On this week's episode of Onboard Lifestyle we fabricate an ultralight countertop for our master head on our custom catamaran SV basik. Come back next week t...

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hey guys welcome back to SB basic last

week you saw the teal completed our

master head door which works perfect I

love it but it got me thinking about

other projects down below we have a

couple of nice days coming up and is a

perfect opportunity for him to work on

our countertop so stick around and we're

going to show you how he built it so

we've had a lot of comments and

questions about our countertops how

they're built how much they weigh how

much they cost and why they don't have

fiddles so we're gonna answer some of

your questions okay so let's talk about

fiddles I can talk fiddles I don't like

them I just don't like them why I don't

like them we're not gonna happen on the

boat a lot of people have asked why we

don't have it and that we should on our

last boat we didn't have fiddles and we

did okay

nothing flew off I can't recall one

thing ever falling no I'm very careful

about that everything is stowed away

before we head out but some boats have

them almost bullets have them some boats

don't and about 50% of catamaran

manufacturers put it on fifty percent

don't so it is a preference and your

preference is no fiddles

I don't want fiddles on our countertops

I like the look of the streamline solid

countertop look and I could always add

fiddles later real easy that's not gonna

help okay so sorry guys

no fiddles on SP basic so we're gonna

talk concept and design I wanted a solid

surface countertop so bad that was my

one wish in the galley

teal has his man cave in the nav station

and I have my wish list in the galley I

spent a lot of time in there it makes me

happy so one of the things that I was on

the top of my wish list was a solid

countertop

but teal did not want that because of

the weight issue our boat is weight

sensitive so his favorite phrase for me

when I would say solid counter surfaces

was no we argued and argued about it

well what we argued you voiced your

opinion and I listened we know every

time so I researched online and I did

find something that would actually work

but it just wasn't in our budget so we

got back to the drawing board and teal

came up with a good compromise that I

could have my solid surface and we were

sensitive to the weight

it's gonna be a beautiful day

mid 60's today Seattle in October that's

crazy it's good to work

okay if you go way way back to episodes

1 & 2 I've shown you how I built the

master head and we got about 90% done

and it's been sitting here with that

little 10% left for the past two years

Linn still uses this room it's one of

her favorite rooms I mean it's

comfortable it's has heating air

conditioning in here but it's not

plugged in yet the sinks aren't in

everything's just loose look at this

counters are loose so I did get the

counters finished once I get the

counters finished that opens up the rest

of the projects and those should go

pretty quick I could get the same secure

I get the counters in permanently I

could get the faucets in get the head

plumbed in so that's what I'm going to

do first thing to do is a attack this

counter and I'll tear this out get it

out in the cockpit break it down and get

to work

now that this counters out here let's

take a look at this thing I have it is

upside down right now

and I built this out of ultralight

substrate and I'll talk a little bit

about that in a second here but look at

the engineering on this I've made it

thin everywhere except for just the lip

to give it the appearance that it's two

inches thick this is actually a hollow

panel here with foam inside of it

it opens up so you have access to the

head and here's the top of the counter

I've coated the entire surface in West

system epoxy with a black pigment just

to give it a good base before I start my

countertop process but let's talk a

little about how I built this

the first thing I needed to do was make

a template and I used a nine-millimeter

ultralight marine grade poplar plywood

to make the template and I was able to

shape that into the counter size that I

wanted once I was happy with the shape

and the fit I could take that template

and screw it directly to a 3/4 inch

piece of marine grade poplar plywood and

use my template as a router guide and

that's how I make this first layer then

I could modify the template and I cut it

up and I cut it to this next layer right

here screw it back to a 3/4 piece and I

could make this next cut by using it as

a router guide

I modify it one more time to cut all

this out and then I could stack the

three pieces here

so it's just a matter of

figuring out

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the system you need to start with the

