Cutlery Drawer Organizer in Acrylic

The arrangement and parts minimalization took a while to figure out, but I am happy with the result, especially given the drawer is located such that you cannot see its contents when you reach in.   

The organizer can be lifted out for cleaning.   The base is 1/8" acrylic, the separators are 1/4" and 1/2"(clear) and are solvent fused to the base with methylene chloride.

First-Aid Kit Mounting Bracket

 

Winter 2015.

This is an industrial-type first aid kit in a nanuk case, purchased through Vallen.   It will be mounted overhead at the foot of the quarter berth, (overfoot?) on the inside of the bulkhead that forms the back of the engine instrumentation/control wiring chamber.  (so the case will be upright, resting on the mahogany chock, secured by the velcro and the strap)

Two layers 1/4" acrylic, fused with methylene chrolride, industrial velcro and a captive webbing strap to secure.  Scrap mahogany chock, fitted to case. 

Took more time to simplicate the concept than than to make.   Out of the way, but easy to retrieve.

Vacuum flask/Thermos rack

 This is a simple project that has improved the comfort, safety, and livability of Windstar for shorthanded (or any) sailing.   It is simply a secure rack for two vacuum flasks.  I typically preheat these with boiling water then fill one with hot water and one with excellent coffee.  I keep a small electric "marina" kettle aboard as well as a stove top kettle.  Filling these is a morning ritual.

Having two flasks means the coffee is always ready as is water for instant foods or tea for those who prefer.  Also, one can remain undisturbed while the other is being used.   These will keep water very hot for well over 24 hours.

Pretty self explanatory, 1/4" acrylic, laid out, cut and drilled then bent on a strip heater.   

Cockpit Locker bulkhead

 Cockpit Locker Bulkhead

On the 33-2, there is a hatch on the starboard side cockpit seat that opens to the hull and equipment below..  .    This hatch provides access to engine, transmission, coolant overflow tank, propshaft and stuffing box, water heater, refrigeration compressor, engine cooling water intake through-hull fitting and strainer, fuel tank, steering cables and water pressure pump.  In Windstar, the dedicated start battery and xantrex battery charger also reside here.   

This is also where fenders, docklines, and anything else that's otherwise homeless would be stowed.  

That's a lot of stuff.

There is opportunity to better utilize this space, and what follows is a first step, and a pretty basic project..   

The project involves replacing a minimal removable plywood bulkhead, with one which incorporates some storage and organization.  This provides a home for winch handles, drop boards, bolt cutters, a pipe wrench, jacklines/dock lines, a deck brush, and the emergency tiller and wrenches.  The completed bulkhead in use is pictured below.  

The emergency tiller required a fixture to hold it in a way that it could be quickly accessed in an emergency.  .   Photo below is laying up a holster for the emergency tiller, bolt cutters and pipe wrench.

Off the form and trimmed.   Next step is to cut to length and paint.

Mounted on the new bulkhead, rough trial fit for experimentation.  This bulkhead is both longer and taller than the original.   Note, the tiller does not work in the location shown because the deck obstructs it from above.   No biggie, just used one of the other holsters.  You can see in the photo below, (only) the fitted wooden cleats that fit closely against the fuel tanks to form the pocket for the drop boards. 

Nearly done.  This is the starboard (outboard) side, you can see the tiller, dock line/jack line  hangers and a shallow plywood box for winch handles or any other loose items.   If you look closely beneath that box, you can see clips for the deck brush.   Not shown in this photo, and the pocket for the drop boards.     Note the cutaway at the bottom.   This provides access to the area below the fuel tank for the stowage of a spare anchor rode.

forward you can see the holster for the emergency tiller, there are two more such holsters on the opposite side.  

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Galley Soap Stowage

Galley Soap Stowage

 An easy evening project here to solve something that had been annoying me for awhile..  Where to keep the hand and dish washing soaps, and scrubber.

This location is otherwise unusable; the small space between the sink and the door, and between the door catch and the pump handle.  

Unfortunately this rack limits the travel of the pump by an inch or so, a detail I missed in the design.  Not a big deal and I’ll leave it as is for the extra space.

One more thing ‘in its place’!

On the bench you can see the strip heater, required for bending acrylic.

Upgrading the Galley

Windstar's Galley is compact and... adequate.  Understandable in a boat of this size.  I have made several small improvements impacting organization, the utility and performance of the refrigeration,  fridge refit.   

Here Windstar's galley with the revised single-piece hingeless fridge lid/countertop.  More detail is included in the fridge refit post. 

The original counter is made of plywood and is xx thick.

• Fridge lid 23.125"w X 33d incl rabbet
• Sink portion 24.5d X 18.5w
• Engine box cover 39.5d x 19w

• Soap storage and dispensing has a dedicated home.  Done, see this post.

The sink is 10" deep to the top of the flanges.

The through hull is several inches aft of the drain, which s centered in the sink.  A drain at the back would make better use of the cabinet space. 

Foot-pump could benefit from incorporation of a water filter.

A nicely made range I saw at the southampton boat show in the UK a few years back.

PFD and Tether stowage

Another item off the list of minor irritants...

In 2019 I spent some time looking at the clutter in Windstar and the stowage of various items which were either routinely taken out then put away (not not), or might need to be accessed quickly, possibly in an emergency.   PFDs made the list.  These need to be stowed out of the way, readily accessed, in a well ventilated space, and should not be an impede access to other stowage.

