Helm Station Woodwork
The vertical piece looks like an owner added item. This looks like an Express serial number, and they didn’t come with the vertical piece as shown, to my knowledge.
Note the steel car channel, mine was stamped “United States Steel”
I understand George has laminated some 1/8” marine plywood with epoxy to the bulkhead here, and it appears he’s got some stain on there too. The care of workmanship seems to be in the “very good” category, having gone thorugh much of this myself in the not too distant past. I didn’t do any laminations, because my original wood was in good enough condition to keep, but that required some care in finishing new and old wood that comes together in the corner.
Don’t you just love those sequential photos!??
Here George is fitting new side boards to the helm station, which I also did. The work is well worth it. Bran new mahogany is tough to beat when finished bright. The guys at my marina are astounded each year when I take down the canvas and show off what a Commander is really supposed to look like! So many of them have been “numbed” by plastic, I don’t think they recall how good wood really can look!
The proof is in the pudding. Does this guy know what he’s doing???
ANSWER: “yes”
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Editors sidenotes:
George has owned his boat for twenty years, and now it looks like it's got a new lease on life. Good show George, my congratulations.
Janet and I have done the same thing to our Commander Express several years ago. Here's a photo with the sun to our back, fully illuminating the interior, and you can see there are few other models on the water that can show off wood like a Commander Express. George's boat will present itself the same way if the sun angle works for the photographer (this was a lucky shot for me, I just saw it and grabbed the camera!)
One tip I would like to offer anyone contemplating doing this work, is to finish all of the flatwork in the shop on a bench or a couple saw horses. George laminated new wood all over his helm station due to the wear on his original wood, so his installation was assured of a uniform stain finish from the get go. I stripped the old wood down to a clean bare finish on ours, and stained everything with the same mix. If you take the time to source ribbon sliced Phillipine marine mahogany, it's a perfect match to what Chris Craft used on the original wood work, the results of which you can see in the photo.
The flat panels were actually finished with a foam varnish roller when they were laying flat on a bench, and the roller will put down a better finish than you'll ever get with a brush. I poured varnish onto the surface, brushed it out roughly, and rolled everything down to a nice uniform finsh. The relatively light varnish build quickly fused together giving a finish that even surpasses spraying. Sanding between each coat, wipe down carefully, add another coat, it's amazing how bright it will get. Our 1966 model came with white painted side panels, and I think you will agree (as I know George will looking at his results) the wood look is superior than the painted look.
Regards,
Paul
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FXA 38 3004 R