largest piece first the next largest

piece the next largest piece and just

work your way down and then assemble it

believe it or not this is made of eight

separate pieces of that same product all

laminated together with West system

epoxy with a black pigment I wanted to

put a black pigment in here because

we're using a black countertop so might

as well get a nice base going next I

break this apart sand this all up and

get started with the finished product

now that I've broke this down I'm gonna

give it a good sanding and make sure all

my surfaces are nice and smooth

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okay what I did was mounted these to a

nice platform so I could move these

around cuz I'm gonna have to put the

coating on both sides and all these

edges I have him sitting out in the Sun

because I just mixed up a little epoxy

there was a couple little imperfections

that I was not happy with you don't need

to sand this real smooth you'll see when

I start applying the product it goes on

real thick but there was a couple little

pinholes that I wanted to fill in I

didn't want any moisture getting into

the core and how I do that just with the

West system my 105 resin 205 hardener I

wanted to kick fast

I use this 406 406 if you look it has

some of the best bonding and laminating

it is hard to fare though so be careful

when you put this on if you want

something easier to fare move up the

scale up to like a 410 407 those are

much easier to sand here's my pigments

did you know you could put pigments in

epoxy I used a black pigment on this one

just to give me a nice base coat doesn't

take much just a touch really tense your

epoxy comes in pretty much any color

I just keep black and white in stock

okay Wow the epoxy is firing off I've

got it set up in the Sun I'm gonna talk

a little about the product that I'm

gonna be overlaying on this it's a

product it's been out for a while it's

made by rust-oleum called countertop

transformations and I'll tell you what

when I first saw this I was skeptical I

mean I did not think it would work the

first counters I did on this boat were

five years ago and I followed the same

exact process built the countertops

saturated with epoxy and then applied

this product I'm telling you five years

later those countertops look like the

day I put them in we use them every day

and it's durable I'll swear by it

I will endorse this 100% just follow the

right procedure apply it correctly and

it's good

the kit comes with pretty much

everything you need I'll break that down

and show you the steps it's a little

intimidating when you start looking at

all the things you need to mix up and

put it in the right order but it's

pretty simple once you figure it out

I broke this down so you can see what's

in this kit you start with your adhesive

base coat after that's on you spritz on

this wedding agent once the wedding

agents in you take the decorative chips

here and put them in this hopper and

sprinkle it on your surface you let it

cure for 24 hours and then you start

honing it with there's these are diamond

embedded sanding tools that are included

included with the kit you scrape it if

you need to and then start honing these

things down to the smoothness you want

after you get this the surface you like

then you put on this it's a two-part

protective topcoat now this kit right

here handles 50 square feet I'm doing

7.1 square feet so I'll use a just about

a quarter of this and save the rest for

a future project or maybe a repair one

day

okay before you get rolling make sure

you get your hopper all loaded because

this goes fast

ok about 3/4 full how that everything's

prepped this has been thoroughly stirred

I'm gonna apply the base coat it is

thick it needs to be to hold all that

flake so it goes on pretty heavy just

nice even layer make sure you don't drip

this anywhere this stuff is nasty

all this is low odor so you don't need

to take any extra precautions I mean I

can't smell a thing doing it outside

regardless just in case next thing you

do is just mist it with a wetting agent

and now the fun part this goes real fast

you just start applying it

it's gonna make a bit of a mess

first one is curing now now I go on to

the harder one I'm gonna do this one in

two separate segments I'm gonna do the

face and edge and then I'll flip it

around and do the backside it was just

drawing a little too fast

but it goes quick

everything's been applied now it's just

a matter of cleaning up my mess before

Lin gets home and let it cure beautiful

day perfect day for this it's like

almost 70 out here loving it and just

like that spotless

I think it's time for lunch

let's take a look at these they've been

curing now for about I don't know four

or five hours they feel dry to the touch

but I'm gonna let them sit overnight and

we will hone these smooth tomorrow

morning

but first gonna take the girls on a

little field trip hey guys we are going

to the borealis let chill

whatever favorite places to go to you

but first we're gonna go grab a bite to

eat and then we'll take it to let's get

let's go

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[Applause]

