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Date:         Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:25:12 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Speaking of custom interiors...
Comments: To: Malcolm Stebbins <mwstebbins@yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To:  <182405.61941.qm@web45101.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

We did an exquisite and ultra-light interior in a custom 46' racing sailboat that the owner of the yacht yard, where I was lucky enough to work for a few seasons, built for himself (He was an owner of Albertsons, so money was not a factor) We did the bulkheads (partitions, for a house term) from Coremat, which is a hard but very light foam. Bonded some off-white formica to those bulkheads. Cabinets from the same materials with Lexan sliding doors. Fridge from hard foam, again covered with the formica.. Built the other 'furnishings' from various foams but we surfaced them with 1/8" baltic birch ply on which we ordered honduras mahogany veneers and edge all the door openings with Honduras mahogany as well. The 'headliner ' (called an "overhead" in a boat) we did with 1/8" closed cell foam on which we bonded some vinyl and held it in place with some alaskan yellow cedar 'celings', which is what you call the interior 'siding' of a boat.. The yellow cedar is nice and hard, quite light colored and pretty light-weight. Smells nice, too. We finished all the wood with a couple of base coats of Epoxy resin and about 4 coats over the top of that of marine satin varnish. That interior stood up very well to the total abuse that a race boat takes on long offshore races...14 guys living inside with dozens of wet sails, sea boots being tossed around, everything being 'shaken and stirred by huge seas and the walls sometimes becoming the floor... That kinda interior would be easy to build into a Vanagon...It only takes money.. Don Hanson On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 12:41 PM, Malcolm Stebbins <mwstebbins@yahoo.com>wrote:

> Something like this perhaps: > > http://www.vanagon.com/info/vehicles/lightweight_syncro_16.html > > > > > ________________________________ > From: Marc Perdue <mcperdue@GMAIL.COM> > > If you're going to re-do the interior, what about using materials > that would stand up to the kind of abuse our vans get, something > lighter too? Granted, it would probably be cost-prohibitive, but what > about building the cabinets out of something like carbon fiber? > Thinner, lighter, stronger (more expensive) . . . You could > conceivably gain slightly more space and lighten the van > significantly, yah? Sure, it's kind of a crazy idea, but why not run > with the idea and see where it takes us? What about other materials? > Any materials scientists on this list? Other cabinet makers/craftsman > who have worked with unusual materials? Is fiberglass too tacky, too > damageable? > > Marc >


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