It's been a while since I've posted, but honestly, after 18 years (or is it 19 this year??) of rehab, I've been taking it sort of easy. That's a lie. Truth be told, I've got a few projects to put in here that hopefully will be useful to some someday, or maybe sooner. So, I'm going to add a post here and you'll have to bear with me, it'll be a longer one (like most of mine are)...
Ever since we purchased our 1967 42 aft cabin, the stairs to the aft cabin (along with the rest of the boat really) were in need of attention. They never really felt quite right, but somehow, they didn't get to the top of a long list of things to do... probably for two reasons. 1. At first glance, I couldn't figure out how to get them out, and 2. you use them all the time... if I take them out, how do you get down there? So, they sat... for a long while - too long, because near the end of last year's boating season, they failed. I made an emergency trip to Home Depot one night after arriving at the boat and put in a janky (but fully functional) fix for the stairs until the season ended.
I should probably rewind a bit more and explain a bit more my situation. If you've read my posts / stories from the past, or if you've been in the club long enough, you've probably heard of or met my dad - Clif Orphal. He and my mom were proud owners of a 1966 38 Commander, and he was the one that taught me a lot about how to redo the woodwork in our 42. Along with his teaching, he also was a supplier of all things woodwork for the boat. Rotted this, broken that (we had our fair share of both), dad was there to remake it, exactly as it was, or in the case of our galley cabinetry and aft deck seating - take my ideas and turn them into amazing reality.
Unfortunately, in November of 2023, my dad passed away unexpectedly - you may recall a nice article in our Styled in Fiberglass newsletter about his passing. Dad was a woodworker by hobby until the very end, and when he passed, I inherited all of his woodworking equipment - a lot of equipment and tools that I had seen dad use over the years, but had never really touched any of it. My role on our boat was primarily stripping, sanding, staining, varnishing, and varnishing, and varnishing. It wasn't until replacing the toe rail a few years ago that I actually did some woodworking on my own...
So, here I am with broken stairs, and the guy that would normally be helping to remake them is not there to help out. With that in mind, here are some pictures and some details on this project - my first real remake project on my own. I could imagine based on the issues that I've had, that someone else out there will need to do what I've had to do on our 42.
ABOVE: Yes, look around the stairs and you'll see that the woodwork is just a little different, as in it's all been refinished by me over the years. The stairs looked largely like this when we purchased the boat in 2006. Rather than deal with the failing finish, previous owners elected to cover the stairs and floors with carpet and paint the interior of the boat white. In this picture you can see some remnants of the carpet, and white paint that I had torn out / scraped off.
ABOVE: Upon closer inspection (and if you zoom in or open the picture up), you can see that on the first step down, one of the bronze fasteners holding the step up has decided to come out and see what it's like in the world. I don't mind its curiosity... I mean when it was put in at the factory back in 1967, the boat looked a LOT different than it does now. You can see that the step sagged about 1/2' in the front, pushing down on not only the riser under it, but also causing the back of the second step to sag as well... which means that there were a lot of issues.
ABOVE: To round it out, the second step. So, as you can see it was a mess, and about the time that I took these pictures last August to try and start figuring this issue out, the stairs failed altogether. I used some pieces of wood to create two treads over these two to last us through the end of last season. For two months the stairs were the least attractive part of the boat by far - so janky, that I never even took a picture of my handy work to document it.
ABOVE: Fast forward to October of last year. I was at a loss on how to get the stairs out. On the 42, if you go into the engine room behind the port engine, you'll find what looks like the backside of the stairs... but no... the wood doesn't match up, and it's not even the right thickness - 3/8" or 1/2" plywood I believe, not the solid mahogany that makes up the stairs. Okay... So, I posted a message on FB and low and behold, a fellow Commander Club member posted back telling me to just take the screws out and the stair assembly would just lift out. Hmmm... Upon closer inspection I found what had been sort of hiding behind dark stain and left over paint. Bungs... well, I'll be...
ABOVE: In this picture (and the one above), you can see that I just pulled out the two second tread and riser (fairly easily considering the failure). You can see the bung holes that I drilled out as well... they are staggered and go around the top two or so inches of the side panels and the first riser. Removing these, and a cutting off a few fasteners that attached back of the port side panel to the bulkhead that cannot be accessed, allowed the assembly to be easily lifted out.
ABOVE: Stairs removed. You'll note that the bottom tread and two risers remain. These are separate from the stair assembly that was removed and will remain in place.
ABOVE: My daughter offering a helping hand to cut a board. Fast forward to this past weekend. Since I removed the stairs in fall, I worked really hard on getting my unfinished basement divided into two parts... a living area that we'll use for TV, foosball, darts, shuffleboard, and general hanging out, and a shop / storage area. I had to put up two walls, a door, run the vac system ports, and run electric (thanks to my son and a close family friend). About a week ago, I finally got all of my dad's equipment and tools organized and sort of put away... enough to allow me to start the stair project in my newly created shop. With the boating season just about 4 weeks away (Come on spring!!!!), It was finally time to get going. I enlisted my daughter to help make a cut of the 10" x 10' mahogany board to make it manageable for me.
