V-Berth project

Originally our V-berth had shelves running along each side. One on the starboard side and two on the port side. As far as storing things went, they sucked. Nothing stayed put under sail. A small bit of heel and just about everything would end up off the shelf on on the bunk. All you could really do was stack things up and then re-stack them after each sail. And, there was a foot of wasted space to the ceiling of the v-berth.

A couple years ago my buddy Dawn Rodney on Deep Playa turned her shelves into cabinets and I’ve wanted to do the same ever since I saw how awesome her’s turned out.

As per usual I did not take any before pictures of the v-berth or any of the process of making the new sides and dividers for the cabinets. I did manage to take a few during pictures of the cabinet doors while I was making them. Not many, and not until I was almost finished and to the varnishing stage, but here they are none the less.

I was just gonna buy the doors, but Fisheries Supply only had two options. One was too small and the other to large. Neither had the right shape. And they were way more expensive that I wanted to pay. So, to the workshop I went.

This first picture was taken after all the cutting/sanding/routing and gluing was done:

And these next two are them after a couple coats of stain and varnish:

I think the project turned out pretty good. And Tawn did an awesome job matching the stain color to the existing wood.

I still need to stain and put in a few pieces of trim. As well as a finish piece at the very foot of the v-berth, above the louvered doors. I think I’m going to find a really nice piece of wood and have something, not sure what, carved into it.

This last one is a close up (out of focus too) of the hooks I installed to hold the doors open.

As with most of my projects, there are flubs and major imperfections. But I’m ok with that.