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okay four minutes left you guys ready

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Emma what was your favorite the first

time in the last we know what countries

China is I think you gonna say was

Romanian no it was cool it was tus oh

yeah okay let's get back to the boat

it's getting late

it's been 24 hours

these are cured now it's time to get the

surface hone down to the texture that I

want you can go totally smooth on this

or you could leave a little bit of

stipple I prefer just a little bit of

stipple I think it looks nicer so that's

what we're doing today after we hone it

down we'll put the protective top coat

on beautiful day we'll get lots done

today

next week

first thing I do is break this down I

have to save these I'll be using these

later just make it a little easier to

hone I think you can see how text reads

it says I mean the planks are just

coming off what we want to do is knock

all this down first with a little

plastic scraper everything we're gonna

do is with hand tools today I didn't

want a nice even finish I'd like to have

it a little bit of heavy light heavy

light makes it look more like natural

stone we're gonna start honing it down

this is a diamond embedded hone that

will take this down to whatever text we

want and then this is a little fine

sander just to kind of do the edges you

don't want to hone the edges because

you'll burn right through it

[Laughter]

hello I wanted to practice on the easy

one before I started this one but I feel

confident this would go quick

they are all honed and ready for the top

coat now just clean up

now it's time for the protective topcoat

I'm gonna use about half of this so I

need to figure out the ratio

it says dump all of this into this but

we have 23.7 fluid ounces here and eight

fluid ounces here so it's a three to one

mixing ratio so I'll just mix up what I

need okay since I don't have a graduated

mixing Cup all I've done and I'm gonna

make my own I filled this up make a mark

so that's a one to one ratio right there

if I were to draw this line I'll fill

this up to the mark again there's a two

to one ratio take some of that out

okay there's a three to one ratio mark

this out empty the cops dry them off and

I'm good to go

all the surfaces are clean the top coats

mixed they recommend doing it with a

foam roller

this is where it really darkens up your

project here

have a nice top coat layer on here

everything is looking good let this cure

in the shade for fine an hour to and

then I'll move it to the Sun just to

bake it in here's something I always do

when I'm using foam rollers or any

rollers that hold a lot of resin I get

it off the boat to let it kick don't

just throw it in the trash they heat up

quite a bit they hold a lot of resin and

with that much resin in there creates a

lot of energy you don't want to burn

your boat down okay

there we go

almost out

hey this stuff's about dry

a couple more hours

it's getting her though

and just like that it's been two days

I'll let these cure for two days and

they are ready to be assembled and put

back in place but I got the texture I

like everything's cured feels good looks

good so I'll break these off they're

temporary stands here put it back

together and install it okay now I have

to get the caches installed that hold it

in the closed position before I put the

continuous hinge on so it doesn't over

extend itself

to set this continuous hinge I'm just

gonna tack in a few to start I'm not

gonna do all of them just in case I have

to remove it I want to make sure that it

fits in the way I originally designed it

okay now here's the lid slide this up

into position open the continuous hinge

and setup you in as well I'll put the

rest in after I test minute

okay now that the counter is installed

let's take a look at it there we go

Lynne has her pho looking solid surface

full 2-inch thick or it seems undermount

sinks all throughout the book now

they're all in so here's the final specs

on this I'll throw it up on the screen

not too bad let's take a look at the

other counters in the boat as well

here's the upper head has the same

articulating counter top to reveal the

head under that locks up and out of the

way let's show you how that works

again click it just like that

now let's look at the specs on the

galley countertops quite a bit more

surface area here but they're all

constructed the same way

I even have enough room to put in a

pop-up microwave

okay now that everything's done this

will open up a whole batch of new

projects for me I could now get the the

faucets in the drains in kind of

lighting up this room I'm actually gonna

put a panel removable panel back here on

this opening I left that open as a

plumbing chase for this future shower

but those I'll have to wait for another

week hey guys thanks for watching this

week's episode of ombre lifestyle if you

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