1987 MK 1 Catalina 34 Hanging Locker Storage

By Jon Windt; Della Jean

NOTE - Before doing any projects, I highly recommend that you first go through the “Critical Upgrades” list and verify that your boat has all of the applicable items addressed. There is a link on the Message Board (copied here) entitled “CRITICAL UPGRADES – DO THESE OR ELSE!!!” that will take you to them. It is a good way to both learn your boat and make sure it is safe. Don’t put it off.

Hanging Locker Storage

I purchased my 1987 MK 1 Catalina 34, hull #493 in April 2015. There aren’t many places to put food and drinks on the 1987 MK1 boat, and the ones that do exist require removing cushions or covers. Since I don’t use the hanging/wet locker just aft of the Navigation Station as either, I decided it was a good candidate to use for additional storage. I don’t use it as a hanging/wet locker because there isn’t a drain for the water that would accumulate in the bottom to get to the bilge. Instead I added a couple ring nuts to the winch bolts in the head as the hanging/wet locker as shown in photo (1).

(1)

I decided this is a good choice because there is a lot of space inside, but without shelves or drawers it isn’t very useful as storage. Piling stuff up and closing the door isn’t very effective storage, especially when you want to get something out of there. The purpose of this project is to add sliding drawers plus a top shelf in the hanging/wet locker to provide for more storage that is convenient to use.

The Design Goals

• Add drawers in the hanging locker for food and drinks, screws, shackles, chargers, batteries, spare winch handles, etc..
• Drawers to visually match the rest of the cabinetry inside of the boat as best as possible.
• All drawers to be easily removable for access inside the locker, and to be able to return it back to an empty locker if needed/desired in the future.

Materials Used

• 3/4” Ash board rails for drawer slide supports and drawer faces, various lengths.
• Two 2 x 3’s to attach the horizontal drawer slide support rails to, 8 feet long.
• Two construction pine boards for drawer slide support rail mock-up, 1” x 6” x 8 feet.
• Two premium select pine boards for the drawer sides and ends, 1” x 6” x 8 feet.
• One premium select pine boards for the drawer sides and ends, 1” x 6” x 6 feet.
• Two 1/2” sanded both sides plywood for drawer bottoms and top shelf, 24” x 48”.
• ¼”sanded plywood remnants for drawer dividers.
• One 24” x 30” x 3/16” foam board.
• One Blum 22” standard drawer slide, 75 pound load capacity.
• Two Blum 26” standard drawer slide, 75 pound load capacity.
• Four IVES 3” brass slide bolts.
• #6 SST flat head screws, 1 1/2” long.
• #8 SST flat head screws, 1 1/2” long.
• #8 SST flat head screws, 2” long.
• West Systems SIX10 thickened epoxy adhesive.
• General Finishes Honey Maple oil based stain.
• DAP Plastic Wood, Golden Oak color.
• KILZ primer sealer
• Interior/exterior semi gloss latex white paint.

Making the Sliding Rail Supports

To have sliding drawers, you need a means to attach the rails to the interior walls of the locker. To meet the design goal of having a robust structure that’s easily removable back to original, I decided on using 2” x 3” studs mounted vertically with three dados cut into them for the horizontal drawer slide support rails to sit in. To attach the studs to the locker walls, they will be bonded in place with West Systems SIX10 thickened epoxy adhesive. To apply pressure to the studs during the bonding process, two #8 SST flat head Phillips screws will be used per stud.

Photo (2) shows the 2” x 3” vertical studs with three dados cut into each one. Each one is held in place with only the two #8 SST screws at this time. Since this is the mock up phase, no epoxy adhesive is being used. Also installed are construction pine mock ups of the rail supports for the drawer slides to check for proper length and that they’re level from side to side. The fiberglass is not flat, or vertical so there’s lots of trial and error at this point which is why I am using construction pine instead of the more expensive Ash.

(2)

Photo (3) shows a closer view of the left side 2” x 3” vertical rail support. Photo (4) shows the right side 2” x 3” vertical rail support and how its’ placement has to take the screws for the Navigation Desk corbel into account.

(3)

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The distance between the left and right side rails is to be 12 ¼”. This is the maximum width to make sure the drawers will slide in and out of the locker without interference with the louvered door trim. For the drawers to slide smoothly, it is critical to make sure the 12 ¼” distance is held constant for the length of each rail. To check this I used pieces of pine cut into 12 ¼” lengths with a spirit level and the digital level on my mobile phone as “go/no go” gauges. See photos (5) and (6).

(5)

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Photo (7) shows the addition of the foam board mock up of the top shelf.

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Final Fit Up

The 2” x 3” vertical rail supports, and horizontal pine drawer slide supports are in the proper 12 ¼” distance apart, square, and level side to side. The bottom and top rails are each 3” wide. The top rail is 3” wide to support the top shelf and be able have an ~2 5/8” drawer below it. The bottom rail is 3” wide to allow the Blum drawer slide to be as low as possible, and have enough material above it to install an IVES brass slide stop so the drawer doesn’t accidentally open while underway. The middle rail is 2” wide. The horizontal pine drawer slide supports can now be used to make the ash rail supports. Photo (8) shows the Ash rails installed, level, correct side to side distance with the Blum drawer slides, and the top shelf installed.

(8)

Photo (9) shows the drawer bottoms installed onto the Blum standard drawer slides to check for fit and smooth opening.

(9)

Photos (10) and (11) show close ups of the lower, middle, and upper drawer bottoms installed onto the Blum standard drawer slides.

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