Finally, a new cockpit table

[Quetzalsailor]

I have replaced the tabletop of an Edson cockpit table. (I reused the Edson hardware.) Pictures of the work in progress were posted last month in a chat about sourcing beaded cherry that devolved to tools and methods.

Here are pics taken at cocktail hour on Saturday. The finish is two coats of Cetol Teak, but my application of it was so pitiful that its home again for sanding and recoating. I bought rough-sawn 1" Teak and planed it down to pretty, ended up about 15/16" thick. I jointed the top using loose-fit mahogany pegs set in epoxy (beats drilling accurately). I installed screws and bungs after the fiddles were glued (bonding Teak is not reliable since the wood is so oily.) The 316 Stainless hinges are Suncor and can be found at Defender; they're made in Red China and are a bit sloppy. I have yet to figure a neat way to hold the leaves folded. A negative of the setup is that the leaves don't clear the drink holder; you have to swing the table partway down to open them.

[Chris Campbell]

Gorgeous, Doug!

That looks a proper treat. Our NE38 had the mainsheet on a short traveller immediately ahead of the binnacle, making a table there need to be removable, so we never bothered. Having a place to eat and drink in the cockpit and style is a decidely happy addition. Very pretty work you've done for it also - fits right in with all the other pretty wood on Quetzal.

Thanks for sharing!

[Hirilondë]

Very nice table!

I installed screws and bungs after the fiddles were glued (bonding Teak is not reliable since the wood is so oily.)

If you clean the mating surfaces with acetone immediately before gluing with epoxy the bond is extremely reliable. Oil leaching out after the cure does not effect the bond. I can't count the number of times I have edge glued teak (with splines as I do for all edge gluing) for tables, doors, weather boards, etc without incident.