It’s been a year since we removed our fiberglassed-in salon table and replaced it with a free standing coffee table. This post details our salon table removal process, including the pros and cons!

The old table was massive. The L-shape created a giant table-trap, while the table could comfortably fit a large number of people, there was a very strong ease-of-use factor that prevented actual utilization. The huge base took away any legroom, and frankly that storage isn’t very useful at all as it tends to take on the worst of the bridgedeck slamming so only non-breakables could be stored there. Added to that, we aren’t table people! When we had a land house we only used the table when we had people over (and when we were making cabinetry for our Volkswagen bus).

First we disassembled the table. With that massive table top out of the way the space already opened up so much.

Then we found something horrifying. The table was completely glassed in. Not just tabbed in, but thick layers of epoxy and fiberglass. The scope of the salon table removal project increased dramatically. I jumped online to see if other Island Spirit owners could offer insight, and I was told that the first Island Spirits had tables come loose soon after production, so they increased the robustness of the table adhesion. By a factor of about a hundred.

We decided to continue on anyway. First Kyle tried to use an oscillating tool to cut it right at floor level. That did not go well.

At this point we committed, 100%. Kyle used a jigsaw to cut the table off above the fiberglass. We created a blanket tent to mitigate fiberglass dust in the boat.

This left us with an ugly stump. Stump removal would cause a huge mess of fiberglass dust, our only option was to empty the salon and mask everything off.

We put up air filters and a fan to help move air flow and fiberglass dust in one direction (we did block off that top section as well).

After that, Kyle got to work with an angle grinder and sanding disk to take down the stump. It was crazy loud, since the empty salon echoes. Not to mention messy – it looked like it had snowed!

Kyle vacuumed up the dust then cleaned the interior twice before letting me back in. I gave it a third wipe-down, and that seemed to be a sufficient amount of cleaning. A full tyvek suit is absolutely required for the grinding, I feel itchy just looking at these photos!

Now we have a coffee table in place of the giant table. I love it. We have so much space now, and the coffee table fits our needs perfectly.

We got a lift top table, so we still have some storage here. Now we can access this storage while we’re sitting in our respective “offices” and get some work done. We also keep a few of our most-used tools in there.

I love our new space. We have so much room, we can fill up the couch without trapping anyone, it’s so much easier to access the storage under the settee, and the in-table storage is much more useful and accessible. The pros far outweigh the cons, but it is worth mentioning the downside of removing the table.

The downsides are only true in heavy seas. The worst is that the fixed table was a great hand-hold for moving around in heavy seas. I have no problem getting around now, but I have to think about it a little more. Since the new table isn’t fixed in place, it walks when we get bridgedeck slamming. Fortunately, it walks six inches starboard, runs into the couch and stays put. Oh, and one more – now that the giant table is gone it’s easier to see that our upholstery is in rough shape! Those are all the cons I can think of.

All in all, we have absolutely no regrets about removing the old salon table.