V-berth Cabinet

[Rick Johnson]

Latest project:

The first picture is the jig I made to get the curve of the deck and hull.  The second is the template that I made using the jig.  I have finished fixing the $9 teak doors from Minney's Yacht Surplus.  Now waiting on the teak veneer.  Then, it will be time to cut some marine plywood and cover it with the veneer...

Baby steps...

[Stu Jackson]

Nice work, Rick.  Where do you store the filler cushion for the saloon berth?

[Ron Hill]

Rick : My only suggestion is that you may want to put some vents in the doors or the frame.  A thought

[Rick Johnson]

Ron,

Great suggestion! I was starting to wonder about that and definitely will do something about it now.  I got such a good deal on the doors I could not pass them up.  Maybe some type of louvered vent will fit on each side.

Cheers,

Rick

[Lance Jones]

If you can't find a louvered insert, what about using a mesh screen? I've used that before on various land projects.

[Ron Hill]

Rick : Vents Underneath works too!!

[David Urscheler]

Wow! I like it. Just when I thought I was running out of boat projects.

[Rick Johnson]

OK this was my louvered vent solution.  I just could not find what I wanted in teak (OK, not at I price I was willing to pay.  Especially not to import from New Zealand).  Instead, I bought a 2" x 12" American walnut self rimming vent off of eBay and cut it in half.  A little work with the router, gluing in a small piece of walnut and now I have 2 vents for the cabinet.  

I'm going to try making my own teak plywood this weekend.  A 2'x5' piece of Baltic Birch plywood, some teak veneer and a little glue.  We'll see how it turns out.

Cheers,

Rick

[Susan Ray]

Your cabinet looks excellent!! If you want it all to be a uniform color there is a stain from Minwax Polyshades (with varnish included) called "Olde Maple" that looks just like teak when applied sparingly. I have used it on Mahogany.
Aloha....

[pablosgirl]

Hi Rick,

I have attached some pictures of the cabinet work that the PO did to expand the v-berth storage on our boat.  The PO extended the v-berth shelf out and additional 5-6" and added a cabinet front as you did, but made the doors with wicket panels for ventilation.  If you look in the second and third pictures you will see the dark wood of the original shelf and the lighter wood of the extension.  The cabinet face and door frames are solid teak boards almost an inch thick.  The cabinet is large enough to store the cockpit table plus all the berth linens and comforters.  The only down side to extending out the cabinet is if you roll over in your sleep with your legs bent at the knees you will bang your shins on the bottom edge of the cabinet.  The PO also replaced the sliding lexan doors in the main salon with matching cabinet doors.  I will post these pictures as well if you are interested, just let me know.

Paul Shields
Pablo's Girl C34 # 551

[Ken Juul]

Nice work and great ideas.  For those of us that have a windlass for the anchor, we will need to get forward of the plywood bulkhead for servicing.  Is the addition easily removable?  

[pablosgirl]

Hi Ken,

Yes, it can be removed.  Removal requires removing about a dozen screws plus the screws for the original shelf.  So "easy" is a relative term.  For your own install, knowing that you will need to remove it periodically for maintenance to the winch forward of the bulkhead, you could modify the attachment to stream line its removal.

Paul Shields
Pablo's Girl C34 #551

[Rick Johnson]

Paul,

Yes I would be very interested in the salon modifications.  Always need another boat project.

Hook 'em Horns,

Rick

[pablosgirl]

Hi Rick,

Here are the pictures of the cabinets in the salon that match the v-berth.  They provide a lot of space to store stuff that won't end up flying around on a close reach in a stiff breeze. The cabinetry has enough clearance to allow easy removal of the chain plate rods for re-bedding.  These cabinets are not easily removed.

I have also attached a picture of the shelf that was added to the aft berth.  This shelf is removable to gain access to the systems behind these panels (steering cables, fuel tank, etc.)

Hope this gives you some more project ideas!

Paul Shields
Pablo's Girl C34 #551

[Lance Jones]

Ok Paul,
I love this project(s). A few questions:
1) Did you make the doors from scratch?
2) Do they clear the 2 dome lights under the shelf or did you replace them?
3) How wide is the shelf in the aft berth?

Looks wonderful. Great job!