Looking for vitracor - birds-eye maple - mayday mayday

The Bill Collector

Well-Known Member
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Jun 2, 2008
5,019
Tacoma, WA
Boat Info
1998 450 Sundancer, Achilles dinghy w/15hp
Engines
3126 Cat's
Hey guys, our boat was broken into over Thanksgiving..... $30k plus in losses... All can be replaced except the bastards took one of our master stateroom drawers. A new drawer can be built but the facing on the drawer is the Birds Eye Maple laminate and I can't find a small piece anywhere...... (6"x12") If anyone knows of anyone with this product please let me know !! My only other option is to harvest a piece out the aft stateroom closet door and cover the hole with a mirror. 15289329_10212606848392539_9149427711297952206_o.jpg
 
Oh man, that sucks. Sorry to hear this. I hope you find what you need.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk
 
I'm still looking for you but I haven't found stock anywhere. Let me suggest that the best solution may be to pick up a birds eye maple veneer from a wood shop or off ebay and have the drawer fabricated. If a piece turns up, you still have the ability to install it if the wood veneer doesn't match perfectly.

John
 
Mark, that sucks big time. I am in Gig Harbor and a few boats here have been looted here. John at restorationmarine.com is your best source . In the meantime, can you take a close up good picture of the vitracor - birds-eye maple. That will help in looking for you and finding a match in texture color.

Mark T.
 
Try a laminate supplier. Or a fixture mfg. A regular veneer is not the same as Vitracor. Vitracor has that 3-4mm clear overlay.
A quick Google search turned up nothing.
 
Just to give everyone some background on this......the light Bird's Eye Maple is the only mid 1990's to early 2000's finish that is no longer available. We have had multiple requests for it over the years but the only original stock left was exhausted at fpmarine.com 3-4 years ago. We looked into re-manufacturing the finish 4 years ago and just could not make the numbers work. There just isn't enough demand to cover the manufacturing and stocking costs.

I'm sure there is some stock out there but it is 15-20 years old. Newmar makes good products but to the best of my knowledge....they don't have a match for this. That's why I suggested that a wood working shop might be able to get close. A piece of light Bird's Eye Maple may eventually turn up or a boat salvage yard may have a piece that can be re-used.

John
 
I have ordered a sample from Wilson Art.... They have a version of Birds Eye Maple that looks pretty close.
 
Where is the junk yard for older boats from hurricane damage. They all have parts to sell... where oh where is this mystical place?
 
Where is the junk yard for older boats from hurricane damage. They all have parts to sell... where oh where is this mystical place?
Dons marine salvage in Sarasota Fl may have something like a used cabinet door.You could also try sailorman.com
 
I'm sorry, but who the f* steals a drawer?! and hows does nobody see someone running off with said drawer?!

Sorry your boat was sacked...:smt009
 
I'm sorry, but who the f* steals a drawer?! and hows does nobody see someone running off with said drawer?!

Sorry your boat was sacked...:smt009

Thank you... They hit 6 boats in boathouses and 9 open moorage boats.... My stuff was all loaded into our dinghy that they launched motored away....
 
Sample from Wilson art arrived yesterday and it is close but not identical. I would need to apply something on top of it to give it the gloss and clear coat the Vitricor has....
 
Sorry to hear this I just found out Modutech got hit also. Hope all works out well.

I have had this fella do quite a few collector guitars in the past one of the best Luthiers on the coast. He may be able to locate or have a piece laying around. He builds some nice guitars they use birds eye on a lot of guitars.

His shop is past South Hill off of Meridian.

JP Guitars
Jack Pimentel
11917 150th St Ct E
253-841-2954
www.jpguitars.com
 
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