Question on Tiki Bar Specifics

Greets All!
I'm in the process of building a Tiki Bar (The Tipsy Tiki). I've got the bar itself built but am at a stand-still on coming up with a choice for a bar top. I've been searching through the forums and getting some ideas. What are some popular suggestions?

Also, is there a standard 'distance' that a bar should overhang when you sit up to it?

THANKS!
SjN

You know what Astroturf is? Try Astroturf. It's in the carpet section of Home Depot.

I used green, but if I'd had more guts I might've tried blue. Lay it snugly over bartop, then tack it down underneath. For an extra added touch of class, put photos of your relatives and friends drinking on bartop, then cover with a custom-made piece of glass.

Mrs. Shipwreckjoey has an excellent bartop. Made a little rim around the wooden bartop, scattered some pretty little shells across the bartop, then added layer after layer of some sort of clear plastic. Looks absolutely great!

Also, is there a standard 'distance' that a bar should overhang when you sit up to it?

Depends if you're Shaq or Mini Me.

I built a bar recently and went with a 6" overhang to go along with a 30" bar depth for total of 36". It is 60" wide. See my pics in my post furthur down this forum. I found the table top at a tent sale, it had no legs and a few scratches and they were practically giving it away. I had to cut 6 inches off the back side to fit my bar. It was a dark cherry stain and I fired up the ol' palm sander and took it down to bare wood, which also took out all the scratches. What a beautiful butcher block surface appeared! Then a coat of honey oak stain to get the color more in tune with the bamboo and 3 coats of marine spar varnish. Also what turned out to be a big help was that the table was split in the middle and made for adding a leaf. So when transporting it to my brother in laws house, it was easy to unbolt from the bamboo frame and separate the two pieces for easy transport. I only had to take off the sliders from underneath and use 2 smaller pieces attached across both pieces for support. The stock latches underneath stayed intact. I'm pretty sure tho, that when I build my next bar for me it'll be a one piece top.
My advice is to check out some local furniture stores or warehouses and see if they have any blem tabletops in the back room or something that they want to get rid of. Good luck!

Thanks for the great advice all! Yesterday I was down at my local Home Depot and they have a 6' x 24" piece of butcher block board for 24 bucks. I was going to go with something like MDF or press board then cover it with a thatch matt but I'm concerned that the press board wouldn't take to well to moisture so I'm looking for alternatives.

Another idea I saw was a bar top covered with burlap. It gave the bar that polynesian feel. A piece of lexan was then cut to fit over the top so postcards, menus etc could be slipped underneath. Thought that was pretty cool.

I'm glad you said six inches! That is what I was thinking of going with. That seems to be a comfortable overhang without seeming too excessive. Sheeeesh! Didn't know there was so much architecture that goes into building a Tiki Bar!

Pictures coming soon.

SJN

[ Edited by: iamsjn on 2005-02-01 07:13 ]

Personally, I prefer a 10-12 inch overhang...