Installing Formica

[Capt.Bill11]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Krylon plastic paint from Home Depot also ... any colour .... make it look like low gloss leather if you want.

I guess.

But seems like it would be a whole lot easier to start with the color mica you want to end up with and not have to worry about the paint wearing, scratching, falling off a sheet of glossy white plastic later.

Or while you are installing the painted plastic.

[Larry M]

We replaced some Formica in the pilot house using a matt finish. Not the center section where the OP wants to but both sides of that plus a few other areas. We've found the matt finish is not reflective enough to be an issue. The existing finish was Formica and had some digs, holes and cracks but nothing over 1" in diameter. I used some 80 grit on a random orbital to scruff up the existing Formica and then acetone to clean/degrease. Contact cement was the adhesive. After 2 years, none of the imperfections have telegraphed through.

For cutting a pattern, we ripped ~2" strips of door skin. Using a pair of scissors and a hot glue gun you can make a pattern in about 5 minutes.

I'm not on the boat but here's a picture of when I was making patterns for the galley.

[FF]

The Epoxy sold for use on concrete garage floors looks like it should work esp well with a complex area.

Just roll it on.

[BelleAurore]

Lots of good posts here. I'm suggesting the 1/4" plywood is good if you float and level bad spots. Minimizes too much messy sanding. Use luan door skin cut in 2" wide strips (available from most home centers) to make a template by gluing together with a hot glue gun. Use the template to mark and cut the plywood then dry fit and adjust as necessary. Contact cement the Formica to the plywood then use Wes systems to bond plywood to your dash.

[DHeckrotte]

The (likely) problem with suggesting Luan door skins for anything is that most, if not all, cheepie Luan hollow core doors these days are made with Luan veneer on a very soft grade of Masonite-like cardboard. Sheesh. However, the 1/4" underlayment plywood sold at the Despot and all is vaguely Birch and both cheap and useful for pattern making.

Pics below show: Luan-cardboard doorskins used for modelling arch trim; it survived until the first rain, and Despot underlayment used to pattern a Flying Dutchman deck.

[BelleAurore]

Originally Posted by DHeckrotte

The (likely) problem with suggesting Luan door skins for anything is that most, if not all, cheepie Luan hollow core doors these days are made with Luan veneer on a very soft grade of Masonite-like cardboard. Sheesh. However, the 1/4" underlayment plywood sold at the Despot and all is vaguely Birch and both cheap and useful for pattern making.

Pics below show: Luan-cardboard doorskins used for modelling arch trim; it survived until the first rain, and Despot underlayment used to pattern a Flying Dutchman deck.

I'm not suggesting one use the actual luan (with cardboard) door. That would be pretty bumb... We buy sheets of thin wood (luan wood) that's maybe 3/16" thick at most. Rip it into 2" wood strips. There is no cardboard! Pretty standard shipwright template material. And, it cuts easy with razor knife and the thin edges easily sand to scribed marks to form an exact fit template. 1/4" ply is so thick it can't easily tuck into narrow spaces. Seems to me a very unwieldy material for some templates. When you just need the outline luan is great. I'll get a used template off the boat tomorrow so I can include a picture. Sheesh...

[BelleAurore]

Originally Posted by DHeckrotte

The (likely) problem with suggesting Luan door skins for anything is that most, if not all, cheepie Luan hollow core doors these days are made with Luan veneer on a very soft grade of Masonite-like cardboard. Sheesh. However, the 1/4" underlayment plywood sold at the Despot and all is vaguely Birch and both cheap and useful for pattern making.

Pics below show: Luan-cardboard doorskins used for modelling arch trim; it survived until the first rain, and Despot underlayment used to pattern a Flying Dutchman deck.

See LarryM's post above. That's the luan door skin. Perfect solution.

[FOG]

Slightly off topic, but somewhat related.
Has anyone successfully painted Formica? What was the process? How did it hold up over time?

[Capt.Bill11]

Originally Posted by BelleAurore

I'm not suggesting one use the actual luan (with cardboard) door. That would be pretty bumb... We buy sheets of thin wood (luan wood) that's maybe 3/16" thick at most. Rip it into 2" wood strips. There is no cardboard! Pretty standard shipwright template material. And, it cuts easy with razor knife and the thin edges easily sand to scribed marks to form an exact fit template. 1/4" ply is so thick it can't easily tuck into narrow spaces. Seems to me a very unwieldy material for some templates. When you just need the outline luan is great. I'll get a used template off the boat tomorrow so I can include a picture. Sheesh...

[psneeld]

Originally Posted by FOG

Slightly off topic, but somewhat related.
Has anyone successfully painted Formica? What was the process? How did it hold up over time?

Either someone here a few years back or on another forum described using a "system" to renew an old formica top.

I think it was a 2 part epoxy that you stirred in whatever look you wanted...like marble chip or whatever.

It supposedly looked very good as some commented they too had seen it, and like most 2 part epoxies with a decent thickness, it probably held up as good as any new surface.

You might try a few Google searches...sorry I can't be more specific with name or brand.

I have to redo my galley...while the surface is bad...it is the peeling up that is the real trouble. I found out when redoing my head that a heat gun hot enough to get the formica too hot to touch, was enough usually to make the contact cement lose its grip and the whole sheet could be pulled off in one piece unless already compromised. So you have ready made patterns.

[rwidman]

Perhaps the best repair is not plastic laminate (Formica) but something else that can be screwed in place. There are many options including veneered plywood, acrylic, and yes, even Starboard. A fitted piece of plywood underlayment covered with soft plastic (like a car dash) is an option and there are companies that make pads for swim platforms and such that will custom cut a (soft) cover. SeaDek Marine Products - Swim Platform Pads

Sometimes the first thought that comes into our heads isn't the best one but we get stuck on it.

[FOG]

Originally Posted by psneeld

Either someone here a few years back or on another forum described using a "system" to renew an old formica top.

I think it was a 2 part epoxy that you stirred in whatever look you wanted...like marble chip or whatever.

It supposedly looked very good as some commented they too had seen it, and like most 2 part epoxies with a decent thickness, it probably held up as good as any new surface.

You might try a few Google searches...sorry I can't be more specific with name or brand.

I have to redo my galley...while the surface is bad...it is the peeling up that is the real trouble. I found out when redoing my head that a heat gun hot enough to get the formica too hot to touch, was enough usually to make the contact cement lose its grip and the whole sheet could be pulled off in one piece unless already compromised. So you have ready made patterns.

Thanks. I'll try the Google search.
I'd like to try and match the white color of some existing Formica by painting the darker Formica below it in the galley.

[DHeckrotte]

Heh, heh! I sourced my last Luan door skin from a cheepie Despot door. I had intended to cut the door down to the size I needed to remount a clay tile lion I'd made in Junior High and which had been mounted on a cut-down Luan door for the several decades before Hurricane Irene ruined the mounting. When I cut my new door down, intending to simply move the edge strips in to the new dimension, I discovered the cardboard. Thus I had junky Luan-cardboard doorskins available for pattern making. I've never seen Luan-wood doorskins available for purchase, thus my use of underlayment.

You can paint Formica and similar plastic laminate perfectly well. Get it clean, sand the gloss off, paint.

I'm not Lion, just often uninformed. The thing is now mounted on a hollow-core panel made with an underlayment back face and 1/4" tile backer front face. Weighs about 250 lbs. Hangs on 3/8" bolts threaded into reinforcements installed in the wall. The thing can be lifted off, the bolts unthreaded, leaving only the boltholes (couplings) remaining flush with the plaster.