Cabin table mount
Time goes fast and spring is round the corner. I will again need to cut my to-do list for this winter and move to ordinary spring jobs. Before that I need to finish one more thing: cabin table mount.
Instead of standing on wobbly legs the table will hang from bulkhead, giving free access to cabin sole and hopefully offering steady working and dining surface.
To make the mount solid I will use two, perpendicular bulkhead surfaces. This should spread the load and offer several anchoring points.
The main member is made from thick mahogany plywood. Two solid wood mahogany pieces will be screwed and glued to it, giving a surface to mount the table and adding stiffness to the assembly. Additional cross member, at the right angle to the main plate, will add lateral stiffness.
I cut mahogany plywood first. All edges being trimmed with American walnut. On the main member I glued and nailed trim bits but that proved to be unnecessary mess, resulting in much cleaning and sanding to get rid of white glue stains.
Trimming was then nailed with copper nails, both as reinforcement and as a decorative element. The whole assembly will be encapsulated in epoxy so these nails will not oxidise and should maintain shiny copper colour.
All parts were trimmed with block plane and then sanded. One needs to be careful with modern plywood - the exterior layer of mahogany is 200 micrometers thick, orbital sander can sand through it in no time.
I moved to cutting and shaping mahogany beams. Pieces I have were rough sawn so a good deal of smooth planing and truing was needed. Nice workout.
Some basic geometry exercises to match pieces at required angles.
After pre-drilling all holes I was ready for dry fit of all parts.
Screws are used mainly as a guiding pins for gluing, the main holding agent will be WEST Flex epoxy. It has lots of strength and offers extended joint flexibility which I think will be needed here.
Before leaving boatyard I installed POD heater to have it in place when I will install the table. This should assure that I don’t place the mounting screws where the heater is mounted.
Back in my home workshop I disassembled the mount, sanded smooth and started applying stain - boat table is made from dark mahogany, I want these new parts to match the table as close as possible.
With stain in place walnut trim blends nicely with mahogany, I like how copper is contrasting dark wood.
All components ready after staining. The next step will be gluing, followed by epoxy coating.