1/4 berth bulkhead (H34)

[DeniseO30]

I hope to address access to the fuel tank and lazarette area in the next couple weeks. Question I have; how difficult is it to remove the longitudinal bulkhead as opposed to cutting an access door into it? The latter of which seems to make more sense. The door can open and lay on top of the quarter berth cushion if hinges are at the right height. Or just use latches to make it removable.

 

[DeniseO30]

This must be a taboo topic lol

 

[splax]

I had cosidered that, but decided it really wouldn't help.

 

[Claude L.-Auger]

I did it and use it only on occasion. When needing access to the compressor for the fridge or to the fuel line from the tank to the Racor filter or even to the vent from the back of the tank. It is not something that gets regular use. My opening is 30 X 15 and does not have hinges. I covered the plywood with sheets of white Formica. The joints are hidden with strips of white plastic.

 

[DeniseO30]

I had one in the same type of bulkhead on my oday 30 it was very handy to have!
Thank you for the reply the pictures are very helpful!

 

[danm1]

I cut a larger higher and much rougher hole so I can lean over the tank to water the batteries and fish out fallen boathooks. Covered it with brown oilcloth velcro'd at the top. I think there may be a nice hinged example in the owner mods section.

 

[Mike Oldak]

I'm doing the same thing but covering my plywood door with the same hull blanket material as the hull side.

 

[hunter34austin]

I'm doing the same thing but covering my plywood door with the same hull blanket material as the hull side.

like this? I've used a piano hinge and then covered the whole thing with some automotive liner.



also I've done the same thing with the wall aft for easy access to the water tank.

 

[DeniseO30]

It's been awhile since I started this one thread but finally got around to it. over last week the weather has been awful in southeast PA and North East Maryland
First Cuts were ragged because they were exploratory turns out it was good. We took the time to do it that way because of the closeness of the tank wires to and from the battery, battery charger, refrigerant lines all attached to the back of the bulkhead.

I was surprised to determine the fuel tank is nearly 20" tall!
Need to get a aluminum access plate for cutting into the tank there's plenty of small things to do before splashtime
The fuel in the Racor turn black over the winter so I guess we're going to have to do something pretty soon with that

 

[Mike Oldak]

I tend to agree that the wall is more to isolate the fuel tank, etc. than to provide any support for the area above. I will probably greatly enlarge my opening to enable better access to our 3 batteries, since when trying to work on them from above I almost feel like I am getting stuck in the opening! I might just add a single vertical teak board in the middle just to ensure that I haven't removed any real support that was provided by the 1/4 inch panel.

 

[DeniseO30]

I tend to agree that the wall is more to isolate the fuel tank, etc. than to provide any support for the area above. I will probably greatly enlarge my opening to enable better access to our 3 batteries, since when trying to work on them from above I almost feel like I am getting stuck in the opening! I might just add a single vertical teak board in the middle just to ensure that I haven't removed any real support that was provided by the 1/4 inch panel.

I will look again but I don't think the bulkhead supports the cockpit but I've been wrong about other things. I haven't even been back for the boat since we hacked
out that hole. I borrowed a small panel saw that's easier to handle so I'll be able to make it nice. Not to mention I was a builder of small craft like this.

so I probably wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't make the access panel look " professionally installed"

 

[c07chrisjohnson]

This looks like a great idea for access to that 1/4 berth. Keep us up to date and let us know how it turns out.

Also those small craft look awesome!

 

[jk kudera]

Thisd is what I did for battery and top of the fuel tank access, Hatch was from West Marine. If to do it again I would have the hinge on the right side.

 

[DeniseO30]

Well it took a year to finally get it done in case you didn't see my other thread we did clean the tank and put an access plate in it
The most difficult part was finding a fabric that I liked and I ultimately used Permatex spray adhesive I did not use 3M 2400 because of the cost I'm very happy with this I wrapped the fabric around the edges I may or may not put trim pieces around and in the corners I do have it right now I'm tired from crawling around in there I'm pleased

 

[DeniseO30]

I managed to take a better picture with the Flash I'm impressed with myself because I've always avoided this type of fabric work