23 Venture forward locker - Advice please

C

chimoii

New member
On the 2008 Venture 23 that we have there are three lockers in the forward cabin. The two at the sides have hatches over them. The forward locker is great for keeping sleeping gear etc. but the cover is loose, a large piece of plastic board. There is a tendency to move forward when opened, particularly with the cushions on top. Has anyone experience of putting a piano hinge or similar on the forward edge of the cover to fix it in place?

Thanks
 
I would consider putting "cleats" on the underside(strips of similar plastic--not sure if this is Starboard--but most likely is)--they need to be screwed in place. This will keep the board from moving, but will still allow you to fully remove the board to access the area under.
 
This is just a thought. Maybe attach some canvas webbing in three different places on the back side to the sliding cover and to the boat via some small pan head screws so the webbing is like a hinge. Cheaper than a stainless piano hinge and a lot less holes.
D.D.
 
Have you considered installing a hatch? On my CD22 I have three hatches; the front one is larger than the side hatches. And I could not agree more, there is so much useful storage space in those lockers.
 
Many thanks for the great suggestions. I like the cleats idea. I may try this at the forward edge of the board to see if they, alone, will allow me to lift without it without it jumping out of its recess. I'll take a couple of pictures over the weekend for clarity. I am also thinking about getting the forward cushion "hinged" so that it folds as the cover is opened. That would make everything easier. My old Whaler had such a hinged cushion and it worked well.
 
Last Spring, after cutting-in a total of three V-berth area storage areas, I did somethng similar with the original (large) V-berth cushion. I took the original to an upholsterer and had it cut into three separate pieces. Piece #1 is now a roughly triangular forward cushion, and the pieces #2 and #3 are the original areas that were farther 'aft. (For lack of a better term I just referred to them as the 'tails.) ...gee, that was easy to explain; and probably as clear as mud.

The (new) compartments are handy for deep storage, but not areas you'd want to access every day. Originally I'd planned to cut hatches and reinstall them with piano hinges and cleats (as Dr. Bob mentioned). While cruising the shelves at a Cabela store I found a ready-made metal hatch and frame that seemed the Perfect size, so I ultimately used that for the largest forward hatch. For the two smaller storage areas I used 8" screw-in inspection covers. I'm pleased with the final outcome.

The tedious part of the job was removing the injected foam from the area beneath the V-berth. (I'm told that currently C-Dory's don't even have foam in that area, but mine did.) I tried a variety of different saws/knives/picks and whatever seemed like it might work on the foam. Finally, I ended up using a 3M gizmo that is made for striping paint, on an electric drill. It's a disk, about 4" in diameter, black, and very rough that simply grinds the foam away and to a size that you can easily use a shop vac to get it out.

Good Luck with the mod.

Best,
Casey&Mary
 
The Ventures already have the three forward areas under the berth area the ones on the sides already have hatches but the center is a much bigger area than just has a cover made out of starboard or something like it. It's not a normal hatch size. This larger center cover is removable and just resides in a recess made for it. The poster wants to hinge the rear edge so it does not slide around when he accesses it. Somewhere in our alblum we show this area that was done by the factory when these boats were built.
D.D.
 
Will-C":hwoixbfs said:
This larger center cover is removable and just resides in a recess made for it. The poster wants to hinge the rear edge so it does not slide around when he accesses it.
Click to expand...

I see, so it sounds like it already has "cleats" in the form of a molded, recessed fiberglass lip. Couple of thoughts from my end:

1) I might be loathe to hinge it, if there is a largish or "unweildyish" cushion over it. Reason being that if you have a flat, detached hatch board, you can simply slide it forward (under the cushion) and get into the compartment. If it's hinged, you now have to pretty much completely remove the cushion in order to get the lid open and get in there. If the cushion is small (or could be made so) and easy to move, then it may not be an issue.

2) I would consider to keep the arrangement it has now, but make it less likely to slide and be irritating. I would probably start by replacing it. Starboard is relatively heavy and slippery; thinner plywood might be a good choice. Another option might be to make the top of the "cleat" fiberglass less shiny/slippery. Lastly, if the above did not work, one could perhaps fit some small turnbuttons (or the like) to hold the lid in place (my guess is that this would not be necessary).

Sunbeam :hot
 
Will-C":3slrmn10 said:
The Ventures already have the three forward areas under the berth area the ones on the sides already have hatches but the center is a much bigger area than just has a cover made out of starboard or something like it. It's not a normal hatch size. This larger center cover is removable and just resides in a recess made for it. The poster wants to hinge the rear edge so it does not slide around when he accesses it. Somewhere in our alblum we show this area that was done by the factory when these boats were built.
D.D.
Click to expand...

