Another storage addition.... Hatch in Nav desk footwell.

The 33-2 is not a huge boat, and this becomes evident very quickly if even a modest cruise is planned.  This is compounded by the production boat reality of the cost associated with adding access hatches and making some of the more oddly shaped bits of interior volume accesssible.   Case in point, the space under the nav station footwell.  Pics are self explanatory.
Am pleased with this addition - the volume available is surprising, and I like the idea of any opportunity to increase airflow throughout the boat.

Hatch is made by Viking products.  

Th

MAST STEP CHOCKS AND SHIMS

Mast step chocks and shims.

More fun with Shock cord- Bimini Frame

Had been annoyed for awhile with the arrangement for securing the bimini fore and aft.

As you can see, Windstar has three pieces of canvas, the dodger, the bimini, and a connector spanning the two.   The conector can only be used in harbour, as the main sheet track is in the cockpit.   As it is, the main sheet fouls the dodger slightly when running.
It's a good setup for this boat however it requires slacking and re-tensioning  the lines securing the bimini fore and aft in order to attach the connector canvas.
A perfect use for shock cord!
After puzzling this out a bit I positioned two fixed-length lines led forward.  these define the limit of rearward tilt of the bimini frame in the absence of the connector.  Below, port side.

I then added shock cord to pull the frame aft against those two fixed lines, and further added two lines parallel to the shock cord that can be tensioned with a rolling hitch.

The shock cord provides enough tension to spring-load the bimini against the connector or the forward lines, and the adjustable parallel lines define a limit of forward travel.
Works great and the bimini can now be pulled forward to operate the connector zippers, and it springs back into place when released.