I’m on a roll with the OEM cabinet interiors, and the stack of 1/8″ mahogany plywood is shrinking by the week. The salon aft cabinet and galley cabinet interior veneer panels are all cut. Next I took on the ugly salon forward cabinet.
The salon forward cabinet
I’ve wanted to get rid of the formica countertop for years
This is why I don’t like contact cement
You can see in the pic above that there’s very little surface area of the formica that was actually bonded to the plywood underlayment. On the edge, it wasn’t bonded at all. I’ve seen the same thing with interior paneling veneers on old Chris Crafts. It might look fine when it leaves the factory, but over time those unbonded edges come lose, condensation can get in between the panels and weaken the bond further. And that’s why I’ve been using the much more time-consuming process of using epoxy to bond veneer panels. I never want these things to let loose!
Bye-bye formica!
That’s one ugly cabinet interior
Looking down at the cabinet floor
Douglas fir marine plywood scrap levels the floor
Not bad!
Nice!
Nice joints!
The panels in the pic above are only held in with friction. That’s a ‘just right’ fit with the other panels. Once the panels are varnished and epoxied in place, the joints should look pretty good.
Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Varnished Mahogany Panels in the Aft Salon Cabinet
1969chriscraftroamer46 