Some of my winter/spring modifications

[rogerbum]

Last year I discovered a large void under the helm area that could be used for storage. I think that perhaps the black water tank would be installed here in other tomcats but since ours has an airhead the space was empty. Some this winter, I decided I would create an opening into that space to make use of it for storage.

Here's the hole in the floor in front of the helm seat.



It took a little guts to cut the hole in the floor but once I got through that I realized that the hatch I had intended to install wouldn't fully open as the starboard side has fiberglass that angles in and interfered with the opening. CRAP! So how to fix that? Well I thought about it for awhile and decided to enlarge the hole a bit to allow a grill to fit down below and then to build a hatch that would just drop in. The hole above is the enlarged version. I mixed up some thickened epoxy and painted the edge of the balsa core with that. I then ordered an 18" x 24" x 1.5" teak cutting board for the hatch cover. I bought some .75" x 1.5" teak lumber and cut four 4" cleats that I screwed onto the cutting board with stainless screws. The cleats prevent the hatch from sliding fore and aft or port to starboard. Here's the hatch installed.


I had a plastic tray and some oak shelving laying around in the garage. After cutting the oak shelving down, it and the tray fit into the area to create a flat floor that is elevated above the vee of the sponson. You can't see it in the photo below but there is another shelf spanning the sponson aft of the one shown.



I also installed a new helm seat. The old one was getting a bit worn. In particular, the front edge of the foam was worn. As a result my legs were rubbing against the forward edge of the seat. I bought a slightly wider and much better padded vinyl seat from Cabela's. It's much more comfy.



Finally, I made some starboard mounting pieces to mount holders for the dive ladder on the transom. I need to attach the weld mount studs tomorrow when the outside temps are a bit higher but here's where the ladder will go.

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[hardee]

Roger,

Nice job. That seat looks really comfy. Nice room in the "basement" too.

Harvey
SleepyC

[redbaronace]

Roger

Just curious why you opened up the space that you found to be a good storage?

While I would love more storage, I dont think I would be brave enough to open up the floor. Was it completely dry in there?

[rogerbum]

[rogerbum]

I also added a life raft to the roof. This is a Revere 4-person Offshore Commander raft. I over drilled the holes in the cored roof, filled them with epoxy thickened with fused silica and then re-drilled the holes to 5/16" diameter. I used a nylon grommet with a 5/16" OD and a 1/4" ID plus a nylon washer to electrically isolate the stainless 1/4-20 bolts from the aluminum frame of the cradle.


To make it easier to get the life raft out of the cradle (no easy task as it weighs almost 100lbs and is well over my head) -
1) I bought some bright yellow nylon webbing. The stuff I have is about 1" wide.
2) Took a piece that is around 16' long. The two ends of the webbing are attached to the front cross bar of the cradle. I sewed a loop into each end once I wrapped them around the crossbar. I used some outdoor, UV resistant thread for that. The ends are about 12" apart - the spacing between the grooves in the bottom of the plastic container for the raft.
3) The webbing runs under the raft, over the rear crossbar of the cradle and hangs down into the cockpit about 12-16" above the cockpit floor. In the photo, the webbing is wrapped up inside a nylon pouch with a velcro seal that is tucked in between the aft end of the raft and the aft cross bar.
4) When the webbing is released from it's pouch, the loop formed by the webbing hangs down into the cockpit and I can stand on it. My weight provides enough leverage to pop the life raft up a few inches and then the webbing is like a ramp that will allow me to pull the raft into the cockpit. From the it is a matter of tossing the container overboard. The painter line is tied off to the cradle.
5) The strap that holds the life raft in the cradle came with both a hydrostatic release and a manually operated quick release. Since the hydrostatic release doesn't open until it is 5 meters (yes 5m!) below the water, I didn't see it as being too useful. So I'm just using the manual release. I attached a line to it that is easily reached from within the cockpit. I think I'll try to sell the hydrostatic release or give it away to a commercial guy. They're about $95 new and only have a 2 year lifespan so my guess is the commercial guys are replacing them quite often.

While I never intend to actually use the liferaft, it's another level of safety for our offshore tuna fishing adventures.

[starcrafttom]

Roger nice work. I would not get rid of the auto release. You say it does not have a use because it has to be 5 meters deep. If you hit some thing at speed and not only hole the hull but flip the boat at speed. You might not be A) in a condition to use the manual release or b) any where near the boat to use the release. The auto release is there for anyone of a hundred reasons you are not able to use the manual release. $95 bucks is not going to line your pockets for more then a trip to west marine or the local wine store so but it just may save your life. and if its never used so much the better.

[rogerbum]

Tom, I just think it's highly unlikely that the boat will go 5m underwater prior to the time it takes me to release it manually. The more likely event is the boat turtling and the life raft remaining attached to the roof. The hydrostatic release won't help with that. Also, the hydrostatic releases have to be replaced every two years while the raft has to be serviced every three. Yes, that's a minor deal but you'd think they could make a release that has a similar service interval to the raft.

[thataway]

Great work! Some of the Tom Cats have the water tank on port side, others on the Stb side. On ours, the head holding tank was built into the base of the commode (9 gallons only).

We had looked into our "voids" in the hull, and there was rarely any moisture. There is a solid bulkhead between the bow storage areas under the bunk and where Roger opened up. One thing the Tom Cat does not lack is areas for storage. I agree with Roger, although there is a huge amount of storage under the bunks, it is fairly difficult to get to it.

Good use of space!

[bridma]

On my 2009 boat it came with a floor locker in front of the helm seat. I'm pretty sure it was standard when the boat was built because the detail and finish matches everything else in the cabin. Wonder why your 2008 boat did not have it? Or maybe it was not standard to put it in on your model of boat!

Martin.

PS. It is where I keep my scotch. Don't tell the admiral.

[ssobol]

My '08 CD22 also has a small storage locker below the driver's feet. It looks like the boat came that way.

[starcrafttom]

Roger , My point is that you may not be awake any longer as the boat is sinking. Might be nice to have a raft floating when you wake up. Or nice for the people on board if your dead and they don't know anything about how to release the raft. Auto releases, just like our auto inflate jackets, are for the worst of times not the best of times. Luck favors the prepared.

[rogerbum]

[starcrafttom]

Yes we disagree. I want any and all the chances I can get to stay alive. You don't. I also understand that I could no better predict what could or will happen in a boat then anyone can predict the climate.

On a side note: why would a painter not have a breakable link so its not sucked down to davey jones???

[rogerbum]

Last evening I replaced the macerator pump in the port side fish box. That took about 3 hours total of which at least 1 hour was spent relaxing between bouts of frustration. I've had macerators in the fish boxes for about 2 full seasons. 1 macerator per box. I've replaced 1 pump once and the other one twice. All the previous ones were Jabsco. This time I put in a Whale "Gulper Grouper". It's a non macerating, "non-clog" (yeah right) diaphragm pump that will hopefully last longer than the Jabsco pumps. The replacement process involves working through a relatively small access hole to screw/unscrew the mounting bolts. It's a little like being an obstetrician working with a breech baby - e.g. I'm putting both arms through an unbelievably small hole and trying to rotate something around that doesn't want to rotate. Between the heat, the multiple times I dropped the wrench and the feeling around in to find the screw heads and nuts, it really gets on one's nerves. Hopefully the Whale pump will last more than a season or two as it's a huge PITA to change out.

[rogerbum]