Completed: Custom Cherry Floors
Posted: July 29th, 2023, 3:05 pm
I actually put these floors in 4-5 years ago when i first bought the boat, but I'm just getting to sharing them.
History: my carver 3207 came with nasty grover-blue shag carpeting on the floor, steps and bedroom side walls. The first thing i wanted to do was get rid of it. So I hired my buddy's teenage son for a bit of the summer to remove the carpeting, staples and glue residue. Tough job even at $15 bucks an hour plus free lunch, but he had a good time and did a great job prepping.
Flooring: I selected Brazilian cherry, prefinished, for the flooring. Also oiled hard maple for the trim, and birch for the bead board. Turned out great. The wood finish changed color (darker) after being exposed to sunlight, but once the sun moves around the boat for a bit it all normalizes. Looks great as you can see. Yes I was tight with my layout, but expansion has NOT been a problem at all despite the boat temp getting over 100 deg some days and below zero others.
Method:
1. I layed out all my panels with mitered solid maple. I made sure to put the panel boarders edge-on-edge with bordering panels so that they fit square and tightly against each other. I used flooring glue and a brad nail gun to put down the maple borders and flooring. Every panel that originally gave access in the boat still comes up.
2. I started at the front of the main cabin at stair's edge and then worked backward to keep everything square. I took the flooring all the way to the edges of the walls, which are curved by the way, very accurately so no shoe molding needed.
3. In the vberth I built a rail out of maple and put bead board on the lower side wall. Had to make shoe molding there because the sides are sloped to the floor.
4. In the aft cabin I glued bead board to the "steps" below the beds and created non-bordered panels with brass pull rings to access the 3 maintenance hatches.
5. I left the parquet flooring in the heads and galley as is. Only thing i did in the rear head was add bead board and create a top on the back "step"
Cost: Under a 1000 bucks for the "helper", flooring was under 3000. Did all the carpentry myself. I was originally quoted at 15k for someone else to do the job without much some of the detail I added in, and that was pre-covid. I'm sure it would cost over 20k now.
History: my carver 3207 came with nasty grover-blue shag carpeting on the floor, steps and bedroom side walls. The first thing i wanted to do was get rid of it. So I hired my buddy's teenage son for a bit of the summer to remove the carpeting, staples and glue residue. Tough job even at $15 bucks an hour plus free lunch, but he had a good time and did a great job prepping.
Flooring: I selected Brazilian cherry, prefinished, for the flooring. Also oiled hard maple for the trim, and birch for the bead board. Turned out great. The wood finish changed color (darker) after being exposed to sunlight, but once the sun moves around the boat for a bit it all normalizes. Looks great as you can see. Yes I was tight with my layout, but expansion has NOT been a problem at all despite the boat temp getting over 100 deg some days and below zero others.
Method:
1. I layed out all my panels with mitered solid maple. I made sure to put the panel boarders edge-on-edge with bordering panels so that they fit square and tightly against each other. I used flooring glue and a brad nail gun to put down the maple borders and flooring. Every panel that originally gave access in the boat still comes up.
2. I started at the front of the main cabin at stair's edge and then worked backward to keep everything square. I took the flooring all the way to the edges of the walls, which are curved by the way, very accurately so no shoe molding needed.
3. In the vberth I built a rail out of maple and put bead board on the lower side wall. Had to make shoe molding there because the sides are sloped to the floor.
4. In the aft cabin I glued bead board to the "steps" below the beds and created non-bordered panels with brass pull rings to access the 3 maintenance hatches.
5. I left the parquet flooring in the heads and galley as is. Only thing i did in the rear head was add bead board and create a top on the back "step"
Cost: Under a 1000 bucks for the "helper", flooring was under 3000. Did all the carpentry myself. I was originally quoted at 15k for someone else to do the job without much some of the detail I added in, and that was pre-covid. I'm sure it would cost over 20k now.
