I've been busy the last month! We have been considering replacing the original carpet since we got the boat. We decided on Lonseal. I got some quotes to have the work done. It seemed expensive. I decided that tackle the project myself. I recruited a hard working craftsman, Destry Lewis, who wanted to get started in the marine business. He did not have marine experience but knew how to build. His work and ideas on problem solving were top notch. It was a lot of work but turned out great. Here are some things we learned:
1. Layout takes some planning. Line up all the holly lines. We laid it out so holly lines missed hatch trim as much as possible.
I bought 40 linear feet (6'wide) of Lonseal and ended up with very little left over. There is a little waste when lining up the holly for stairs, etc. We used a roll of heavy cardboard for making templates to cut the Lonseal. This was very helpful. It also was useful to protect work areas.
2. The Lonseal was laid using west systems epoxy. The Lonseal customer service folks were very helpful.
Mix small batches of epoxy and thicken. We used fast hardener because we wanted to be able to walk on it sooner. It got a little exciting with not much working time. For the larger areas there were 3 of us, mixing spreading and rolling out.
3. Make sure you roll out to remove bubbles, then do it again, then do it again.
4. None the of the hatches were square. We set the port side wall of the hall as our reference and brought everything to "square" off of that.
5. We cut, shimmed and added to the existing hatches to get them square. It would have probably been easier and cheaper to just cut new hatches.
6. We removed tons of staples and scraped the glue residue. We laid 1/4" sanded plywood over the existing 3/4" original floor and glued it down with epoxy with finish nails to hold it in place. It definitely stiffened the floor as well as providing a smooth surface. The 3/4" is pretty bouncy.
7. Lonseal telegraphs anything underneath. The floor was uneven in places. We should have spent more time sanding the 3/4" level before laying the 1/4". Level the areas and clean them. Then clean them again before laying the Lonseal. We only ended up with one "seed" in the PH which we removed by lifting and relaying before the epoxy kicked.
8. It is best to finish all trim ahead of time. We used a satin heavy duty floor urethane for all the trim. Originally we used clear epoxy as "varnish". It has a gloss sheen and did not look right.
9. The trim is all teak. The hatches are trimmed with 1/4"X 1" strips. The stair bull nose is 1.5" or 2". All trim is epoxied and nailed. The epoxy was thickened with teak dust so squeeze out matched. We also smeared the same colored epoxy all along the Lonseal teak edge to seal it. Residual epoxy on the Lonseal cleans up nicely with alcohol on a rag before it hardens.
10. The trim should be set a little proud of the Lonseal. I'm talkin 1/32-1/64". There are a couple of areas where it ended up slightly below the Lonseal. I will keep an eye on those areas for Lonseal wear. I may have to remove the trim and install new if it ends up as a problem.
11. We used 1/2" spacers in laying out the hatches prior to installing trim.
12. It's almost always easier to remove a little wood than it is to add. We ended up rounding the hatch corners a bit much. If I did it over I would leave them a little more square. We also relieved the exposed edges a bit. It turned out nicely.
13. I'm in the process of installing 1x1 hatch cleats which will facilitate the hatches lining up perfectly.
14. I hinged the ultility room hatch utilizing a flush mounted butt hinge. After finishing the hatch and lining everything up, we used a router to recess the hinge part. Then we screwed down the hinge and cut the Lonseal. Peeled it up and the hinge is mounted almost flush.
15. We used a similar process for the hatch pulls. I installed a pull in the center hatch and one of the outside port hatches. Note my boat has two small hatches to provide access outboard of the port motor.
16. The hatches and their landings needed to be shimmed/adjusted so the hatches laid flat. We had to kerf the center hatch because it was "humped" in the center. We made (6) 1/2" cuts, put a weight to flatten and worked in thickened epoxy. Great now.
17. We also hinged the bottom step of the stairs going up to the PH. Seems like it should have been easy but probably added a day of work. I discovered the flux gate compass is mounted behind the second stair so that will probably limit what the storage can be used for.
