Dinette rebuild

[linn_chris43]

Hey everyone, I finally got sucked into starting some restoration work on my 69' Avion 22ft. I thought I'd share some of the progress. The front dinette was showing signs of age with delamination and wear, so I thought it was a great time to modify the layout a little, without taking away from the classic look. I'm even using shellac to match the existing wood colors. I basically copied the dinette seats, but changed the front cabinet to seat level, with storage underneath. It adds a foot or so of extra bed width and adds a space for my battery (sealed, vented box of course) and charging system. The fiberglass battery box outside is trashed. I'll add a thin pad to the front surround and it will look kinda like U seating. The table will have to be pedestal or possibly a fancy hinge system I'm working on. So far it's gone from "don't worry honey, I can do this in a day" to over engineering a designing 3 partial weekends worth of work. Me overthink something?? Never!!
I'll post a bit more as I get the ends together and some ideas along the way.

[linn_chris43]

Here are some progress pics.

[Sawmiller]

Very nice work indeed! Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[Razorback]

Very nice! Keep us posted.

[linn_chris43]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
So far so good. Designing always takes the longest, then It's always fun going through materials for the right one. I realized halfway through that poplar cracked using pocket screws and I couldn't pilot drill at that angle. I switched to pine with glue and Brad nails and it worked pretty nice for the frame. I used Indonesian birch plywood at first and it was horrible about splintering and the weird red underlayer was frustrating. I finally stepped up to some Russian birch. It's awesome!! Nice consistent color all the way through and smooth as butter to cut. Finally realizing that I can't cut straight to save my life, I use guides and patterns for everything. I use a nice flush trim router bit with bearing for all of my plywood cuts. 1/4" (6mm) for facing and 3/8" for the seat and end panels. I hope to get some progress over this long holiday weekend and I'll post some more pictures.

[Razorback]

Looking forward to pictures!

[Tarnished]

Linn_chris43 Russian, or Finnish birch (there are 2 factories on and near the Baltic) is a wonderful product. It and vodka are the Russians primary exports. Keep in mind that only some of it is made with water-resistant blue. Seems to be a quality control problem with the product from the Russian factory. Good looking project.

[Salty]

Very nice. Keep up the good work!

[linn_chris43]

I had hoped to post an update of a weekends work well done, but, in all my infinite wisdom I hit the wall of Oh crap, how did that happen. I put the forward bench and dinnette seats in for a test fit and the dang seat stuck out a half inch into the doorway. Well $h!t! This plywood didn't come with enough vodka. I measured at seat height and the forward bench sits a half inch from the wall at top and touches at the bottom. I didn't account for wall curve. I also used up my 1/4" wiggle room with a double face where the forward bench full faced vertical meets the dinnette seats, with their curved end face to have 3 full separate pieces. So I got out my trusty belt sander and sanded the bottom wall side of the long bench and removed it's facing. I made a seam where the benches meet the dinette, so its the single dinette end instead of double. I gained back a 1/2", but it took me a day. I did however get some seats hinged for storage and a couple of curved ends done. Now if I can only find 2 more of these offset butt hinges for the forward bench, I'll be set.

[Razorback]

Ouch! I hate it when that happens! Sorry for the delay.

Glad you got it fixed, and look forward to seeing the finished product.