Re: Bow Upholstery... Curved wood?
Last year I replaced the side upholstery panels on my SR 180BR. The panels start at the bow go down the side and then round again to finish by the gangway. In the corner, the upholstery is very curved and the side panels do follow the curve of the boat to the bow. When I removed the panels and deconstructed them, the plywood panels were ?" ply and quite rotten. They were attached to the boat with Tee nuts and SS nuts and bolts. Interestingly in the corner where the 2 panels joined there was a 3rd ply panel that was vertical and acted as a 'shaper' for the foam that curved around the panel. When I rebuilt, I used 5/8" ply for the smaller panel, 5/8" for the 'shaper' panel and 1/2" for long panel. As the dimensions are 'planed', they tend to come in slightly less than those measurements. I would have preferred to use 5/8 on the long panels, but there was no way the ply would bend to the boat curve, so we had to stick with the 1/2" planed. Before re-upholstering, the new ss fasteners were attached and a dry run fitting it to the boat side. It fitted a dream. Once re-upholstered, the whole thing was back to new. If you remove and deconstruct you bow panels, I think you may find the construction & attachment method very similar. Hope this helps