18. The PH was probably the most difficult area to cut. We only have one seam. The preferred way to cut a seam is to overlay the two pieces of Lonseal and cut through both at the same time. Because of the PH configuration, we could not figure out how to do this and keep the holly lined up with the stairs and have the Lonseal extend all the way to the edges of the PH. Destry ended up doing this part and he just made sure to cut very straight using a straight edge. The seam is virtually invisible.
19. I have not yet figured out how to finish the Lonseal edge in the PH. Lonseal recommends sealing the edge. I have found a caulk that matches color. I tried it on the small piece port side. It was very tedious. it turned out fair. I was thinking about mixing colored epoxy and using a syringe to lay a bead along the edge then allowing the epoxy to self level. It will end up shiny. I'm not sure what I'm going to do here.
20. I lived aboard for most of the project. It was a construction site for about three weeks. My friend, Chris, known on BOC as Fiftybucks, came out to help for 4-5 days. A true friend!
21. I've been asked about how much time? I estimate about 400 man hours went into it all in. That includes time for removing original carpet, staples, glue. That took about 30 man hours. No kidding
22. I ended up leaving the settee in. I tried hard removing it. Even got my hydraulic jack out. I could get it "loose" but could not get it out. Three of us tried. Something was binding it in place and I did not want to damage it. It would have made the job easier if it was removed but I just wanted to get on with it.
23. I think the Lonseal product is excellent and will wear very well. Better than wood with a urethane finish. But, wood can also be refinished. It would have been much easier something without the teak and holly pattern. Lining up the holly lines was time consuming. Possible ideas to make the project easier would be to use 1/4" plywood with the desired veneer then finish like any wood floor. I estimate doing that would have saved 50 hours minimum. Maybe more. Another idea would be to use 1/4" thick wood planks laid just like a wood floor.
I edited and added some comments. That's all I can think of at present. I will update as I think of other items that may be helpful to others. Here are some pics of finished areas. I also have some pics during the project if that would be useful to anyone. If anyone is contemplating reflooring and wants to talk about it shoot me a PM and we can talk by phone. If you are in the Bay Area Maybe we could get together.
1. Layout takes some planning. Line up all the holly lines. We laid it out so holly lines missed hatch trim as much as possible.
I bought 40 linear feet (6'wide) of Lonseal and ended up with very little left over. There is a little waste when lining up the holly for stairs, etc. We used a roll of heavy cardboard for making templates to cut the Lonseal. This was very helpful. It also was useful to protect work areas.
2. The Lonseal was laid using west systems epoxy. The Lonseal customer service folks were very helpful.
Mix small batches of epoxy and thicken. We used fast hardener because we wanted to be able to walk on it sooner. It got a little exciting with not much working time. For the larger areas there were 3 of us, mixing spreading and rolling out.
3. Make sure you roll out to remove bubbles, then do it again, then do it again.
4. None the of the hatches were square. We set the port side wall of the hall as our reference and brought everything to "square" off of that.
5. We cut, shimmed and added to the existing hatches to get them square. It would have probably been easier and cheaper to just cut new hatches.
6. We removed tons of staples and scraped the glue residue. We laid 1/4" sanded plywood over the existing 3/4" original floor and glued it down with epoxy with finish nails to hold it in place. It definitely stiffened the floor as well as providing a smooth surface. The 3/4" is pretty bouncy.
7. Lonseal telegraphs anything underneath. The floor was uneven in places. We should have spent more time sanding the 3/4" level before laying the 1/4". Level the areas and clean them. Then clean them again before laying the Lonseal. We only ended up with one "seed" in the PH which we removed by lifting and relaying before the epoxy kicked.
8. It is best to finish all trim ahead of time. We used a satin heavy duty floor urethane for all the trim. Originally we used clear epoxy as "varnish". It has a gloss sheen and did not look right.
