One of the nice things about Ping is that all the running rigging had been lead back
to the cockpit.
The downside to this is that a PO (previous owner) left a bunch of holes inside
the cabin top. There were holes underneath the external cabin top grab rails,
winches, and deck organizers. There were holes in the saloon, the galley, the
head and the forward stateroom. They were everywhere. Some of them were hidden
behind white duck tape. It was better than a hole, but it still looked like duck
tape.
When boat hunting several
months before I bought Ping, Benny, a wonderful guy with an Ericson 32 explained
how he’d covered the holes underneath his deck hardware with pieces of teak.
It looked great. I recalled what he'd done and it seemed to be the solution I
sought. Whilst ferreting around in a local salvage shop I came upon a large
number of long, finished, wooden strips about one inch wide. I found some
smaller pieces of unfinished mahogany in another shop. I stocked up on both as I
figured I could use all of it to cover something!
It turns out that the long
strips were perfect for covering the holes in the cabin top. I ran a strip down
each side underneath the external grab rail holes, with others running across
underneath the deck organizer holes. I used three short strips lying
side-by-side to cover the series of holes underneath the winches. It all worked.
In fact, it nearly matched the Pearson-installed strips in the saloon, and the additional
wood warms the look of the cabin.
What became of the mahogany? I used that to replace the gray Lexan strips on the openings of two cubby holes in the saloon. I like the look of wood much better than Lexan, so I view it as an improvement. BTW: I installed a 12-volt cigarette-style outlet in the back of the port cubby in an existing hole, using the power that had run to the old stereo. It's visible in the picture to the left of the upright book.
Things I'd do differently: I wouldn't have drilled so many holes in the boat!
Cost: US$35.00
Time: 2 hours