Teak Table Build

So after Redoing most of the interior on my Pearson P30 I decided to forgo the original plywood table that mounted to the bulkhead and instead try my hand at “finer” woodworking. I say Finer because this table is the first time I am trying many of these common woodworking techniques and because of this it came out a little crunchier than I had hoped. However that being said I am very happy at how well the table turned out. Now on to the actual table. I wanted to maintain the nice finished look of oiled teak on the interior of the boat, however teak can be quite expensive and since I had gone over budget on materials already I decided to instead wait and see what kind of materials I could acquire for this project. I ended up lucking out by finding a boat consignment shop with a ton of drops from full length boards. I bought all the wood for this project for less than $100.

Since these were drops I decided I would try to make a personal favorite a butcher block style table. However, something that worried me was how well this would hold up to time so after gluing up the table I drilled and install aluminum rods and washers and lock nuts every 18 inches or so the entire length of the table. The outer layer of wood is essentially clamping the rest of the boards together now. In theory this should help reduce the risk of the table separating over time. I also decided to make the table become a part of the counter when not in use to help keep the cabin as open as possible. Also because the cabin is as small as it is not taking up that bulkhead space could allow for more storage to be added afterwords.

I began by squaring all the pieces up. Since I did not have access to a planer or joiner I used a table saw. This worked quite well.

After cutting all the pieces to the correct widths I laid them out and began cutting them into overlapping patterns that maximized the overlap. This would add strength and rigidity. After laying everything out I used a sharpie to number all the joints to mark the location that I was going to add biscuits. After using the biscuit joiner I glued all the layers of the table together using a rubber mallet to "convince" the pieces together. Some pipe clamps and ratchet straps held everything together until the glue dried. after the glue dried I added aluminum rods to the table to clamp the inner layers together. Then I used teak sawdust, and wood glue to fill the few gaps and the holes where the aluminum rods were. Using a belt sander I knocked all the high spots down and smoothed all ridges out. Then i used a random orbital sander to smooth the surface further. Lastly I routed the edges with a round over bit.

The legs are routed red oak and are mounted to the table with folding leg mechanisms. I am not a fan of these but they serve there purpose. The molding on the edge of the table is made of red oak as well I made this by beveling the table saw and using a compound miter saw to bevel the edges. lastly I used a sander to round over the edges and remove the burns from the table saw.

Finally I assembled the table and oiled the teak, then stained the red oak.

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