A while back Jeff Prideaux posted details on installing a v-berth. Now that winteris here and the boat is sitting in the snow I am thinking about trying to add a v-bert. My son keeps talking about ovenighting this coming spring. Jeff or anyone else, I was wondering if anyone can post some plans. I have read and re-read Jeff post and a few more details would make it easier to decide if this is a project I want to tackle. Any and all help is apreciated. Thanks Gary
?on installing v-berth in H216
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Jeff Prideaux
plans for H216 v-berth
I'll try to find the plans I used to cut the ply-wood and post them for you.... Hopefully in the next day or two... Jeff
I'll try to find the plans I used to cut the ply-wood and post them for you.... Hopefully in the next day or two... Jeff
G
GARY
Something else to consider
is what, where, and how you want to store things. Do you want several smaller lockers or a few big ones. If you have most of your stuff, gear already that would help. For instance heavy stuff like anchor, chain, battery, cooler, tool box, water bottles, portapotty, etc should be close to the keel imho. Do you have long stuff like boat hook, manual bilge pump, antenna, whisker pole, paddle you want stored rather than rolling around under the cockpit? Otherwise you may want several small compartments to keep lines, gear, and small stuff from getting all jumbled up together. I guess my point is that the support walls you build for your v-berth can be custom made and placed based on what you want to stow under there. Because of the rim around the cuddy, it makes sense to me to rest the edge of 3/8 inch plywood there and build support walls underneath to support the plywood in the midline of the boat and to separate the compartments as I believe Jeff did. Because the access to the cuddy is small, you will be assembling in there and making pieces without plans wasn't hard. A large piece of cardboard makes a nice template for cutting the plywood. Just use a pencil and a series of trims with scissors to follow the sides. Once you know what you want to store in the triangular compartment in the bow, you can measure back how far you want to place the first side to side support wall. The only place the support walls need to touch the liner is in the midline to support the plywood above. I kept the support walls 1/2 inch above the liner for ventilation and dadoed a piece of starboard (white plastic cutting board) to support it in the midline where the floor is level. That is so any water won't rot the plywood support walls and can drain back. I connected the deck piece with 1x1 cleats and drywall screws, cutout the opening, and painted. I added more compartments going aft in the same manner, with a midline support wall separating port and starboard compartments. I settled on a long narrow compartment going side to side in front of the mast base for my longer stuff, and 5 other compartments including the bow. I went all the way back to the cockpit on the port side since my wife and I are tall enough that we both can't have our feet in the bow, so we will be staggered. I kept the starboard area aft of the mast open for pinning the mast to the base and most importantly having room for a portapotty, since the v-berth is too high for that. With this project you can turn your daysailor into a camper and micro-cruiser. But you will be adding a lot of weight, gear especially since you can stow so much, so assemble with screws only, no glue, and in a year or two when you want to buy a bigger boat, take it all out and see how much faster it goes. You just might want to keep it, and get the bigger boat. Most importantly, all i did came from the ideas, pictures and example from Jeff and this website. Thanks
is what, where, and how you want to store things. Do you want several smaller lockers or a few big ones. If you have most of your stuff, gear already that would help. For instance heavy stuff like anchor, chain, battery, cooler, tool box, water bottles, portapotty, etc should be close to the keel imho. Do you have long stuff like boat hook, manual bilge pump, antenna, whisker pole, paddle you want stored rather than rolling around under the cockpit? Otherwise you may want several small compartments to keep lines, gear, and small stuff from getting all jumbled up together. I guess my point is that the support walls you build for your v-berth can be custom made and placed based on what you want to stow under there. Because of the rim around the cuddy, it makes sense to me to rest the edge of 3/8 inch plywood there and build support walls underneath to support the plywood in the midline of the boat and to separate the compartments as I believe Jeff did. Because the access to the cuddy is small, you will be assembling in there and making pieces without plans wasn't hard. A large piece of cardboard makes a nice template for cutting the plywood. Just use a pencil and a series of trims with scissors to follow the sides. Once you know what you want to store in the triangular compartment in the bow, you can measure back how far you want to place the first side to side support wall. The only place the support walls need to touch the liner is in the midline to support the plywood above. I kept the support walls 1/2 inch above the liner for ventilation and dadoed a piece of starboard (white plastic cutting board) to support it in the midline where the floor is level. That is so any water won't rot the plywood support walls and can drain back. I connected the deck piece with 1x1 cleats and drywall screws, cutout the opening, and painted. I added more compartments going aft in the same manner, with a midline support wall separating port and starboard compartments. I settled on a long narrow compartment going side to side in front of the mast base for my longer stuff, and 5 other compartments including the bow. I went all the way back to the cockpit on the port side since my wife and I are tall enough that we both can't have our feet in the bow, so we will be staggered. I kept the starboard area aft of the mast open for pinning the mast to the base and most importantly having room for a portapotty, since the v-berth is too high for that. With this project you can turn your daysailor into a camper and micro-cruiser. But you will be adding a lot of weight, gear especially since you can stow so much, so assemble with screws only, no glue, and in a year or two when you want to buy a bigger boat, take it all out and see how much faster it goes. You just might want to keep it, and get the bigger boat. Most importantly, all i did came from the ideas, pictures and example from Jeff and this website. Thanks
thoughts on v berth
Dan Thanks for your comments and suggestions. You answered one of my big questions. Will the lip in the cabin liner support the v berth? Did you screw the v-bert to that lip or just lay it in there? Jeff's posts said that he used 2 sheets of plywood. I would not think that would add enough weight to dramiticly decrease the speed. Like most people I want it all; comfort and speed. Did you notice that the speed was adversly effected? I sail on the Chessapeake Bay and in the summer we are sailing in some light winds. Thanks Gary
Dan Thanks for your comments and suggestions. You answered one of my big questions. Will the lip in the cabin liner support the v berth? Did you screw the v-bert to that lip or just lay it in there? Jeff's posts said that he used 2 sheets of plywood. I would not think that would add enough weight to dramiticly decrease the speed. Like most people I want it all; comfort and speed. Did you notice that the speed was adversly effected? I sail on the Chessapeake Bay and in the summer we are sailing in some light winds. Thanks Gary
No change noticed yet
but i'm getting embarrassed over the money and weight I've been adding. At least it is all neatly stowed now. I want to feel safe going out to some islands about 10 miles offshore, so preparing for all contigencies with help from all the online chandleries. The wood is not so heavy and no glue or screws to the lip. I haven't noticed slippage, but it is snug up against the mast base which is 2-3 inches above the berth. I think i enjoy the puttering and outfitting as much as the sailing. This is my learning boat and I plan on keeping it.
but i'm getting embarrassed over the money and weight I've been adding. At least it is all neatly stowed now. I want to feel safe going out to some islands about 10 miles offshore, so preparing for all contigencies with help from all the online chandleries. The wood is not so heavy and no glue or screws to the lip. I haven't noticed slippage, but it is snug up against the mast base which is 2-3 inches above the berth. I think i enjoy the puttering and outfitting as much as the sailing. This is my learning boat and I plan on keeping it.
J
Jeff Prideaux
v-berth detailed instructions
I've posted another improvement picture story at this website for installing a v-berth in the H216. It is the improvement entitled "v-berth with instructions". It includes some very usefull information that Lamar sent me a few months ago along with some pictues of his v-berth as well as my variation. Hopefully this information will enable others to do a nice winter project while their boat is sitting "on the hard". You can trust Lamar's measurements (in one of the pdfs) for cutting out the plywood. I verified that the measurements were accurate. You can also take some cardboad in the cabin with you to cut out the shapes that will be needed to make sure that your measurements are accurate. I did that as well. Follow the included link to the improvement picture story. Notice that there are three pdf files included... You will need Acrobat Reader to view them if you don't already have it. Good luck!!!
I've posted another improvement picture story at this website for installing a v-berth in the H216. It is the improvement entitled "v-berth with instructions". It includes some very usefull information that Lamar sent me a few months ago along with some pictues of his v-berth as well as my variation. Hopefully this information will enable others to do a nice winter project while their boat is sitting "on the hard". You can trust Lamar's measurements (in one of the pdfs) for cutting out the plywood. I verified that the measurements were accurate. You can also take some cardboad in the cabin with you to cut out the shapes that will be needed to make sure that your measurements are accurate. I did that as well. Follow the included link to the improvement picture story. Notice that there are three pdf files included... You will need Acrobat Reader to view them if you don't already have it. Good luck!!!
