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The original headliner in Web Commander's
cockpit was in poor condition when we bought her. It was very dirty and torn.
It would probably been possible to just have it replaced, but we did not
particularly like the car like feeling it gives. Furthermore, with
two children armed with fishing rods and boat hooks, there would probably
soon be new holes in it.
So we went for a completely
different solution that our yard, Wasa Yachts, had
done on other motor cruisers they restored. The whole cockpit ceiling is
now covered by longitudinally mounted mahogany rails, about 5
cm (2 inches) wide. They are mounted on transversal wooden rails. Some 132
stainless steel screws hold them in place! High gloss varnish gives that
nice finishing touch.
Afterwards, we discovered that similar
solutions are used on some older Chris Craft hard top cruisers from the
50-ties, so may be our solution is not so far fetched.
In fact, pictures like the ones to the
right always attracts a lot of attention among Chris Craft Commander
owners in the USA. Most seem to like it.
More solutions...
Footnote: Ceiling.
The inside planks or lining of a wooden ship. The floor of a
hold. The surface covering to the top of a room. The light
planking or plywood sheathing on the inside of the frames. (From
The Complete Dictionary of Wood)
The
mahogany rails railends are fastned with stainless steel screws onto a
stringer wich is fixed to the hardtop itself. The orginal
headliner was fastned to the same kind of stringer. See picture below from
an ongoing restoration of a sister 31´Commander.
The
photo above appear by courtesy of Darin Haselhorst
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Mahogany
Ceiling
The
mahogany clad ceiling of the Web Commander cockpit. A nice extra feature
allowed by this solution are the four built in spot lights (two visible in the
photo) controlled by a
dimmer. They create an excellent atmosphere in
the cockpit in the evenings.
Mahogany
Ceiling - Forward Fitting
The
angle between the cockpit ceiling and the windscreen is covered by a
mahogany board which also covers the forward end of the mahogany rails.
The
same board also functions as a mounting place for the windshield wiper
motors (covered by white bags).
Mahogany
Ceiling - Aft Fitting
The
aftermost end of the rails just end up in a recess in the aft end of the
cockpit ceiling. The recess looks like it was always made to have a rails
mounted this way.
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