[Public-list] Re: Cockpit Seat Lockers

[Cole, Andrew L]

Jeremy,

I am rebuilding my cockpit covers right now as well.  My boat, #152,
came with three sets of old lockers.  The oldest looking appear to be
tongue and groove teak laid longitudinally with a pair of cross supports
screwed across the bottom.  Both of the other sets appear to be 3/4 inch
marine plywood with a hardwood veneer cut about an inch small on all
sides, and edged on all sides with 3/4 inch by 1 inch wide teak.  The
front edge has a lip on it as well that would extend slightly down the
side of the cockpit.

Now, what I am doing is a bit different.  I didn't go with the tongue
and groove teak, not sure why, just didn't feel like it.  Most likely I
was concerned that the straight teak would curl or otherwise distort
(like the examples I had).  What I ended up doing was a variation on the
later version, except that rather than using 3/4 inch marine ply, I used
1/2 inch and have topped it with a 1/4 inch piece of Sapele.  I tried to
find teak, but you need a 13-14" wide piece for the top, and the largest
teak I could find was just a shade too small.  The hardwood store I went
to did have Sapele that was wide enough, I resawed it and planed it to
1/4 inch, and then just copied the pattern for the ply so that it sits
squarely on top.  I epoxied the Sapele to the ply and when I get a
chance to get back to the project, will clean up the edge of the glued
piece and affix the 1" wide teak edging all around using a biscuit
joiner.  Using the 1/2 inch ply should (hopefully) give the covers
sufficient stability to withstand temperature/humidity swings without
warping.

Making the hatches this way does require a reasonably well equipped shop
(which I have been fortunate enough to have access to for this project).
Without a shop, you might try one of the other methods, the hardest part
was resawing and planing the Sapele, it required a bandsaw and a planer
with sufficiently wide openings (and very patient assistance).  The
upside to doing it the way I've done it is that I can refinish the hatch
covers several times before going through the Sapele.  The veneer on the
plywood on the old hatches was just too thin, and it was already gone in
many places, otherwise I may just have refinished the old ply hatches.
As an alternative, you could dispense with the Sapele (or whatever) top
and just get 1/4 inch teak slats to lay on top of the ply, you could
rout a groove in one edge and both ends of each slat and fill it with
deck caulking for a fairly traditional look (which would also hide any
slight imperfections in the fit of the slats).

I will try to get some photos of the hatches in their present state
before finishing them and will send them to anyone who is interested.
It may be a little while, the shop is at someone else's house and we
have not been able to coordinate our schedules for a couple weeks.

Andrew


Message: 4
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 20:15:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jeremy Kosteczko <jeremy45_98 at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Public-list] cockpit seat lockers
To: public-list at alberg30.org
Message-ID: <20050919031547.40852.qmail at web30507.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

>i am looking to find out if anyone has plans for
>making covers for the cockpit seat lockers. 
>i am also interested in what the original material was. 
>i am trying to be as close to original as possible. thanks jeremy #177  

Cole, Andrew L
Admitted in Maryland, Virginia & Florida
One Corporate Center
10451 Mill Run Circle, Suite 1000
Baltimore MD 21117

 
tel: 410 581-7408
fax: (410) 581-7410
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