old instument holes --- what to do ?

[JoeSailer]

I removed 4 old insturments from the cockpit bulkhead. I now have 4 - 4" opening to deal with -

I know I could cover them with a piece of teak - or try to glass them up (not my best skill) - or leave the old insturments in -

but - I'm looking for creative ways to deal with them ?

anyone?
anyone?
Bueller?
Bueller?

 

[r.oril]

Room for some good bottles of wine?

 

[Randy6414]

I haven't done it yet, but I've considered upgrading to new instruments and moving them to the pedestal. I'd probably remove the old instruments and cover the holes with decorative teak trim work.

Randy

 

[Cayennita]

Install 2 opening ports

 

[bobtigar]

I had pieces of 1/4 starboard cut. 1 piece approx 1/2" larger than the hole with a softened edge on the top and 1 piece the same size as the hole. I used 5200 to secure those pieces together and then used more 5200 to join the "Sandwich" to the hull. Bob

 

[Tim R.]

I filled mine in with new Raymarine St60 instruments.

If I were you I would use a single piece of Starboard to cover all the holes. Starboard is virtually maintenance free. Teak you will have to either let gray, oil or varnish.

The portlight idea could work depending on how the holes are presently lined up.

 

[Ross]

Install louvered vents.

 

[Maine Sail]

Starboard..

Starboard or Seaboard would ideally be a great product BUT nothing likes to stick to it in terms of sealant, tape etc. for very long so it may leak again in the future. This is why I did not choose it for this particular application. I have lots of it but also had some Lexan too. There are many ways to do this but this one, using Lexan, seemed the easiest to me..

When I filled my holes, three of them, I chose 10mm Lexan (polycarbonate) which I then painted matte black with Krylon Fusion plastic paint. I filled one hole with a speaker, which I use for my VHF and the other two with the polycarb blanking plate and two ST-60 instruments. While not my "ideal" installation it looks decent, stays dry and does not stick into the cockpit too much, only an additional 10mm.

I was able to countersink the clamping screws and hide them under the new ST-60 instruments so they were entirely hidden. Don't really like face screws if I can avoid them. The Fusion has held up extremely well and has not yet chipped or scratched. Ideally I would have liked to have filled the holes with fiberglass & finish with gelcoat but this project took considerably less time.

I was going to re-seal it with butyl tape, but after the test fitting with the neoprene foam weather stripping tape, I never did. The weather stripping has been bone dry thus far so I'm in no rush to replace it.

Cut, shaped, painted and the mounting screws are countersunk into the face:

The back side with instruments installed and the foam weather strip that has kept the water out for over a year now (I did not paint the back side, no need):

Finished install:

 

[Snotter]

I would also suggest starboard. I am partial to black. Bevel the edges with a router to make it really look good.

 

[sailingdog]

I removed two ST 60 displays on my boat, and had two big holes... and I replaced the two holes with a single 5" x 12" Beckson opening port. Then I mounted the TackTick displays, which are wireless, to the port itself. The port can still be opened, and acts as an instrument panel when closed.

 

[Chris Burti]

For simplicity and low skill levels ...

http://www.beckson.com/cvr.html
http://www.beckson.com/dckplt.html

 

[alexco38]

Fibre Glass sheet it over.

When I move the instruments to the pedestal, I cover up the holes with a sheet of fiberglass. No pretty but I have a line bag hanging over it (not shown).

 

[druid]

For any large-size hole like where an instrument goes, I re-glass. It's actually easier if you re-cut the hole to square. Then cut a piece of plywood to fit in the hole. Epoxy the sides of the plywood and stick it in. Wait for epoxy to kick, sand, add matching gelcoat, sand... yer good!

druid

 

[RickS]

We installed speakers into the bulkhead compasses cutouts and replaced the instruments with the new instruments from the same mfgr.

 

[NYSail]

I removed speakers and had a similar problem. What I did was to add a peice of lexan over the holes and made 2 fixed ports that added great light down below. I gave the dimensions to a glass place, they cut the stuff in perfect circles. I used some sealant and used 4 screws... no leaks and great light.

Good luck!

 

[RAD88]

I removed 4 old insturments from the cockpit bulkhead. I now have 4 - 4" opening to deal with -

I know I could cover them with a piece of teak - or try to glass them up (not my best skill) - or leave the old insturments in -

but - I'm looking for creative ways to deal with them ?

anyone?
anyone?
Bueller?
Bueller?

If you want to put new instruments in the old holes you can use 3/8" starboard. I was able to fabricate 2 hole covers with routes edges and bolted them through the bulk head and sealed with a sealant. They have not leaked. I then mounted the new gauges to the starboard. All went well until the gauges failed but that's for another post. The pic shows only one gauge installed.

 

[zeehag]

my ericson had instruments and guages in weird places--like in the galley--lol--so now i have holes in the butcher block bulkhead between the lazarette and the galley--lol--i thought of placing stowage there for the plates and such for use in galley--there is just enough room for this-an horizontal bin with sliding door-and i have taken out the water heater that always leaked--the square kind--they sukk-corners rust out---and the fridge unit--wasnt working anyway--lol--so now there is room for that--lol......just gotta find the materials to do this with.....or just cheat and slap some contact paper on the holes------lol-----comes in butcher block i think....

awesome,mainesail--everything you do is perfect!!!!! what can i say..........lol....

 

[Nik]

Mainsail... Why not just paint the backside, rather than the front? Protected from the weather, sealed and can't scratch the paint off. Or, is there a better reason to not do it in this manner. Curious since I have never done this . Your job looks great.

 

[Maine Sail]

Mainsail... Why not just paint the backside, rather than the front? Protected from the weather, sealed and can't scratch the paint off. Or, is there a better reason to not do it in this manner. Curious since I have never done this . Your job looks great.

Polycarbonate/Lexan does not hold up to UV, as well as acrylic does, but acrylic does not drill, screw or tap as well as Lexan and can split or crack. Lexan is also is easier to scratch.

I really wanted a matte finish and painting the back would have given me gloss, as can be seen in the photo above.. For me I wanted some stiffness to the sheet, to apply pressure to the edge seal, but I did not want a 1/2" or thicker piece and wanted 10mm or less.

Starboard would have been to flexy in 3/8" or 1/4" and the gasket may not have stuck, acrylic was to brittle to hide the screws, but plenty stiff, (stiffer than Lexan). For me the polycarbonate was the best combination of all needs for this application.

I needed stiffness, relatively thin, not brittle, easily macineable (route, cut, drill) and something a gasket could stick to. That is how I decided on polycarbonate for this job....

 

[jibes138]

Nice looking job Maine Sail. I think the black would be too hot in the south but your use of the weather stripping is innovative. I had to replace a beckson opening port that covers my emergency rudder access and it is a flat port, but the seat has a slight curvature to it, no idea why O'Day chose this way to do it but it certainly posed a challenge for sealing. My solution was to use the same weather stripping you used, I had some from installation of a pickup truck cap. It is thick and resilient, I doubled it up to make sure the gap was filled and had enough compression. It worked great and still going strong after maybe ten years. No leaks and no issues with the port.
The adhesive coating allows you to install it and the best part is zero mess to clean up, no chemicals. Just curious why this isn't used in a lot more applications, maybe like cabin ports, etc?