9. The trim is all teak. The hatches are trimmed with 1/4"X 1" strips. The stair bull nose is 1.5" or 2". All trim is epoxied and nailed. The epoxy was thickened with teak dust so squeeze out matched. We also smeared the same colored epoxy all along the Lonseal teak edge to seal it. Residual epoxy on the Lonseal cleans up nicely with alcohol on a rag before it hardens.
10. The trim should be set a little proud of the Lonseal. I'm talkin 1/32-1/64". There are a couple of areas where it ended up slightly below the Lonseal. I will keep an eye on those areas for Lonseal wear. I may have to remove the trim and install new if it ends up as a problem.
11. We used 1/2" spacers in laying out the hatches prior to installing trim.
12. It's almost always easier to remove a little wood than it is to add. We ended up rounding the hatch corners a bit much. If I did it over I would leave them a little more square. We also relieved the exposed edges a bit. It turned out nicely.
13. I'm in the process of installing 1x1 hatch cleats which will facilitate the hatches lining up perfectly.
14. I hinged the ultility room hatch utilizing a flush mounted butt hinge. After finishing the hatch and lining everything up, we used a router to recess the hinge part. Then we screwed down the hinge and cut the Lonseal. Peeled it up and the hinge is mounted almost flush.
15. We used a similar process for the hatch pulls. I installed a pull in the center hatch and one of the outside port hatches. Note my boat has two small hatches to provide access outboard of the port motor.
16. The hatches and their landings needed to be shimmed/adjusted so the hatches laid flat. We had to kerf the center hatch because it was "humped" in the center. We made (6) 1/2" cuts, put a weight to flatten and worked in thickened epoxy. Great now.
17. We also hinged the bottom step of the stairs going up to the PH. Seems like it should have been easy but probably added a day of work. I discovered the flux gate compass is mounted behind the second stair so that will probably limit what the storage can be used for.
18. The PH was probably the most difficult area to cut. We only have one seam. The preferred way to cut a seam is to overlay the two pieces of Lonseal and cut through both at the same time. Because of the PH configuration, we could not figure out how to do this and keep the holly lined up with the stairs and have the Lonseal extend all the way to the edges of the PH. Destry ended up doing this part and he just made sure to cut very straight using a straight edge. The seam is virtually invisible.
19. I have not yet figured out how to finish the Lonseal edge in the PH. Lonseal recommends sealing the edge. I have found a caulk that matches color. I tried it on the small piece port side. It was very tedious. it turned out fair. I was thinking about mixing colored epoxy and using a syringe to lay a bead along the edge then allowing the epoxy to self level. It will end up shiny. I'm not sure what I'm going to do here.
20. I lived aboard for most of the project. It was a construction site for about three weeks. My friend, Chris, known on BOC as Fiftybucks, came out to help for 4-5 days. A true friend!
21. I've been asked about how much time? I estimate about 400 man hours went into it all in. That includes time for removing original carpet, staples, glue. That took about 30 man hours. No kidding
22. I ended up leaving the settee in. I tried hard removing it. Even got my hydraulic jack out. I could get it "loose" but could not get it out. Three of us tried. Something was binding it in place and I did not want to damage it. It would have made the job easier if it was removed but I just wanted to get on with it.
23. I think the Lonseal product is excellent and will wear very well. Better than wood with a urethane finish. But, wood can also be refinished. It would have been much easier something without the teak and holly pattern. Lining up the holly lines was time consuming. Possible ideas to make the project easier would be to use 1/4" plywood with the desired veneer then finish like any wood floor. I estimate doing that would have saved 50 hours minimum. Maybe more. Another idea would be to use 1/4" thick wood planks laid just like a wood floor.
I edited and added some comments. That's all I can think of at present. I will update as I think of other items that may be helpful to others. Here are some pics of finished areas. I also have some pics during the project if that would be useful to anyone. If anyone is contemplating reflooring and wants to talk about it shoot me a PM and we can talk by phone. If you are in the Bay Area Maybe we could get together.
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