G
Gary
v-berth
Jeff Thanks for posting the info on the v-berth. It is surrly all the info needed to do the job. Gary
Jeff Thanks for posting the info on the v-berth. It is surrly all the info needed to do the job. Gary
Micro cruiser
Nice job Jeff When you put in the mast support, did you make it long enough to tension the mast up above level, induce a little mast rake, or keep the mast straight? What would be best since our boats spend so much time with the mast horizontal and a little rake aft seems to help the sailing? I put in a VHF masthead 3 db antenna, along with a tricolor and separate anchor light. It was the first part of an electrical system for my boat. I mention what i've done since it is harder to add a new component later than to do it all at once if you are going to add an electrical system. I cut the end off a 30 foot coax that came with the antenna and fished it down through a hole just beneath the antenna L bracket (so the factory connector is at the top of the mast and my spliced connector is inside the cabin) along with a 1/8 line for future wire pulling and a 5 wire irrigation control wire (which has a tough skin and I used 1 wire for the low amp anchor light, 2 for the ground and 2 for the tricolor lights) and out the bow side of the mast just below the cabin roof. Of course you could exit out at the mast base, but I chose to put the radio just to the left of the mast hanging from the cabin roof so I could hear it better from the cockpit if the outboard is being used. I spliced the irrigation wires to trailer harness connectors to connect back to the panel of switches and disconnect when the mast is down. I decided to add a cabin light, bow bicolor and stern white light on a removable pole for motoring, a cigarette plug in the cabin and at the back of the cockpit, a dc voltmeter, a small battery charger with a pigtail for an extension cord, a battery switch to combine or use a separate battery, and power cords for a sounder and maybe an autopilot later. I hooked these things up to switches at the top of the aft port cabin above a battery box under the port cockpit just behind the cabin where there is a square indentation in the foam. I wired it so I could put a jumpstarter battery on the starboard side to use instead of or with a deep cycle battery on the port. I would take both for longer camping trips, just the jumpstarter for day trips. I decided to hang a boom box from the aft traveler rather than put in a sound system because speakers mess with the compass. Sony makes a toughened one for construction job sites. Then I read that duplex wires should be twisted to cancel out the magnetic fields from dc current since my compass is just below the boom vang on the mast. So I removed the above and am now rewiring with twisted wire and will add fuses to the switches. So the cabin is a mess of wires right now. Maybe I'll need a wind generator or solar panel? I used nail polish to seal the coax connector to the antenna body, but never thought to tighten the allen screw holding the whip from the factory, so I lost the whip on the way to the lake, and am getting a replacement. So system is untried. I want to get the adapters needed to use the masthead antenna with the handheld sometime. Since I'm in the middle of a redo, I would thankful for any advice. My winter projects also include an aft traveler, a sounder, and a keel guide onto the middle bunk of the trailer if you have any hints. I'm blessed with weather that doesn't really stop the puttering, and I sure like having the boat at home instead of driving to a marina. Thanks, Dan
Nice job Jeff When you put in the mast support, did you make it long enough to tension the mast up above level, induce a little mast rake, or keep the mast straight? What would be best since our boats spend so much time with the mast horizontal and a little rake aft seems to help the sailing? I put in a VHF masthead 3 db antenna, along with a tricolor and separate anchor light. It was the first part of an electrical system for my boat. I mention what i've done since it is harder to add a new component later than to do it all at once if you are going to add an electrical system. I cut the end off a 30 foot coax that came with the antenna and fished it down through a hole just beneath the antenna L bracket (so the factory connector is at the top of the mast and my spliced connector is inside the cabin) along with a 1/8 line for future wire pulling and a 5 wire irrigation control wire (which has a tough skin and I used 1 wire for the low amp anchor light, 2 for the ground and 2 for the tricolor lights) and out the bow side of the mast just below the cabin roof. Of course you could exit out at the mast base, but I chose to put the radio just to the left of the mast hanging from the cabin roof so I could hear it better from the cockpit if the outboard is being used. I spliced the irrigation wires to trailer harness connectors to connect back to the panel of switches and disconnect when the mast is down. I decided to add a cabin light, bow bicolor and stern white light on a removable pole for motoring, a