Cutting interior bulkhead at galley/setee?

[svtradition]

Hi All,

I'm dying to get an oven into my vega, and the only place to put it
is on the port side, mounting atwartships. This is a built in range
with the oven opening onto the setee. So, I'm looking at cutting
the bulkhead there down to a few inches off the hull. Basically to
the fiberglass "frame" or stringer that is there.

I'm also going to build another bulkhead 15" aft of this one to
support the hull. Does anyone have any experience with this part of
the vega? Opinions on weakening the hull by cutting this bulkhead
out?

Best Regards,
Chris Bridge

 

[alan_critchlow]

Hello Chris

As far as I can tell the only structural bulkheads are the ones
supporting the mast. Check out my site Tarka the Otter on the links
of this group. Today we finished replacing this bulkhead. We had to
jack up the cabin top but it went in well. The bolts supporting all
the bulkheads are not nearly strong enough to do any structural work.
You will notice the main bulkheads under the mast is puttied in with
polyster and vermiculite all around. This transfers the load to the
cabin top and hull evenly.

Tell us how your oven goes. My wife would desperately wants one as
well.

Alan V1639