Hunter 30_74-83 Owner Modifications and Upgrades

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What a mess!!! 5

posted 10-07-2008 by Troy I

Here is an example of the condition of the large interior doors after we repaired and sanded them. I think they were either kicked, or slammed until the joints broke. There were several repairs needed like the one you see here. The door had to be taken completely apart and repaired and reassembled. This door had a piece of wood missing that needed to be replaced (you can see the lighter area). After the door is oiled, you will hardly be able to see the repair.

60 hours of woodwork and counting!

Here you see a closer look at another repair after it was oiled. This one was also missing some wood. The repair is visible at a close look, but after the door is reinstalled, you will probably never see it.

Another repair...

Here are the two large interior doors after they have been repaired and oiled. The sides you see are the good sides. The other sides needed much more work. While the doors were apart, we had to rearrange the inside panels. Someone had taken a knife and jabbed it, over and over, into the panels and left dozens of gouges. We reassembled the doors with the best side facing the salon. After a futile attempt at repairing the damage, we decided to go another direction on the other side.

The good side...

Here you see our solution to the problem. We decided to fill and paint the “head” side of the doors. It gives us a surface that is easier to clean, and also matches the white on the rest of the boat. The other door will receive a mirrored panel to hide the damage.

Our only option....

This is a close-up shot of the white panels on the original wood door. Not too bad eh?

Finished white panels...

The treads on the stairs were really damaged. We were able to belt sand down one of the treads, but the other was too far gone. We turned the step over and copied the pattern on the bottom.

Entry step...

Do you remember the “classy” door with the toilet paper holder hole cut into it? This is what it looks like after we modified it. We had to cut the rails in order to use the door (notice how the hole was cut). We were not sure how this would turn out in the end. Now that it is done, we all love this little door. It matches the white panels on the larger doors in the head.

Remember me???

Here are some of the finished smaller pieces.

Small trim...

Here are some of the finished larger rails.

More wood...

Every door and drawer had a rough hole drilled into it to act as a pull. None of us really liked the hole. We discussed several options, and decided on this. We simply beveled the rough edge with a router. We painted the inside of the hole with some black acrylic paint prior to using the router. This was a very simple fix. It is also consistent with the original boat, but has a more finished look.

Ugly door pulls...

If you look closely at the drawer face, you are able to see all the knife gouges. We filled and sanded them. We were trying to turn what looked like vandalism into “character”. I think it turned out looking pretty good considering what we started with.


Next step- we are planning to do something with the old kitchen counter and install the new fabric on the inside of the hull. More on that to come…

Here is the finished hole...

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