Bob&Alicia
New member
We decided to do like some other owners and cut 3 openings in our Vberth and remove the foam so that we would have more storage. I am truly amazed at how much room is under the berth. I have some questions input for you guys at the end of this write-up.
How we did it.....
I am not a very "handy" person so it has taken the better part of two days to get where we are today. I will post updated pictures as we go along. Using some ideas and best "guess" for sizing off other posts on this side we made 3 card board templates. Once we were happy with the size I cut two wood templates out of some scrap 1/2 plywood. The Port and Forward are the same size and Stbd is smaller. If I did it again I would probably forgo the wood templates. I found it hard to cut around. The cardboard helped get the feel for the size and to mark the fiberglass. The layer of painters tape with a sharpie mark might be all you need.
We laid out several strips of painters tape and marked with a sharpie the cut line and had the wood template. I left the middle of the cut open and used some double sided tape to help hold the wood template in place. I also screwed an "arm" onto the template that could rotate. This kept it from falling in as I cut.
Alicia did a great job laying out the pattern and tape. She also hung all the plastic. We covered the mechanical stuff and fixtures and made a curtain of plastic.
I decided to replace my cheap 30 year old jigsaw with a new 6 amp 1 inch up/down cut Ryobi Jigsaw with a wet/dry vac port on the back. The wet/dry vac port all but eliminated the dust. I have a 25' hose and had the vac outside the boat.
I wore a Tyvex suit, googles, face shield, and gloves. It was 85 today so I was a little hot.
I used a diamond tile blade for the Jigsaw. This cut like butter. The only problem was I bent the blade and did not realize it and cut at a beveled angle. Sweat was pouring into my eyes and I couldn't see the details of what I was doing. I was able to "fix" this later.
Once the 3 "hatches" were opened I found a really half way job of spray in foam. Most of it was not attached to the hull and easy to pull up. The bottom of it was like brown sugar. Whatever chemical reaction it had with the hull did not work well and it did not cure properly. A total waste of effort to put that in there. Not sure why they bothered.
I was surprised that it was wet as well. The boat is dry stack stored and we have had some mold problems. Alicia has asthma and can't tolerate the mold. A couple of trips to the boat was spent just getting rid of mold. I hired a boat cleaning company to change the damp rid and they used their dehumidifiers and commented for the size of boat they were surprised at the dampness and the fact they couldn't seem to beat it. I suspect the foam did not help.
There is some foam residue left on the hull where it originally stuck until it came loose. I am thinking about trying to remove it and painting the area (bilge). I read somewhere that garage floor epoxy paint might be an option. I've got to figure out how to remove the foam residue. Probably light sanding with the air sander and maybe wipe down with Acetone.
I used a Harbor Freight air sander with 120 grit paper to smooth out the edges of the cutout parts. I plan on using them as the new "hatch board" for the new storage. I also used the air sander to smooth the edges of the berth cut and a small palm sander with a triangle point to do the curved part. The wet/dry vac helped control the dust.
Questions and Next Steps:
The port opening might be a little big. Looks like a lot of my weight will be over the opening when I sleep. I don't want my 200lbs to fall through. I am concerned that I make a strong enough retainer lip to hold up a lot of weight.
I want to make a "lip" that the cutouts (hatch boards) rest on top of. Probably a two inch wide strip that is attached to the fiberglass. I am thinking of either using wood or the PVC wood alternative found at Lowes/HD. I read online that the PVC "wood" can be burnished with a torch or coated with PVC glue to cause it to reach successfully with Epoxy. I could epoxy the PVC or regular wood. I could also use 5200 for regular wood that I put an epoxy barrier on. If you guys think it is wise I could shoot some stainless screws downward into the wood. I would need to order some marine grade.
Questions:
What would you make the "lip" out of and how would you attach it?
Would you paint the inside of the storage area?
(I can't seem to figure out how to post pics. They're in my album. I will try to embed them into this write-up but didn't want to loose the write-up)
How we did it.....
I am not a very "handy" person so it has taken the better part of two days to get where we are today. I will post updated pictures as we go along. Using some ideas and best "guess" for sizing off other posts on this side we made 3 card board templates. Once we were happy with the size I cut two wood templates out of some scrap 1/2 plywood. The Port and Forward are the same size and Stbd is smaller. If I did it again I would probably forgo the wood templates. I found it hard to cut around. The cardboard helped get the feel for the size and to mark the fiberglass. The layer of painters tape with a sharpie mark might be all you need.
We laid out several strips of painters tape and marked with a sharpie the cut line and had the wood template. I left the middle of the cut open and used some double sided tape to help hold the wood template in place. I also screwed an "arm" onto the template that could rotate. This kept it from falling in as I cut.
Alicia did a great job laying out the pattern and tape. She also hung all the plastic. We covered the mechanical stuff and fixtures and made a curtain of plastic.
I decided to replace my cheap 30 year old jigsaw with a new 6 amp 1 inch up/down cut Ryobi Jigsaw with a wet/dry vac port on the back. The wet/dry vac port all but eliminated the dust. I have a 25' hose and had the vac outside the boat.
I wore a Tyvex suit, googles, face shield, and gloves. It was 85 today so I was a little hot.
I used a diamond tile blade for the Jigsaw. This cut like butter. The only problem was I bent the blade and did not realize it and cut at a beveled angle. Sweat was pouring into my eyes and I couldn't see the details of what I was doing. I was able to "fix" this later.
Once the 3 "hatches" were opened I found a really half way job of spray in foam. Most of it was not attached to the hull and easy to pull up. The bottom of it was like brown sugar. Whatever chemical reaction it had with the hull did not work well and it did not cure properly. A total waste of effort to put that in there. Not sure why they bothered.
I was surprised that it was wet as well. The boat is dry stack stored and we have had some mold problems. Alicia has asthma and can't tolerate the mold. A couple of trips to the boat was spent just getting rid of mold. I hired a boat cleaning company to change the damp rid and they used their dehumidifiers and commented for the size of boat they were surprised at the dampness and the fact they couldn't seem to beat it. I suspect the foam did not help.
There is some foam residue left on the hull where it originally stuck until it came loose. I am thinking about trying to remove it and painting the area (bilge). I read somewhere that garage floor epoxy paint might be an option. I've got to figure out how to remove the foam residue. Probably light sanding with the air sander and maybe wipe down with Acetone.
I used a Harbor Freight air sander with 120 grit paper to smooth out the edges of the cutout parts. I plan on using them as the new "hatch board" for the new storage. I also used the air sander to smooth the edges of the berth cut and a small palm sander with a triangle point to do the curved part. The wet/dry vac helped control the dust.
Questions and Next Steps:
The port opening might be a little big. Looks like a lot of my weight will be over the opening when I sleep. I don't want my 200lbs to fall through. I am concerned that I make a strong enough retainer lip to hold up a lot of weight.
I want to make a "lip" that the cutouts (hatch boards) rest on top of. Probably a two inch wide strip that is attached to the fiberglass. I am thinking of either using wood or the PVC wood alternative found at Lowes/HD. I read online that the PVC "wood" can be burnished with a torch or coated with PVC glue to cause it to reach successfully with Epoxy. I could epoxy the PVC or regular wood. I could also use 5200 for regular wood that I put an epoxy barrier on. If you guys think it is wise I could shoot some stainless screws downward into the wood. I would need to order some marine grade.
Questions:
What would you make the "lip" out of and how would you attach it?
Would you paint the inside of the storage area?
(I can't seem to figure out how to post pics. They're in my album. I will try to embed them into this write-up but didn't want to loose the write-up)
