Rick and Ann Giles Cabin Refit

Rick and Ann Giles have refitted the cabin of their San Juan 28, Sanity. Here are the pictures of the cabin.

His words: The floor on a 28 is almost perfectly square so this project does not use difficult angles an is not beyond the scope of someone handy with a saw and tools. Take your time measure 3 times and cut once. To save frustration and expense make a cardboard template before cutting the plywood at over $100 for 1/2 teak and $225 for the teak and Holly per sheet it is expensive if you cut wrong.

I am sure there are other ways to add a Teak & Holly floor to our San Juan's, these are the steps I used: All cuts were made with a medium grade Hitachi table saw purchased from Lowe's for about $500 and a good sharp carbon tipped blade, 2 roller stands to hold the ply level and two extra people to help hold the ply for the initial cuts on the full sheet of ply. With care and clamped on fences a good curcular saw would work too. I scored the finished side with a sharp utility knife and used blue painter tape on the top of the floor where cuts were made to prevent chipping the finish. In between cuts I would take the pieces to the boat for test fitting and make small modifications until things fit perfectly.

1. Cut the 4x8 sheet of T&H to length then leaving 3/4" of spae at the engine compartment for the front cover to be removed for access.

2. Cut to width plus the width of one saw blade, for appearance from the cockpit make sure the holly stripe is exactly centered. Cut out the keelbolt cover width and length. I then cut the rest of the floor in half length wise just to onsid of the center holly stripe to make it easier to handle the pieces and fit them through the cabin hatch.

3. Made 4" wide center and 2" wide side shims out of spare Teak ply that was left over from the cabinet project. Regular marine ply would work for the shims too and is much less expensive.

4. Glue the first shim to the floor bottom with 2" on each side of the joint using 2 ratchet cargo straps to hold the pieces tight then screwed the shim to the joint with staggered placing of the screws every 6". Let it set overnight so the glue would dry.

5. Shimmed area all around the keel opening and down the center by 1.5" and under the cover by 2" to make the floor almost level from side to side. There is about a 1/4" slope from each side to the center.

6. To stabilize the rest of the floor run a 2" shim all the way lengthwise in the center of the two halves. I varnished the bottom of the sides of the floor and shim tops, glued and screwed the first 1/2 shim to the bottom of the floor using 3/4" SS flat head slightly counter sunk screws then varnished the shim and floor bottom and sides. Build up successive layers of shims using 1/2 longer screw per layer, varnishing eacvh layer will help keep water from seeping into the plywood if there is ever a leak [never on any boat].

7. Bevel the floor bottom at the bow end and all 4 corners so the floor fits flat in the corner. Screw the floor down in each corner around the keel cutout with #10 2"SS flat head screw counter sinking the screw about 1/4" below the floor level. The hull is pretty thik her, but watch the drill.

8. I used 3/4" SS screws at each corner and in the middle of the cabin counter sinking the screws 1/4". NOTE: I went throught eh hull in the starboard center and rear because the drill bit grabbed and went too deep. Use care the hull is very thin at this transition. I was able to plug it by adding some 5200 to the hole andd screw and seating it. It's been 3 months and things are still dry so I think it will be OK until the next haul out, but I will check the keel area on regular basis.

9. To finish the edges add some 1-1/4" x 3/8" teak trim all around to dress up the edges screwing these flush to the top of the trim into the floor with #4 3/4" brass screws.

10. Cover all exposed screw holes with 3/8" teak dowels with just a smal dap of wood glue to hold the dowel in place but allow it to be removed if the floor ever needs to come up.

11. Remember to shorten the fold down table leg before using the table.

In steps 2-6 if you only want to loose 1/2" of headroom instead of 2" by scoring the bottom of the floor with a saw blade 3/8" deep every 4" or 6". I think would allow the floor to follow the curvature of the existing floor and save all the shimming which took the most amount of time during the project that spanned almost 2 weeks, mostly for calculations, cutting, test fitting, and cutting again. it might also cause the expensive sheet of plywood to crack so proceed at your own risk. If you do this I'd be interested to know if it worked.

Rick Giles.

Before

After

Some more pictures of the interior and one of the added bow sprit.

Bow Sprit

Other pictures of the cabin.

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