Forward Cabin
The drawers under the bunk simply needed rough plywood supports to be added to the existing interior liner. As the photo shows this is a little ugly but when sanded and painted is perfectly serviceable. An extra bulkhead was also added aft of the bow thruster to make a separate compartment for very light items such as winter duvet, spare pillows etc. A new bunk front was laminated to extend the length of the bed.
We first had to remove the vinyl covered panels which are attached with Velcro. From the cutouts already in the fore and aft bulkheads it appears Beneteau may have initially intended to do what we actually did. Notice the original cut out, forward of the trim piece, in what could have been a water tight collision bulkhead. As shown below we increased the size of this and made one.
Deniz trims the bulkhead cutouts to match the vinyl covered trim sections. While Peter would have instinctively picked up his router and used a ball bearing guided cutter, good sense prevailed and a slower less dusty option was taken. A hole saw for the corners and reciprocating saw for the straight runs.
Banu staples the new vinyl to the bunk side cosmetic trim pieces
The storage nooks fitted into the bunk sides were laminated glass fibre moulded inside a plastic storage box. The wooden trim was cut from cherry and stained to match as closely as possible the rest of the boat.
The collision bulkhead was made by increasing the size and changing the shape of the existing cut out which gives access to the area under the chain locker. The cutout has to be sized so that the hatch with its large flange can be rotated and removed. The existing bulkhead had to have more glass laminated to it and onto the hull to make the whole compartment water tight and strong enough to remain so in the event of damage. The hatch is made from two laminations of glassed plywood, one the size of the cutout and the other 40mm larger all around for the silicone seal. 6mm bolts permanently installed into the hatch make removal simple. Two small drawer pulls on the front make it easy to hold while manoeuvering it to align the bolts with the holes. The upholstered trim panel covers all the ugliness here.
The drawer fronts were cut from the original plywood and then were edged with solid timber rebated into them. Doing this is a lot more reliable than the Beneteau “iron on” plastic edges, which, especially in tropical heat, always fall off. Drawers run on heavy duty double length slides which enable them to be both easily removed and fully opened.