Radio bezel and sun deck repair
 

First off let me say that I love the forum. It's been a great resource. I have a '98 Z221 Talari that I've owned for 3 years now. Recently my radio bezel broke after a long day of boating. I followed the info from a post here and replaced it with a vinyl wrapped aluminum plate. I'm a Tool Maker by trade so I hand made all the parts. I had several open slots including the cassette tape holder which I eliminated. I'm very happy with the results, the vinyl matched the original dash pretty darn close. It's just a little more red than the original.

Re: Radio bezel and sun deck repair
 

I'm now tackling the sun deck. The next time I went boating after fixing the radio the darn threads pulled out of the sun deck hinges. I've stripped the sun deck down to bare wood. It's very solid with the exception of the steel tee nuts that rusted apart. I've made three stainless plates with stainless weld nuts that I plan to insert into the wood. But now that I've gone this far I'd like to seal the wood to keep it from bleeding this dark brown water from it's edges when it gets wet. Anyone have any ideas on what I would use to seal the wood before I reinstall the foam and upholstery?

Re: Radio bezel and sun deck repair
 

That bezel looks factory! Good job.
I don't have an answer for fixing the bleeding wood on the sundeck, just wanted to compliment the fix.

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Re: Radio bezel and sun deck repair
 

Bezel looks awesome!:wink_thumbup:
I'd use Helmsman Spar Varnish on it. Need to make sure you do all sides.:yes_grin:

Re: Radio bezel and sun deck repair
 

if your sun deck wood is water saturated, you need to replace it. one issue that most make is sealing wet wood. That is the last thing you want to do.

It either need to be totall dried or sealed with back yard wood deck seal. this allows what ever moisture is trapped in it now to escape and deny any new moisture from coming in.

If it were me, Id replace that board all together and seal it with a good wood stain sealer.

Re: Radio bezel and sun deck repair
 

Thanks for the recommendations guys. At this time replacing the board may be my only option. There is a lot of adhesive on both sides. I just spent the entire evening trying to sand it off with no luck. I doubt I'll get any type of stain to hold with all of the adhesive residue everywhere. Sucks because my intentions started out to just peel enough fabric back to get the stainless nut plates installed. But one thing lead to another, and now I'm sitting here with with the thing completely dismantled.

Re: Radio bezel and sun deck repair
 

I know its too late for you, but if anyone else has this hinge problem I'd like to suggest my fix. I was tempted to build a backer plate with captive nuts as in your pic, but instead I used new stainless steel T-nuts that were one size bigger than original. I think OEM were 5/16 and I used 3/8 inch. This obviously means you have to use new SS bolts as well, but the added flange size on the bigger T-nuts was enough to solidly hold the hinge hardware to the wood deck. Completely rebuilt the hinges for under $50.

Re: Radio bezel and sun deck repair
 

If your gonna replace it , use King Starboard.:rolleyes: Why use wood again?:shakehead:

Re: Radio bezel and sun deck repair
 

I would suggest the same. It may be a little more expensive but you won't have to mess with it again.

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Re: Radio bezel and sun deck repair
 

I thought the same and in many locations around the boat I think this is a good idea too., except here.

Figure, his boat is 15 years old already. Will he still own it in 15 more years ? if not, then why spend the money or bother.

In 15 years what will the vinyl look like ? Even if he reupholsters today, and he uses his boat regularly it will be time to do it all over again then anyways.

dont get me wrong, Im a big fan of boat-board or star-board products, but the additional costs in my opinion dont add up here.

If he uses a good quality 10-12 ply board, then stain-seals it well after construction it will last beyond the vinyl life. Mariah did not seal any wood in the construction of our seats and they lasted how long ???

Food for thought.