You have clarified my post perfectly, many thanks. Your pictures in your album also show exactly what I am talking about and saved me the effort. Many thanks!

We use the big area for life jackets and I wanted to make it easier to access. The cleats may work and i think i will try that solution first. i was thinking to make the cushion more flexible. As before, I was thinking about getting an upholsterer to "hinge" it but on reflection I don't think I will gain too much. As your pictures show the cover extends quite far forward and that would logically be the hinge point.

I see from the pictures that you tried the Velcro to stop the cushions sliding. I find my hip drops between the two as I sleep and I was thinking of getting zippers on the cushion edges to hold them together. Any thoughts anyone?
 
Will-C":3do1mvjy said:
The Ventures already have the three forward areas under the berth area the ones on the sides already have hatches but the center is a much bigger area than just has a cover made out of starboard or something like it. It's not a normal hatch size. This larger center cover is removable and just resides in a recess made for it. The poster wants to hinge the rear edge so it does not slide around when he accesses it. Somewhere in our alblum we show this area that was done by the factory when these boats were built.
D.D.
Click to expand...

Here's the first photo. Click on it to go to the album and several more photos.

IMG_2457.jpg

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Okay, wow, that's a big hatch! Thanks for posting the photo, Sea Wolf.

I was going to reply just to clarify what I said, as upon re-reading I see it was the victim of some quick editing (I needed an extra set of hands for a project I'm working on, and they materialized just as I was editing so I rushed it). Anyway, I was visualizing the more typical-sized hatch, and was just saying I'd consider replacing it with ply.

Now that I see how large the hatch is.... well, that's great for access but does look pretty unwieldy on a daily basis. Here is a thought, although mind you I'm only looking at the photo and thinking of ideas.

Use fasteners to "permanently" attach that large hatch to the fiberglass lips it rests on. Then, cut out a useful/handy size hatch hole somewhere in the middle of it, put cleats inside as usual to hold it up from below (the new hatch), and use the new, "normal sized" hatch for 99% of the time. Then, if for some reason you need to have the whole opening, you can still remove the huge hatch by taking out the fasteners.

(Might possibly consider replacing the Starboard with ply if it's too bendy, you want to glue the cleats on, or etc.) (It looks like one reason that large hatch might be sliding around is that Starboard can tend to bend, and it almost looks like the outside corners have "banana-ed" up a little, and so maybe that, combined with the slipperiness of Starboard, is causing it to ride up? Of course that would not be an issue if it were fastened down.)
 
My wife didn't mind the factory cushions, I thought we could do better.We first got a Travasak which was nice and we just used it on top of the factory cushions. Second we got the standard cushions cut in half and added 4" memory foam and had zippers added to the canvas that surrounded the cushions. That was no good. Too soft and we slid into the cracks of the cushions. We had the standard cushion material still and made the cushions back to the way they were from the factory. Next we made a cover for the 4" memory foam and put that on top of the original cushions. Still not what I wanted. While on our trip out west we went into a K-Mart and bought another queen sized piece of memory foam 4" thick and jammed into the homemade cover. Pretty good now. Then after we got home we had canvas made for the two pieces of 4" memory foam with a no skid bottom material. So we have the standard cushions,then two pieces of 4" memory foam in one large canvas cover with the egg crate sides facing each other so its only about four or five inches thick in a canvas cover then the Travasak on top. No more crack problems. I sleep with my own comforter usually on top of the Travasak with my own heavy comforter as avoid any blanket disputes which have occured in the past. My wife sleeps either in the Travasak or on top depending if she has her own blanket along. We are very comfortable with our current arangement. Although we have lost a little headroom. The one draw back is that getting to the compartments for the his and hers clothes storage is a lttle more of a challenge. It's all about life in "Tiny Town" which is what refer to when we are living on the boat. Takes a day or two get adjusted but we like it a lot.
D.D.
 
After looking at the series of photos, my conclusion is also that the starboard is too flexible. I would put a cleat of Starboard (could be oak etc) on both the forward and aft ends of this piece of Starboard. This will stiffen it, and keep it in place.

I would probably do it a bit differently than Sunbeam--and that is to cut the large board i half for and aft (S0 you coiuld lift either side. It would require a strong back/cleat down the center, and also on the aft side, which might overlap, so that it would not slip out easily. This way, one half of the hatch can be opened, by lifting that size of the V Berth cushion, and be easier to access than either the large board or a hatch in the center. I see both a problem in the size of the hatch, but also in access by having to move the large V Berth cushion.
 
I was thinking maybe two of those polished stainless steel lock hasps one on either side on the rear of the cover with some nylon bolts and nuts going thru where the lock shank normally goes. They would allow you to open the hatch without it sliding forward and still allow the cover to be removable. Just a thought.
D.D.
 
Back
Top