August 2024

August, 3

 Oh, the hot, hot, dog days of August. A good time for some cabinetry. 

There will be four hatches in the Vee berth to gain access to all that space underneath. Here is one laid out but not installed. The hinges are half pin-barrel type so when opened you can slide the hatch off the hinges and remove altogether when loading the hold.

Here, I am clamping in the support for the hatch. The support is just doubling up the plywood around the edge of the hatch with a rim the hatch can sit on without falling through.

August 10, 11.

Half of the "Vee" berth laid in showing the two hatches with the rim.

Hatches fitting tightly.

Additional support for the "Vee" berth bed.

"Vee" berth in without hatches. 

Removable insert for the "Vee" berth. This drops down to make a seat.

Under the seat of the insert, I have added a drawer. 

I've been cutting out these hatch holes and making new hatches from additional plywood. This has worked well for the various size hatches that I've needed in the "Vee" berth. It's also a significant waste of expensive plywood. I decided for the salon where all the hatches (or access panels) can be about the same size, I've decided to make a nice router pattern and use a 1/8" router cutter to cut out the hatch hole and hatch at the same time. This saves time and significant amount of plywood. It took longer than I expected to make the pattern, and some trial and error, but ultimately the results were pretty good. I've cut all the access panels or hatches in the salon area; two in each bench and two in each crew berth bases above the benches. I'm going to dress the edges of the hatches with laminate tape using heat activated glue. This will result in a 1/16" gap between the hatch and the hatch hole. Very acceptable. 

The router pattern cut 2 3/4" larger (radius) than the actual hatch. The radius needs to be almost perfect because any defects are magnified (like a lever arm) to the much smaller radius of the hatch. The large PVC pipe section with 80 grit sandpaper glued to it (purple cylinder on the right) really came in handy cleaning up the radius.  

Starboard side bench in the salon. Adding the lip around the hatch hole to support the hatch cover and add strength to the bench.