The volume and bulkhead space within quarter berth area fit the bill, and works with how I use the boat.   

The shock-corded hooks proved to be a simple solution.

Paper Towel Holder

Hardly worth mentioning, but....

Simple solutions often punch above their weight and this is no exception.   I had pondered over a paper towel holder for a while before coming up with this simple solution.  The unseen end of the shock cord is attached to a small eye strap mounted on the bulkhead.

Where to keep the Flares?

Flare storage box and mounting bracket

A small project to ensure the flares can be quickly found, while still being out of the way.   

I scoured Amazon for boxes and found this - a perfect fit.   I then made a fitted bracket and installed it in a visible but out-of-the-way place.  Will add a bright and easy-to-read label.

The bracket is made of 1/4" acrylic plastic, bent using a strip heater.   You can see that there is a doubling of thickness on the back of the bracket to permit the strap to pass.  That doubling was done by fusing two layers of acrylic together with a solvent called methylene chloride.  I have used this  stuff many times without incident but this time I unknowingly splashed some on my leg, the result being some deeply-blistered chemical burns that I became increasingly aware of some hours later.   (these are taking weeks to heal)

It's a easy to be cavalier about safety...  please be careful.

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

Port side settee stowage access

A 9600 lb racer-cruiser has limited stowage for even short cruises with more than 2 people.
One of the things I dislike about the 33-2 is the way the port side fold-out double berth impedes access to the only large stowage area in the boat.  In the pretty drawings, they don't show that the under the starboard settee resides only the fresh water tank, under the V-berth resides only the holding tank, and under half of the quarter berth resides one small locker and two batteries in a difficult to access locker.     The port settee is available for stowage, BUT the drop leaf table must be dropped, the seat cushions removed, and the berth extension folded out before you can lift the covers to access the stowage.  A nuisance!   Also, it's all one big compartment so the reserve beer and wine can crush the reserve potato chips.     (Apparently the water tank was moved to this side on later production years.)  

I wanted more convenient access to this settee locker, so I decided to add some hatches as you see in the photo.  I chose Tempress 1115 (11" X 15") slam hatches.  There are others, but these are:   "as functional as they are stylish"

https://tempress.com/store/#!/Slam-Hatches/c/610306/offset=0&sort=normal

Stylish!

See below for photos, fairly self explanatory.  I used a bimetal holesaw, and my fein multimaster with a circular bimetal blade.   Next step will be a simple barrier between the two compartments.

In future the chips will meet the beer only at the time and place of my choosing!

C&C 33ii Emergency Tiller Refinements

C&C 33ii Emergency Tiller Refinements

Update

Stowage for the emergency tiller is documented here.

Dealing with the tiller

Ok, "refinement" might be a stretch.

C&C supplied a very nicely made alloy emergency tiller with the 33ii, and designed the boat so the top of the rudder post is easily accessed.   So, dealing with steering failure should be relatively simple - just slip the tiller over the post and till away.  Right?

Well, not exactly.    The cast aluminum tiller head's bore is a very snug fit on the stainless rudder post, and in my case, due to some very minor dings on the sharp edge of the bore, it was not possible to slip it over the post at all.   Even without those dings, once started, it was not possible to fully seat the tiller by hand pressure alone.   The tiller is secured by a stainless bolt that requires two 3/4" wrenches to tighten.  These were simply taped to the tiller.  (nothing to go wrong there!)    All things considered, not what one would want to be dealing with in an emergency.

So, I filed a chamfer on the edge of the bore itself, then sanded the bore smooth(er), and waxed it.  Hopefully it will slip more readily over the post.

I had intended to replace the machine bolt on the tiller hinge with some kind of shaft and hand knob arrangement to make it tool-less, but I got to thinking about it while some varnish was drying, and and I came up with a less elegant but workable approach.  Thinking about it, I'm not sure the hand knobs would have allowed enough force to secure the tiller, and while some kind of cam screw arrangement would probably be ideal, that was too far down this rabbit hole, even for me.  Besides, the varnish was nearly dry.  

An eye strap was riveted to the tiller head and a length of shock cord installed.  (using hog rings to make secure loops)  To this, a pair of tethered wrenches was ring-hitched.   The geometry involved and the tension from the shock cord combine to secure the wrenches, while permitting them to be withdrawn from the tiller if needed.  Ugly but functional.

Next iteration is to cut the open end off the wrenches, and bore holes for the tether.   This way the wrenches can be fully inserted in the tube.  

This provided a minor lesson in metallurgy.   I cut the wrenches down with an abrasive-wheel chop saw, but drilling proved to be a challenge until I annealed the ends with a propane torch.  Easy then.  The holes were drilled, gently countersunk, and any burrs addressed with a conical bit in a Dremel.   The handles were dipped in primer, then paint.   

Lexan Shelves under sink

Should be clear in the photo.  Storing the various containers you see here was a nuisance, and the space was wasted.  
Simple solution that works.

Mahogany knife block.

I enjoy cooking (even on a boat) and dislike cheap, dull knives.   Below was made from some mahogany door jamb material I had on the lumber rack, fitted to some Henkel commercial knives I found -  was told these are the choice of most working restaurants/chefs.   They are quite fine for the boat, and the rack is, I think, a decent solution.   It was placed near the finger-hole to leave space on the left for future considerations.