Enlarging Doors and Drawers

[crieders]

I was thinking of enlarging the door for better access adjacent to the water heater and installing some large drawers under the vee birth where the small drawer is now. If anyone has done that can you give me some plans. I am particularly concerned about how properly to cut the fiberglass. Photos would be great. Thanks.

[Ted Pounds]

To cut fiberglass I drill a pilot in each corner and then cut between them with a jigsaw.  For a blade I found a carbide fiberglass-cutting blade.  You can use use a regular plywood blade or a metal cutting blade but it will be useless by the time you finnish the first cut-out.  I also tape the outside edges of the cut with masking tape to keep from marring the surface.  In my (former) v-berth I added a drawer on the stbd side and a door on the port side.  Both at the same level as the existing drawer.  I also added a door underneath the existing drawer.  Because of the slope of the bow there wasn't room to put a drawer there.  Sorry, no photos.  You can ask Brent, the new owner, when shows up here.

[Ron Hill]

Cliff : I'm not too sure why you want to make the door to the water heater larger?  If you remove the door and its frame, you can remove the water heater on a MK1.  Otherwise there's not too much more to access/or be gained, if you make that door and frame larger?

Look in this past Nov 2006 issue of the Mainsheet Tech Notes, you'll see my article on gaining "Extra Storage"!  I added some extra doors so you can access the storage under the Vberth.  I also added a much larger drawer over the water heater where the small factory drawer was.  Then I took that small drawer and relocated it in the aft cabin.   

There are many other Mainsheet articles about extra storage in the head (wall & under the shower seat).  Just DO NOT cut thru the box beams that the chain plates attach to.  Good info in those tech notes!! 
A few thoughts.   

[Jon Schneider]

Cliff, this is a perfect opportunity for you to download my "knowledgebase" (availiable as a download off of the Tech Notes page).  You can sort it easily to show only "storage" ideas.  Ron wasn't the only one who had a lot of storage suggestions.

[Stu Jackson]

To get there, go to the top of this page, click on C34 Tech Notes and go from there.

Also, see: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php?topic=3362.0