ABOVE: Flat boards!. After rough cutting the 10' board into 8 pieces that would make up the stair assembly, I needed to correct the cup that my board had in it. I used a thickness sander to accomplish that. Because of the cup, I ended up with boards that were slightly less thick than the originals, but only by a very little bit (maybe 1/16 to 1/8") and that I can deal with the same way that CC used to correct small variances around the stairs - with shims.
Above: Doweling the side panels. The original side panels to the stair assembly were made from a single piece of 3/4' mahogany plywood. Two things here... First, where the fasteners were placed, I think there was a possibility of failure of the plywood (I saw this on at least one fastener location), and second, I didn't have any 3/4" marine grade mahogany plywood laying around. So, I used my 10" wide solid mahogany board, doweled, and glued two boards together, and voila! New side panels. You can see the jig I used in the picture above as well. I used 5/16" dowels, three on each side panel.
ABOVE: Side panel glue up. Dad always told me that you could never have enough clamps as a woodworker... I believe him! After doweling, I used Titebond III waterproof interior/exterior wood glue to put them together.
ABOVE: Ideas - in marker. So, like my dad, I approached this wood project as I would any other project (I'm a project manager by profession) ... think about it and make an educated decision on how to do it... not going at it with no plan. Part of my thought process was to use the original design and look, but improve on the performance. Glueing the assembly together can certainly help (no glue in the original), but using a dado to set the treads into the side panels, as well as the use of more fasteners for them would certainly help as well. Anyway, you can see the crudely drawn idea above.
ABOVE: Front of the stair assemblies. This is just a dry fit, but you can see... pretty much an exact copy from the looks. What you can't really see in this picture, but I'll show later... I rounded over the nose of each of the two treads... just like the originals.
ABOVE: The back sides of the assemblies. I will reuse one piece of wood that was used to tie the second riser and second tread together... you can see the light spot on the original stairs where a long 3/4" square piece was used. It was very effective in keeping the two together and it wasn't damaged, so it'll live on. Also, if you look closely on the back of the new remakes, you'll see the dados used on the side panels that the stairs insert into. This should make a pretty solid, and long-lasting set of stairs.
WHATS NEXT?
With the dry fit done, I'm going to use pilot holes and countersink the new fasteners (outside ones) so the heads of the new fasteners (stainless steel) will sit flush. I'll also mark out a pattern for the fasteners that hold the stairs in place (inside ones) and prep for the mahogany bungs.
Additionally, I'll be making insets for black rubber diamond pattern anti-slip strips. They'll match what my dad has already done on the rest of the stairs and helm footrest in the boat. A little trickier on the last step as I don't think I can get out as far to the edge as I'd like, even with a smaller router, so I might have to do some carving.
After that, when I'm able to get to the boat, I'll tape off then strip and sand the bottom tread and two risers that are built into the boat... that can't be easily removed. Then it's just a matter of inserting the new stair assembly, bunging, sanding a bit, then stain, and do my varnish routine that I've done literally everywhere else in the boat. lol.
Stay tuned, I'll get another update in here as I get towards spring with the prep, installation, and the finished product. Needless to say, now that I've managed to make my own stairs, I'm pretty excited to get them installed!
Chris Orphal
1967 42 Commander
"What If..."
After the weekend, another update....
We were lucky enough to get into the water this weekend after getting replacement mufflers, all new exhaust hose, and new hose clamps done... but that's another post. After the boat was in, I was off to continue the work on the aft stairs. Time to get the last step and two risers taken care of. Here are some pics...
ABOVE: Staples out... or so I thought. All the tools of the trade to get the last of the carpet staples out of our boat. I don't know how many there were here, but I'm going to guess north of 50. Some needed a lot of coaxing, some wanted to stay in. In any case, most came out, and the ones I could grab, I hammered in so the scraper and sander wouldn't catch them. You can clearly see here the remants of the white paint that was used to coat pretty much the entire interior of our boat. Grr... with 1967 being the only year with a wood interior, it was important for me to let it be seen. You can see on either side of that last step the finished product of much earlier work.
ABOVE: Staples out, and ready to strip.
ABOVE: Tucked in, stripping away... That's pretty much where I lived for the weekend. not the most space, and a few cramps along the way, but enough room to get the job done without too much difficulty.
ABOVE: Stripped.
ABOVE: Mostly sanded stairs. A little more to go... I'm not so happy about the staple stains, but I have to keep in mind at this point that the wood is still damp from soaking it with stripper to get the now 58-year-old varnish off. As I stripped the wood, I can see that I could pretty easily replace the step (I'd have to make a new one), and probably the other two risers... But, I also know that this bottom step and where it's located is not bathed in light, and will also have a darker stain on it. I decided to let thigns sit for the week and go back out and reassess. I'm not excited about having to make a replacement for a marginal gain in appearance. Pondering...
C.
1967 42 Commander
"What If..."