Fix cracked wood ?????

[seadated]

I recently posted about painting wood.

My storage units on my boat are mahogany and I plan to strip all the urethane off prior to painting.

My question is, The tops of each storage unit is cracked down the middle (they joined to pieces of mahogany and that is were the seperation is.)

If I plan on priming, painting and clear coating what is the best method for fisxing the crack so it does not come through or crack back out if it gets bumpy on the ocean????

Being in construction my first thought is spanning the crack on the under side with a piece of 3/4" plywood and glue and screw it, then adding a layer of fiberglass mat and resin the entire piece (on the underside)

Anyones thoughts ?? Am I on the right track ??

thank you

[Donn]

Cap'n Phil,

How important is restoring it to original to you?

"The tops of each storage unit is cracked down the middle (they joined to pieces of mahogany and that is were the seperation is.)"

I read this to mean that each top is made of two mahogany planks, joined at edges. If that's correct, and you want her original, then you need to redo thise edge joints.

If original isn't important, you can certainly do it the way you describe, although I'm not sure what benefit you'd get from fiberglassing the bottom.

Got any pictures of this Hatteras for us power boat addicts?

[Jack Heinlen]

If you could stand to lose a little width, you could take them apart, re-joint(careful to lose as little width as possible) and reglue.

How are they made? The bad joint could be due to two things that come to mind: improper jointing/gluing when made, or, if they have backing battens these might have been installed without slotting the screw holes, thus restricting the movement of the wood.

I don't have a really clear picture of the problem.

[Ed Harrow]

Phil, the folks here need visual stimulation, nothing else will do LOL.

[Jack Heinlen]

No, I think a better verbal description and I could give some good advice. A hinged lid, how wide? Battens? Questions like that.

[ 10-21-2003, 08:39 PM: Message edited by: Jack Heinlen ]

[seadated]

Let me explain allitle further. And sorry I don't know how to down load pix yet.

Both storage units are about 4' long, 4' tall and 18" wide. One is a true storage cabinet w/ side door and the other has drawers and sink, The door to the salon is in the middle. The wood has been urethaned and has started to peel off, and allowing water to pond on top and eventually seep through.( I believe it was done wrong from the start).

Since I plan on stripping and painting the storage units( cabinets), with awlgrip or equal I don't want the old seam (joined pieces of mahgony ) to come apart.
The joined pieces are approx 9 inched each (seam obviosly in the middle, I don't know if the were pinned, dowed, biscuit joined or what)

This is why I thought about the layer of glass underneath to help prevent the board from pulling apart after I join them with the plywood like I said in the beginning.

With that being said, the boat is a 73 and in decent shape but the glass is very faded, crazing, cracking nics and dings so I am slowwwly going to bring her back to new, so I figured I would start with the cabinets and work into the cock pit and eventually complete the entire boat.

I have teak covering boards on the gunnels which are kept oiled and they look nice. the door to the salon needs help, thats a later question

I want to keep just the door all natural ( but urethaned) and the covering boards natural.

I hope that made sence !!!!

Ps. The salon door is milky in color some areas, I plan on taking in off and stripping and sanding the entire door. I want to preserve the look of the Mahogany. After it has been prepped what is the best material or process to use to keep it looking new, I like it to be glossy.
Is a marine clear coat the best, urethane ?????

Thanks for all of your help,
This is an awesome site.

[Jack Heinlen]

Okay, so what you are talking about is a top, made of two pieces of mahogany glued together, then fastened to the top of a cabinet, just like a shore-side cabinet. Yes? No battens, it doesn't hinge?

It isn't anything but poorly glued and/or improperly fastened down. The era was before biscuit jointers and one wouldn't pin such a piece. It has problems in either the glue joint or the way the pieces were fastened to the cabinets, or both.

How to fix it...Hm, let me think on it.

It's difficult to know your experience, the actual pieces, and how involved you want to get. I'd, from what I can understand, take the tops apart, re-joint them, reglue them and figure out how to make a moving joint to the cabinet. That would be the right way, along with varnish rather than paint. But you sound in a hurry.

[Mike Vogdes]

If your gonna just paint it anyway why not just remove the mohagany and replace with marine ply and 6oz cloth and epoxy? It will give you a much better base for Awlgrip and hold up better.

[Bob Smalser]

Sounds like the glue joint between the edgejoined boards failed because the 18"-wide solid top of flatsawn boards expanded/contracted to the point where the fasteners holding it down prevented it's contraction...once the finish deteriorated the wood became more athletic.....something had to give and fortunately it was the glue joint and not the wood.

Simple fix. Remove top, break the joint apart using water and a heat gun or a steam box, let dry, touch edges lightly on a jointer for a fresh face, and reglue/clamp using poly or epoxy glue. No dowels or biscuits required if you clamp it correctly. Should be enuf overhang on the cabinet to allow taking a 16th off with no problems....otherwise ya gotta splice in a strip of wood. Don't try to reglue the joint w/o refacing first.

To prevent it cracking again, the top needs to be mounted so's the boards can move a bit. Easiest way in a marine environment is to mount the top with 4 wood "buttons."

Make 4 buttons per top from 2/4 durable hardwood stock 1" wide and 2" long. Rabbet one end half it's thickness for a depth of half inch or so. Rout a 3/16 - 1/4" or so groove with a slotting cutter with the top of the groove a half inch or so from the top of the cabinet end uprights so that the end of your rabbeted buttons will fit into with a firm but sliding fit. Fasten the buttons to the underside of your tops so they fit the grooves using marine-grade screws....and only one screw if you jam the buttons tight in the corner like in the pic...those corner buttons can skew if they have to.

Play with it so your top is a solid fit yet the buttons will still move in the grooves with some force...for a tight fit a touch of candle or canning wax in the groove will help.

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/2594265/36332508.jpg

Woodworkers suppliers sell mild steel hardware for this purpose, but it will rust and cause stains.

No need to paint or fabric it if you prefer varnish...allow that flat top some room to move and it will never crack again....no need to replace real wood with manufactured.

An alternative method is to affix cleats to the cabinet ends on the inside...using glue or screws....the cleats drilled with vertical slots rather than holes for your marine-grade screws to mount the top...the slots being tight enuf to hold the mounting screws yet allow them to slide a bit, again with the help of a little wax. They don't make a router bit for this I can find....drill two holes an inch apart with a correctly-sized tapered countersink bit and connect them with veiner bit and chisel, thus forming your slot. I find this method slower than buttons.

[ 10-22-2003, 06:53 PM: Message edited by: Bob Smalser ]

[seadated]

You sound like you have done this before.

I will probably go that route.

Thank you for the input, everyone , I will see how it works.

I know this is a wooden boat forum, so it is nice to have some help from you guys, for us POWER BOAT FISHERMAN TYPE.

[Bob Smalser]

You sound like you have done this before.

Oh....once or twice. My pleasure to contribute.