The cabin will have an identical base, though I plan to place it below the cabin sole with a round cover that will make it essentially invisible and flush with surrounding sole. I plan on replacing the entire sole in the main cabin anyway.
I started by cutting the skin off the cockpit sole for the radius of the pedestal base. The cockpit sole was strengthened some time ago by adding a 3/8? layer of balsa core (over the original sole) with new skins above. After cutting away the top skin, I routed out the balsa to about ?? beyond the outside opening. Then I cut away another 5? diameter hole through the original cockpit sole for that area of the base that receives the post.
I took advantage of the ?? differential between the old sole and the new to ?level? the base so the table post would be approximately plumb. The sole has about a 10 degree angle for drainage. First, I filled the area where the core was cut beyond the outside of the cutout. Then, I made a plywood circle that would act as a dam around the center hole. Finally, A loose mix of epoxy was poured around the cutout and gravity essentially leveled the area that base will come in contact with.
After that epoxy had cooled, I made another ring that was the same diameter as the outside of the base. This ring was used to fair the rough hole in the deck to a nice round opening.
Here is the pedestal resting in the new opening:
Joe
