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...
Closed Captions (CC):
[Music]
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
[Music]
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
[Music]
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
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
okay four minutes left you guys ready
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
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
liked it be sure to give us a thumbs up
and hit that subscribe button we also
have a patreon campaign and the link is
down below come back next week to see
one of our cool new videos see you then