When getting a new dinghy turns into remodeling the aft deck

[Angela]

You know it happens to all of us sooner or later...the “while you’re in there” will get you!

It all started with my desire to get a dinghy like Pascal’s. I’m going to take the prototype he built, but it’s 14' long. It will be nice to have a tender large enough to carry all of our guests at one time, if necessary.

My davit was poorly located for a couple of reasons. First, the pole comes into the aft deck right in a spot to make seating six a challenge. You can see that in the photo below. We can’t get the chair on the end in or out without moving the entire table because the pole is in the way. Second, we can’t even adequately stow our current 11' Whaler on the FB because the davit is right where the engine needs to sit. I put up a photo below to show how messed up the “fit” is. Thus, the little Whaler’s bow hangs over about 3 feet on one side. This also makes launching the dinghy difficult. However, we can solve this! If we move the davit forward about 3 feet, all our troubles disappear. Well, that itself turned into remodeling the aft deck.

After careful measuring, it’s been determined that the davit will need to go inside the railing on the FB and we’ll have to cut out a corner of the aluminum pipe-welding and re-weld a couple of 90-degree supports in the other direction. That will permit full rotation of the davit it's attached motor. Not a big deal.

Next, we have to remove the bar, sink and ice maker because the davit pole needs to go where the ice maker is - right about in the spot where you see the drill sitting in the photo below.

Well, while we’re in there, it would be nice to get ride of that blasted condo-looking piece of OEM sliding glass PATIO door crap (how do I really feel about it? LOL) - dumbest thing Hatteras ever did. We’d like to install a pair of sliders like our pilothouse doors are.

While we’ve got the bar out, we need to slim it down. There is a lot of void, wasted space in that “box.” I’d like to slim down the footprint of the cabinet in order to make it easier and more comfortable to maneuver around the dining table.

Well, after we change all that, then we need new carpet out there since the “cut to fit” I installed in late December won’t cover the newly exposed floor around the bar that will have a smaller foot print.

If anyone has removed any of their aft deck cabinetry, I’ll all ears for any tips you might have. We’re trying to get it out whole so we can cut it down and still use most of it since it’s contoured to the floor that is not flat. Well, that’s the plan anyway. We’ll see how it goes.

In keeping in line with Yachtsmanwillie, I’ll post photos as we go along.

[Jaxfishgyd]

[QUOTE=Angela;97987]

It all started with my desire to get a dinghy like Pascal’s.

Get a dingy like Pascal's or BE A DINGY like Pascal ?????

Seems there's a fine line between the two....

[SKYCHENEY]

Some idiot mounted my davit right where the motor of the tender is as well. I had to downsize to a 10' Avon RIB to make it fit and it still isn't easy to get it up there right with the davit in the way. Even mounting it just 2 feet forward would be a big help.

I can't wait for those pics. This project is on my list as well.

[yachtsmanbill]

Geez Ange... I'm really proud of ya! The hardest part of any job like this is taking the time to think it through. When I gutted the center stateroom, it was a challenge to figure out how Bubba built the stuff in, versus Lars doing the Chris craft stuff in Michigan. Cabinetry is part science and part art. I know you have a handle on both. Be systematical with the demolition, save the screws, and try not to bust stuff up if it will in any way come apart and be re-used. If you decide to build all new stuff then the old stuff gets used for bracing and battens... try to recycle, gosh darn it!
Finally, and I say this tongue in cheek, ya gotta name the thred, cause ya know it will be heavily scrutinized! "Im feelin' a little dinghy" LOL, and always take a second for a pic--- hell these days you dont even have ta buy film and take it back to Walgreens! ws

[yachtsmanbill]

HEY!!! While your in there, please take a bunch of pics of the sliding side windows will ya? Bubba did mine in fixed panes which is a real pain. All I have is the wing doors and porch door for ventilation, and it doesnt "blow"!
Get that package yet? ws

[Angela]

Finally, and I say this tongue in cheek, ya gotta name the thred, cause ya know it will be heavily scrutinized! "Im feelin' a little dinghy" LOL, ws

LOL....going out on a limb with this one, but Bill, I think this whole ordeal started with "I'm feelin' a bigger dinghy." Have fun with that one!

[yachtsmanbill]

Just remember what Ralph Kramden used to tell Alice..."Baby youre the greatest!" ws

[Angela]

There’s no turning back now. The plan was to save the bar, modify it, and reuse most of it. Well, it didn’t work out like that. There were enough rot patches here and there and enough of it that was 5200'ed together that we just decided to create a new one.

In just 2 hours, Gil (one of my dockmates - the dock’s “McGyver”) had the ice maker out, bar out and sitting in a cart on the dock, water capped off so I could have water again, and a dirty mess on the aft deck which I’ll wash off tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, Gil’s coming back tomorrow evening and pull the davit and the pole out from its current location and figure out PRECISELY where it’s going to go before cutting the new hole. He’s a perfectionist, so we’ll be fitting the davit to the new location and then spinning it and simulating the operation before cutting the new hole. By the way, Gil tackled this job after getting up super early this morning and priming and painting his deck with Awlgrip, non-skid neatly laid out with the slick seam between the non-skid areas. His paint job looks GREAT!

We’ll have a hole in the aft deck ceiling to patch. The ceiling has a popcorn texture to it. Gil wants to make a mold of some sort so that when he goes to fill the old hole, he can secure a mold of the pattern to the ceiling so that when he glasses in the old hole, it will have the same texture as the rest of the ceiling when he’s done. Does anyone recognize this texture and is there a better way to recreate the texture to hide the hole? I’ve put a photo of it below.

[Angela]

Three more photos. Hey, I feel like Yachtsmanwillie with all the photos!!!!

[Angela]

Mas!