Raising the Roof

April 16, 2016  Hours spent building to date:  2,401

The deckhouse roof has three layers — an inner layer of real wood about 1/4 inch thick next to the beams, a layer of 1/4-inch plywood, then glass.  Choosing the inner layer was a tough job, since it has to complement and set off the mahogany beams.

I wanted to use real boards with some kind of tongue-and-groove, beaded, wainscoting effect, but all I could find were too thick.  By the time they were planed down, the tongues and grooves would have disappeared.  I could have manufactured strips myself with some kind of edge detailing, but that would take about a week of sawing, planing and installation.   I explained all this to a local lumberyard with a big millwork shop, and they suggested plywood backed “bead board.”  I know I looked skeptical, since the stuff I’d seen at Home Depot looked kind of thin and cheesy — basement “rec room” quality.  But they suggested I go take a look — it was clear white pine on a thicker than normal backing with beads about 5/16 wide and boards just over two inches wide, with a “ship lap” joint to hide the seam.

It really looked pretty good and at $38 a sheet was about $500 under budget.  So I trimmed it down to rough size and Ray came over to help me hoist it onto the boat.  It really looks good and will be a lot better when painted.  This product is almost good enough to be stained and varnished, but with all the other interior varnish, that would be overkill. I’m going for a “Herreshoff” interior — varnished wood on trim, drawer fronts, door rails and stiles, everything else off white.

We’ve been testing paint colors all along, and if you’re interested, the off white is Benjamin Moore “Mayonnaise.”  The hull is a light gray, Interlux “Seattle Gray”  and the topsides are TotalBoat “Oyster.”

Fitting a roof panel.

Samson raises last panel

Dry fit completed.

Roof from inside. Tight fit, should look great when painted.