Refinishing interior wood panels

[Carpediem44DB]

Has anyone ever undertaken changing the color of the interior wood work of a mid sized yacht? I have an opportunity to get into the perfect for us Carver 530. It is highly upgraded, mid time, custom hardtop and all navonics have been updated. Two problems the boat has.
The interior is bleached oak which my wife really dislikes and the boat is in Whitier Alaska!
I think the voyage to CA from AK would be the bucket list check off of a life time but sanding and staining the wood work to darken the interior I fear would be just to large of an undertaking and the chances of it coming out well is pretty low. Has anyone seen it done effectively?
Carpe Diem

 

[Blueone]

I have seen some pretty incredible veneer retrofits... you need to find a local refit outfit and look at their work.
If you found the perfect boat and bucket list trip home....color is at the bottom of the list.... plus your wife might like it after a 3 week trip home

 

[Carpediem44DB]

Believe me , three weeks running in open water ain't on her bucket list at all! I'm thinking the expense of doing the whole interior would be just too prohibitive. The good news is we have a few months to keep looking. I have an idea that boats in the PNW don't turn over much in the winter months any way.
CD

 

[Blueone]

Believe me , three weeks running in open water ain't on her bucket list at all! I'm thinking the expense of doing the whole interior would be just too prohibitive. The good news is we have a few months to keep looking. I have an idea that boats in the PNW don't turn over much in the winter months any way.
CD

LOL...I forgot about the toilet paper roll issue

 

[PlayDate]

Has anyone ever undertaken changing the color of the interior wood work of a mid sized yacht? I have an opportunity to get into the perfect for us Carver 530. It is highly upgraded, mid time, custom hardtop and all navonics have been updated. Two problems the boat has.
The interior is bleached oak which my wife really dislikes and the boat is in Whitier Alaska!
I think the voyage to CA from AK would be the bucket list check off of a life time but sanding and staining the wood work to darken the interior I fear would be just to large of an undertaking and the chances of it coming out well is pretty low. Has anyone seen it done effectively?
Carpe Diem

If you find the right boat....refinishing the interior is no more complicated than refinishing a home kitchen. Every year we have 4-5 customers who do "color changes" on their boat interiors. The last one was a 54' in BVI where the owners wanted a different color scheme (laminate, carpeting and bunting).

The only thing to insist upon is laminates suitable for a marine environment. The combination of high/low temperatures and humidity wreck havoc on real wood veneers.

It gives you and the wife a chance to personalize the boat in a way that makes it your own. Once upon a time color changes were only commonly done to $10m+ yachts. That trend has found its way on to boats worth $100k where the interiors are damaged or dated.

In my opinion (I'm biased ) it is one of the best things to do when you find the boat of your dreams.

A few more thoughts.....the cost of a color change usually has three major cost components: Laminate removal and installation, Carpet removal and installation and Upholstery. Of the three, Carpet is the easiest followed by Laminate then Upholstery. Just like your kitchen.....you just need a plan, find competent people to do the work and stick to it.

The real cost is in the labor not the materials. A Laminate color change on a 50' boat is about $4k in materials but the labor will run up to 10-14 days depending on the experience they have working on a boat. The same can be said for carpeting and upholstery.

 

[Henry Boyd]

John,
Do you remove old laminate, or attach new over a properly prepared surface? Do you have to remove the built in things to attach the replacements?

 

[KevinC]

While I have not used it; I did read about impressive results with 3M DI-NOC wraps:
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company...select=8710037+8710647+8710818+8729468&rt=rud

-Kevin

 

[PlayDate]

John,
Do you remove old laminate, or attach new over a properly prepared surface? Do you have to remove the built in things to attach the replacements?

Henry,

Great question. The only surface we found that we could successfully laminate on top of is the hard Formica used during the 1980s and 1990s by Sea Ray and a host of other manufacturers .....if it is in good shape. The laminates used by Sea Ray post Formica was .040" thick and took a cold forming machine to put it in place. The application of the contact cement was inconsistent for a number of years which caused the glue to release in high temps/humid environments.

The good news is that this laminate, made then by Vitricor, peels right off leaving a paper residue that covers the old adhesive that can be easily sanded off. Generally, it takes a day (or two) to peel the old Vitricor laminate off and prep the surface.

When we did the work ourselves 8 years ago...we would take all the drawer faces and cabinet doors off the boat to refinish them. If the cabinet frames could be disassembled we would take them as well. Some won't fit through the hatchway so it was easier to laminate them in place. The reason for taking them off the boat was to minimize the cleanup and better manage the grain pattern so that it lined up with the surrounding laminate. Sanding machines and laminate routers make a mess plus the solvent based contact cement we used would get the workers high regardless of how many fans we used.

As a reference.....90% of any color change was done off the boat then reinstalled. Off boat work usually was only two days of work. That also allowed the carpet flooring guys to do their install so no damage was done to the new laminate.

98% of the laminate we sell is .020" thickness instead of .040" (we also sell .125" thickness). The problem with anything thicker than .020" is radius bends and it is not installation friendly. Also it is really expensive to ship 4'x8' sheets flat where as we can roll the .020 material and ship it anywhere in the world.

We are on our 4th generation of marine laminate from Nuvacor. Nuvacor has the patents and tech to produce most of the finishes Sea Ray used prior to switching to Lignapal in 2004. Restoration Marine is Nuvacor's wholesaler for marine applications.

With the Lignapal issues (2004-2009) of chipping and delaminating now becoming an ownership and resale issue, we now find ourselves proposing color changes in Sea Ray models made from 2004-2009. So far, we have provided material to do color changes on two SR Lignapal boats. Allegedly, it is more difficult to remove the Lignapal but the process is the same. The hardest part is still finding reliable contractors locally to do the work (or DIY owners).

Probably too much information!