cigarette plug in the cabin and at the back of the cockpit, a dc voltmeter, a small battery charger with a pigtail for an extension cord, a battery switch to combine or use a separate battery, and power cords for a sounder and maybe an autopilot later. I hooked these things up to switches at the top of the aft port cabin above a battery box under the port cockpit just behind the cabin where there is a square indentation in the foam. I wired it so I could put a jumpstarter battery on the starboard side to use instead of or with a deep cycle battery on the port. I would take both for longer camping trips, just the jumpstarter for day trips. I decided to hang a boom box from the aft traveler rather than put in a sound system because speakers mess with the compass. Sony makes a toughened one for construction job sites. Then I read that duplex wires should be twisted to cancel out the magnetic fields from dc current since my compass is just below the boom vang on the mast. So I removed the above and am now rewiring with twisted wire and will add fuses to the switches. So the cabin is a mess of wires right now. Maybe I'll need a wind generator or solar panel? I used nail polish to seal the coax connector to the antenna body, but never thought to tighten the allen screw holding the whip from the factory, so I lost the whip on the way to the lake, and am getting a replacement. So system is untried. I want to get the adapters needed to use the masthead antenna with the handheld sometime. Since I'm in the middle of a redo, I would thankful for any advice. My winter projects also include an aft traveler, a sounder, and a keel guide onto the middle bunk of the trailer if you have any hints. I'm blessed with weather that doesn't really stop the puttering, and I sure like having the boat at home instead of driving to a marina. Thanks, Dan
J
Jeff Prideaux
Gary,
It sounds like you are indeed the kind of person who enjoys boat projects. You are sure to have a lifetime of fun with the H216 or any other boat you may acquire. If you have a digital camera and the inclination, I'm sure others (including myself) would appreciate you taking some pictures of some of your improvements and posting them to the improvement section of this site for the H216. I'm definitely printing out your comments on installing your electrical system!!! I want to get a masthead VHS antenna (and lights) for safety reasons (especially if I start to anchor out some). I've considered making some sort of keel guide but couldn't figure out a good way of constructing one. In the ramps I use, the boat tends to float vertically off the guide... I've found that putting trailer PVC guides to help center the boat helps a lot. Before I added them, it always seemed to take a few times to get the keel in the slot. Now I can usually do it either the first or second attempt.
It sounds like you are indeed the kind of person who enjoys boat projects. You are sure to have a lifetime of fun with the H216 or any other boat you may acquire. If you have a digital camera and the inclination, I'm sure others (including myself) would appreciate you taking some pictures of some of your improvements and posting them to the improvement section of this site for the H216. I'm definitely printing out your comments on installing your electrical system!!! I want to get a masthead VHS antenna (and lights) for safety reasons (especially if I start to anchor out some). I've considered making some sort of keel guide but couldn't figure out a good way of constructing one. In the ramps I use, the boat tends to float vertically off the guide... I've found that putting trailer PVC guides to help center the boat helps a lot. Before I added them, it always seemed to take a few times to get the keel in the slot. Now I can usually do it either the first or second attempt.
J
Jeff Prideaux
mast support
My mast support (2x4) only pushes up on the mast a bit. The mast support was actually cut by the previous owner of the boat. I've been considering cutting a new 2/4 and make it a tad bit longer to take all the sag out of the mast. My mast is curently sagging a bit even with the mast support in place.
My mast support (2x4) only pushes up on the mast a bit. The mast support was actually cut by the previous owner of the boat. I've been considering cutting a new 2/4 and make it a tad bit longer to take all the sag out of the mast. My mast is curently sagging a bit even with the mast support in place.
J
Jeff Prideaux
Thanks so much Dan!!
You really came through for us. A picture is worth a thousand words. Perhaps this weekend I'll see if I can get your pictures bundled in an "improvement multi-picture story" to be posted in the improvement section for the H216. I'm excited about trying some of your ideas!!! Jeff
You really came through for us. A picture is worth a thousand words. Perhaps this weekend I'll see if I can get your pictures bundled in an "improvement multi-picture story" to be posted in the improvement section for the H216. I'm excited about trying some of your ideas!!! Jeff
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