Side Deck Trim

The last part of our cabin re-trimming project was finishing under the side deck areas and around the chain-plate supports. We had ripped out all the naugahyde under the side decks at the same time we pulled it off the cabin sides. As we liked the look of the rigid painted panels we built to trim out the Bomon Windows , and because we particularly wanted better access to the genoa track fasteners (almost non-existent with the zippered vinyl) we went the same route for the side deck area. 

Building rigid enclosures for the chain-plate supports was way above our pay grade so, once again, we called on the services of Art Kleiner at The Boatsmith to help fabricate some of the necessary parts. 

Here are a couple of shots of the under deck area after the naugahyde had been removed.

This shows one of the clunky original incandescent light fixtures. We will install some more modern looking LED lights when we re-assemble. Four LED fixtures will use less power than one of these puppies!

This shot gives an idea of the condition of the original vinyl. All of the zip sliders were like this one, pulls broken off and bodies corroded to destruction......evidently Zamak doesn't do well in the marine environment. The vinyl itself had been sagging in various places due to the rusty, disintegrating staples.

To support the outboard edges of the new trim panels Art made a grooved ledger board. It had 'kerfs' cut along it so that it would bend to match the contours of the hull and could be aligned with the inboard edge of the panels at the turn of the deck under the windows.









To support the inboard edges of the panels, Art made a custom, 100 degree angled trim strip to run the full length of the cabin sides.

Art made some very attractive, rugged enclosures.They were quite intricate and 'Work of Art' took on a whole new meaning when we saw them. 

Here is the chain-plate cover having a trial fit.

In this one the inboard trim strip is in place. 











The ends of the panels are captured by  separate trim strips.

The strips also camouflage  the mess left by all the rusty staples!

Here we've re-mounted the hand rails and we're putting Reflectix insulation on the under deck area to help reduce some of the wintertime 'sweating' that we've seen in the past.

We glued the insulation to the deck with contact cement, stopping the adhesive at the genoa track fasteners, leaving a flap of material free to fold back for access to the fasteners as needed. 

Here we've got some paint on the panels, fitted some LED Fixtures and re-assembled everything.

As a side bar here, we were so impressed with the LED fixtures from PPL, price and lumens per milliamp etc., that we put a double unit in the galley. It lights up the whole cabin.

Looks OK huh? The last step will be replacing the vinyl trim welt and refinishing the original woodwork. 

Here is a look from the other direction. Keen eyed viewers will see the sagging vinyl above the inside of the hutch. Both port and starboard hutches have the same problem due to corroded and disintegrated zippers. Replacement panels for both sides are on 'The List'.