Forepeak Bulkhead

[Castrilper55]

I am looking for information on removal of the forepeak bulkhead. I am 6'3" which makes the V berth unusable for sleeping. When I remove the bulkhead I can stretch out with plenty of room to spare, thus, I would like to leave this out. Does anyone know if this is structural at all? It has only 2 wood screws holding it on with an L bracket at the top with 2 tiny screws attaching that to the boat. Could be that it provides some structural benefit in compression, but, seems like that is a stretch. I would like to remove it permanently and add an access cover to hide the anchor locker drain line. I would also like to remove the fabric covering and replace with wooden slats while I'm at it. Any information on permanent removal of the forepeak bulkhead would be greatly appreciated.

R/

Castrilper55

 

[sail sfbay]

You might this thread on same subject useful/helpful and in some posts humorous.

removing 2nd wall in o'day 25 to make room for...

hi guys, i have an o'day 25 with a very comfortable cabin. i've had the boat for ten years and my biggest problem with this boat is that it is difficult to sleep on because the bed area in the bow of the boat is too small. there is a little head area that separtes the stateroom from the...

www.sailnet.com

O'Day 25 Bulkhead Alteration

Hi Everyone, I am new to the site and new to being a larger boat owner. I just recently bought an O'Day 25 and want to do some winter work to it. What I want to do is modify the forward starboard bulkhead to extend the V-berth bunk. I want to cut a section out of the bulkhead to to allow for...

forums.sailboatowners.com

 

[Castrilper55]

Thanks for this info. I wound up removing the fore peak bulkhead and trimming it down and restoring it. Now, when sleeping in the V Berth, my feet are in the space beyond the fore peak bulkhead giving the V berth length an additional 12 or so inches. What a difference indeed. I maintained the integrity of the bulkhead by adding a ply to it increasing its thickness.

 

[odaydokay]

Very unlikely to be structural. I pulled the one on my 28 for the same reason and replaced it with a 6-8" high trim running across the top only, so as to open up the bottom for my feet. Works grand.

 

[Castrilper55]

Very unlikely to be structural. I pulled the one on my 28 for the same reason and replaced it with a 6-8" high trim running across the top only, so as to open up the bottom for my feet. Works grand.

 

[Castrilper55]

Here's a couple of pictures of what I have done so far. I intend to remove the fabric and replace it with bubble wrap insulation and wooden planking like I did in the main salon. I'll post pics of that when finished. I think I'll fiberglass more structure into the boat up there when I put the furring strips in for the planks. This way I can completely eliminate that pesky bulkhead!

Should be fun! Thanks to all for the great ideas.

Castrilper

 

[Noodat Lady]

No room for a simple extension at the head end of the berth?

 

[Castrilper55]

That is what I intended to do originally but as it turns out -not so simple. The bulkhead is structural so would need to be made structurally sound after the cutout is made. Also, there is a sink that would have to be removed - which isn't a bad thing, but a fair amount of work. then an enclosure would need to be built and installed. I actually made a design for this and included a hanging locker, but haven't worked out the structural integrity issue yet. I may build it next year, but for now this is a good and quick fix for a long standing problem. Thanks for the suggestion!

Castrilper

 

[Noodat Lady]

Sorry, guess I should have read the thread from the beginning.

 

[Mr. Dave]

To your question about whether there were structural issues involving that panel, you can generally judge that by the size and quantity of the fasteners: little hardware doesn't do much, big hardware and plenty of it is good for big loads. A couple of small screws holding something together would indicate that there isn't much loadng, thus not a structural element. Generally...