is great for carpeting and flooring.

I agree with you on the contact cement but we can't even ship solvent based cement anymore. UPS and FedEx consider it hazardous cargo and EPA wants to ban it all together.
We used to have ours specially blended by 3M and they no longer will do it.

The last point is that we are on the 4th generation of the laminates we carry. Every sheet is made to order and while some of the process remains the same we no longer use paper to provide the "grain" image. Our thicknesses are .020", .040" and .125" with different top coatings depending on the applications.

We too have been in the business a long time and we only focus on boats.
 

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