Bright work on earlier Californians

Morning
In regards to the interior and exterior bright work on Californians. What type of Mahogany is used for the paneling and trim work on these boats? Philippine? Honduran? Its not Sepele . I need to replace a termite damaged panel.

My 1977 34 LRC has Philippine Ribbon Mahogany on the interior, teak on the exterior.

jclays said:

Morning
In regards to the interior and exterior bright work on Californians. What type of Mahogany is used for the paneling and trim work on these boats? Philippine? Honduran? Its not Sepele . I need to replace a termite damaged panel.

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Mahogany, Philipine Mahogany and Sapele are terms that get confused quite a bit. Check out this link Mahogany Mixups: the Lowdown for one apparently knowledgeable person's take on it. In other words, when talking to a vendor do not limit yourself to one "species". Best to take a sample in hand when you go.

I've always called the "striped" grain pattern seen in the older Californians "ribbon grain Philipine Mahogany". In recent decades I've only seen it in ply or veneer, not lumber. It's my understanding that the stripes are a result of the way the timbers are sawn in addition to the specific tree species. A lot of people around the PNW call it sapele. No matter what it's called or if it's lumber or ply / veneer I think it's beautiful.

I just had some repair work done to my '83 Californian. Rot under the fwd head port side port light. The carpenters dug out the rot (after removing the portlight), laminated some veneer to new ply and patched it up. It's a very good grain match. The veneer came from Edensaw in Port Townsend. I'll ask what the carpenters what Edensaw calls it.

Color matching is another matter and takes a good eye for it. Buy extra ply or veneer so you've got some to experiment with.

The Marshalls liked to use American Walnut for their interiors.

PacificBlue said:

The Marshalls liked to use American Walnut for their interiors.

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Where did you learn that?

Are you thinking Marshall Navigators or Marshall Californians?

Must be a Navigator. All the Californians I've ever seen had ribbon mahogany. Mine is the earliest it is a 1966.

In our search for a Californian CPMY we looked at several with walnut interiors. We finally settled on the 1988 we bought. It had both some walnut and what I always thought was teak. Most of the walnut was in the closets and a few other areas. The earlier CPMY’s we looked at had walnut everywhere. Maybe what I thought was teak was mahogany? Not sure I could id the difference between teak and it. However walnut is very distinctive!

Jon, over the years the Wellcraft and/or Carver (east coast versions?) had different interior surfaces than the Marshall boats. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some walnut there.

The '77 Californian 42' I once owned has a ribbon mahogany. I did some repairs and new cabinetry using,a cross-cut PSA veneer from WiseWood. It wasn't nearly a perfect match, but looked good

FlyWright said:

Jon, over the years the Wellcraft and/or Carver (east coast versions?) had different interior surfaces than the Marshall boats. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some walnut there.

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Ours was a Tustin built boat.

I believe it is quarter sawing of lumber or veneer that creates the ribbon striping in the mahoganies. My guess is that my Californian has quarter sawn Philippine Mahogany. Mine is very yellow.

Repaired using a veneer of cross cut African mahogany laminated on 1/2 inch marine plywood. Couldn’t find marine grade in the grain I wanted. Used an amber color varnish. Good match

Great info! Thanks.

I had a repair done to my 1983 Californian 42 LRC at AMG in Anacortes Wa. Rot under the portlight in the forward head. The carpenters got paper backed sapele veneer from Edensaw in Port Townsend and laminated it to marine ply. Careful selection of the veneer and a bit of yellow tint to the varnish made a near perfect match.

Thinking I might give it the Herreshoff treatment; mainly white/off-white except trim pieces