The drop-in bins under the berths have disintegrated and the lips holding them onto the under-berth decks have been destroyed. Does anyone know where replacements can be obtained? Thanks. Don
- Status
A stock answer
A stock answer is to contact Rudy at D&R Marine. I think it would be prohibitively expensive to have the bins moulded in plastic on a "custom" basis as there are only 6 of them, if I recall. It would be a fairly easy DIY project to make them from fiberglass, but you'd have to make a mold first. Since the interior surface of the bins is the one you'd want smooth, I'd make a male mold out of scrap wood, sand & paint it to seal the surface and then coat with several coats of paste wax or PVA to act as a release agent each time you do a layup. The bins are identical, so the mold will be used 6 X. Two layers each of a light weight matt and glass cloth + polyester resin should give you a thickness of > 1/8", but it's easy to add more if that isn't stiff enough. I wouldn't bother with a gelcoat finish: just paint the interior of the bins with a qood quality polyurethane after they're done. If you don't have the time and/or resources to tackle the project yourself, look for a small shop that does fiberglass work. Perhaps a small boatbuilder or woodworker. Anybody that's at all handy with a small shop could do it. There's lots of reference material around that can guide you or your handyman friend abt. build a mold & doing a f'glass layup and all that's required are a few basic woodworking tools.
A stock answer is to contact Rudy at D&R Marine. I think it would be prohibitively expensive to have the bins moulded in plastic on a "custom" basis as there are only 6 of them, if I recall. It would be a fairly easy DIY project to make them from fiberglass, but you'd have to make a mold first. Since the interior surface of the bins is the one you'd want smooth, I'd make a male mold out of scrap wood, sand & paint it to seal the surface and then coat with several coats of paste wax or PVA to act as a release agent each time you do a layup. The bins are identical, so the mold will be used 6 X. Two layers each of a light weight matt and glass cloth + polyester resin should give you a thickness of > 1/8", but it's easy to add more if that isn't stiff enough. I wouldn't bother with a gelcoat finish: just paint the interior of the bins with a qood quality polyurethane after they're done. If you don't have the time and/or resources to tackle the project yourself, look for a small shop that does fiberglass work. Perhaps a small boatbuilder or woodworker. Anybody that's at all handy with a small shop could do it. There's lots of reference material around that can guide you or your handyman friend abt. build a mold & doing a f'glass layup and all that's required are a few basic woodworking tools.
- Status