A25 Door Construction?

[hetek]

My boat has crude 3/4" Fir plywood replacements done by a PO, and I would like to put it back "the way Albin built it" - Teak marine plywood and all.

Google doesn't find much on the subject, but what I gather, the aft cabin door is a Dutch door arrangement with teak plywood center panels and teak lumber edging. The overall dimensions I can figure out based on the frame, but the thicknesses puzzle me. I don't believe Albin would have used 18mm Teak plywood (or would they?).

Same with the forward companionway door - more 3/4" Fir (ugh!). Any ideas how the original is made?

I have a local shop that is just begging me for a Teak plywood order and I'd like to humor them. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

- Jon B.

[WillieC]

18mm...divided by 25.4 equals .708661417" OH, 3/4"!

No, they are skins on frames. You could use bazillion unobtanium ironwood for the frames and then 1/4 inchish skins and come up with .708 inches or 3/4 if you prefer.

I have a pic of my front door that I made into a two-piece door that might show a little of the construction.

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=10862

The door frame is basically a ladder with the skins glued on. Since I cut my door in half top to bottom, I had to add the vertical styles at the cut edges. I used plain old 3/4" ACX plywood scraps I ripped down to match the thickness of the original frames. Nothing fancy here, just a little table saw work, clamps and decent glue. Then I ran it back through the table saw to clean up my mess.

It is all about the finish to get that teak to shine. I am a hack finisher, using off the shelf Home Despot materials and foam brushes. Some day I hope to advance to the level of finish that was original to these Super Deluxe Mk. 2 versions. But first, let's do Desolation Sound again!

[hetek]

Willie C - You confirmed my suspicions!

Albin was a thrifty bunch, I'm finding out. Either that or they were very intent on saving weight. I often refer to the interior finishing as "Ikea-like". The heaviest plywood I've found to date is basically 3/8". I won't do the metric math on that one!

Ladder frame with skins... Much like I believe the head door to be. And I do have a head door. I found a few pictures online but the skins-on-frame comment really makes much more sense of what I'm seeing in the pictures. Thanks for that!

[This is the part where DA comes up with 3 or 4 pictures, complete with measured drawings and engineering prints, in the proper Metric format!].

[hetek]

Which brings me to another question... What kind of wood is this anyway?

Normal marine assumption would be Teak, but with Albin, I don't assume anything anymore.

Mahogany perhaps? Or some other rare Scandinavian species?

And Willie C... I'm with you on the finishing methods. 12 coats of spar varnish aren't going to happen in my lifetime. However, my eyes lit up when I see the latest craze is to put three coats of West System epoxy (all 3 in one day!) and three coats of Spar varnish over it for the UV properties. That I can do!

[dkirsop]

I believe the wood veneer used in the Albin 25 is Sapele. This is a less expensive substitute for Mahogany. I used 3/4" Sapele when I rebuild my helm seat and it took on the same pattern and colour of the Albin interior once varnished - no stain required. Here is a picture of what it looks like.

P1040864.jpg

The easiest substitute would be to construct the door using 3/4" ply and Mahogany iron-on edge banding. Or, if your keen on sticks and glue you could use 1/8" ply and Sapele wood for the "ladder frame".

[hetek]

Thanks for that, Dkirsop!

Not really keen on the ladder framing but I will be if the cost of 3/4" Mahogany ply is more than I can handle.

Now I have a new wood species to add to my Albin repertoire!

[hetek]

Confirmed! Dkirsop was correct.

From the "Albin 25 Handbook", page 15:

"The interior joinery is mainly of resin glued marine plywood with surface veneers of sapele on gaboon cores."

Sapele it is!