Plastic Classic Forum

Any body have experience rebuilding the interior of a boat. There is a Reliance 44 in my area that may have good bones but the interior was owner finished and it's not exactly shipwright quality. I have very mixed feeling about this. In one way it may be more work than just building an interior. First you have to remove what's there and then re-do it. On the other hand all the stuff is there. So it mostly time and elbow grease. I think?

I would figure in a little money as well. (note a little dry humor)

Quite the open ended question there. Like many subjects, you will find quite the resource here. We usually require a little more detail in order to give useful answers though. To start things off I will say the an interior refit on a 44 foot boat will likely be very expensive (time and money) even if the major systems are left intact. Materials and labor for the cosmetics aren't cheap.

Any body have experience rebuilding the interior of a boat.

There are a few people around...

In one way it may be more work than just building an interior. First you have to remove what's there and then re-do it. On the other hand all the stuff is there. So it mostly time and elbow grease. I think

Taking it apart will certainly add to the amount of work needed. The 'stuff' is there but if you don't like what you see in the finished project, you are probably not going to like what you see when you have the systems (stuff) all exposed. And then you have to match the old stuff with the new stuff which can become a huge PITA very quickly.

This is worth saying twice:

To start things off I will say the an interior refit on a 44 foot boat will likely be very expensive (time and money) even if the major systems are left intact. Materials and labor for the cosmetics aren't cheap.

I must agree with both replies. Not having done this before, I have the feeling it's a lot like doing a house renovation. It grows and grows and grows. Let me see if I can grab some pictures and post them.

I would not gut the interior in the Reliance 44 you are looking at, Instead i would add shiplath planking over the surfaces--teak or cherry or even ash would be very nice. I would also build a proper removable overhead instead of the painted fiberglass. Add a new cabin sole and you will have a very nice looking boat. If you rip everything out you will add years and much more complexity to the job.

David

okay, maybe not rip out everything, but build a more modern "finished" interior. I muse at the thought of taking the finish off the mahogany to bare wood and vacuum bonding something like birds-eye maple veneer. Update the lighting and yes, putting in a headliner. Still a lot of work.

Some of the interior details of my brother's Reliance 44:

http://bristol29.com/nw/southern_cross.htm

David

Very nice. That's NOT what the one I'm looking at that's for sure. But as you said. That level of finish takes years.