Eloi,

For the nav station, I made some duplicate drawer fronts out of African Mahogany and stained them to match. I used these to cover the old holes and then made new cuts as needed. I matched the size and color of the drawer panel for constituency, but I guess an size would do.

This is how the SSB looks. The old GPS hole was too big, so I made a panel. Then, I cut out the new panel per the SSB specs.

With best regards,

Mark

Skipper

Sailing Vessel - Cream Puff

www.creampuff.us

Thanks for your ideas, both solutions look great.  Any idea for the interior (above the chart table)?

Eloi

Matt,

That looks really nice!

With best regards,

Mark

Skipper

Sailing Vessel - Cream Puff - SM2K - #275

Currently cruising - Tahiti, French Polynesia

www.creampuff.us

Lovely job!

We are in the middle of doing the same refit.

Looked at several different materials and settled on King Starboard.  You can get just about any color, size and thickness you want. 

We went with black, intentionally trying to contrast with the original helm color.  The thickness used was 3/8 inch.  The finish is matte, so we minimize glare.  The material is stable and can be worked with standard work working tools.

Matt
Talia SM#208   

Hi Matt,

Sourcing the wood is not difficult. African Mahogany is used in furniture building and by wood hobbyists. There are online stores such as https://www.woodworkerssource.com/ or retail outlets like https://www.woodcraft.com/

I had difficulty finding it in the thickness I wanted. Since I do not own a planer, I wanted it to be as close as possible to the desired thickness: 3/8” or 10mm. I found that most of the managers at the wood hobby shops are die-hard woodworkers. For a small fee, one offered to plane the plank I purchased to the thickness.

For the coloring, it is trial and error. If you mess up, no big deal, give it a good sand and try again. Best to have a couple of waste pieces to get the technique down. Here are the products I used:

You will need to feather the stain. Add dark streaks first (red mahogany) to match the Amel grain, and wipe away excess quickly. Then, use a gold or pecan to bring out the lighter side. Blend stains if needed.  Finish with semi-gloss polyurethane.

With best regards,

Mark

Skipper

Sailing Vessel - Cream Puff - SM2K - #275

Currently cruising - Tahiti, French Polynesia

www.creampuff.us

Mark,

You have inspired me.  My panels look like Swiss cheese right now, while I figure out a solution.  

What was your process for stain matching?
Did you source your African Mahogany in the US? Source?

Thank you for the sharing.  Beautiful work.

Matt
SV Talia SM#208