Cabin Cruiser - Renovation

louloumc89

Hey! I just bought my first boat. My family have had boats for years, but nothing like this. It's a 35ft Foster cabin Cruiser. The good news is that it's got an almost brand new 65hp Nanny diesel engine (new, not just refurbished) in her, which I know is rare. She's got a pump out toilet, good upholstery all over. Loads of lesure batteries.

Bad news is that the top slides back and the device to tighten her is broken off, this is because it's really hard to get it to close fully on both sides, something off with the allignment, maybe a bit of warping.

Here's what I nend advice with!

1. Any ideas on what might be happening with the slide back roof and what to do about it would be great! I'm confident I can fix the winding mechanism, but that's a symptom, not the problem.

2. Exterior Painting. She's not in the original gel, but I'm only painting the top all the same. Do I sand her back just to smoothness, or do I take as much of the old paint off as possible. The last owner had bought €100 paint, that seems cheap. Any advice on paint to get?

3. Flooring. The floor is carpet right now. There are panels all over that have those metal silver borders and lift up. I hate the silver border around all the panels that lift up and I hate the carpet. I want to put down vinyl laminate. I had thought to screw off the silver borders and put the laminate in, in place of the carpet, and put the silver back on, but ideally I just want to cover the whole thing, corners and all. Any advice here? I know putting the laminate in under the silver borders in the panels that lift up would be the easiest thing, but I don't like them. If there's a way around it, that would be ideal. I even considered making new thinner borders for the boat, or taking some of the border off these. Or otherwise, just taking it off and gluing down the laminate directly on the wood. I'm not sure how the laminate would be against the rest of the floor when the panel is fitted though.

4. Kitchen. There is an old enough kitchen, not boat kitchen, just cheap refurb that was put in. I'm replacing the old chipboard counter with a new one, and painting the cabinets white. I also want to paint the wooden laminate walls in the kitchen white.

5. Interior Painting. I know it's best to keep the original inside, but I really want to paint all of the wood white. The laminate wooden walls themselves are in perfect condition, but the wood that joins the walls at corners etc needs to be sanded and painted. I know I'm crazy to paint the entire inside of an old cabin Cruiser white, but is there any way this can be a good idea? And do you have recommendations on paint for it? I'd also be open to covering the wood with sheets of something else (something white). I hate wooden walls, it really closes up the space.

6. General advice - it's my first boat, any general advice about maintenance and fixing her up would be super!

Ferris

Congrats on the new boat.

On the exterior painting, is the finish good i.e. was it sprayed? Is the boat ex-hire. Reason I ask is that frequently the hire companies sprayed them when they were new and the Gelcoat may be in good condition underneath. I have a sprayed boat but IMO clean shiny gelcoat is far superior, especially on the superstructure. The paint could be stripped back with wet and dry and paint stripper and polished up? Otherwise spraying in the only way to achieve a good finish.

On interior painting, for me I prefer a wood finish even if it is dated. I would change flooring/furnishings to brighten it up. Even so you have your preference and it is your boat. For me I thing that a lot of boats that are painted look shabby when everything is painted. However painting the panels white and varnishing the edgings / mouldings would look great and keeps it 'boaty' if you get me. Kinda like this thread

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?267637-My-Saloon-is-too-dark!!

Another approach is to line some panels (not all) with vinyl or carpet , again keeping the varnished edges. Carpet can look neat, and in light colours can brighten the interior. Vinyl does this too but can be expensive. Other thing with carpet is that it can reduce condensation BUT this means you probably need to think about using a dehumidifier when leaving the boat.

fergal.b

Hi and welcome, have a look through my sticky it answers a lot of your questions https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057583016



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