Storage Bin steering cabin
A while, few years, ago I noticed that a part of the aft
port-side floor board was rotten away as well as the support beam for the floor
board mounted against the storage bin.
The first part I did was to remove the rotten beam and
replace it with a new beam.
I left it for awhile but further investigation at the end of last year showed that the front wall of the storage bin was rotten as well and did not give enough support for the floor beam as well as that the front panel was badly damaged. It was then decided to replace the rotten wood of the storage bin completely good thing is it is only the port side bin .
Since I did not know how the storage bin was built together I
started slowly taken it apart and actually it is not a simple construction as I
expected.
I did not take any pictures during the dismantling of the bin but will describe how I built it together again.
When the complete bin was taken apart I ended up with a lot
of small support wood for the actual bin.
All were sanded and varnished, due to the outside temperature
I took them home and placed them in a warm area for curing between the
different layers of varnishing.
A small electrical heater does wonders.
Several of the small pieces of wood are from the inside
windows between the main and forward cabin.
With the whole storage bin apart I had now also the opportunity
to make a proper heat resistant blanket around the exhaust of the cabin heater.
New inside panel was made this is an important panel it
holds several support wood squares for the floor in the bin as well as for the
top cover and front wall cover.
I have copied this panel as well as drilled the holes for
the screws in the same place.
Pictures or a drawing is important when taking this panel
apart since on both sides square support wood is mounted. Although difficult to
see one can notice the two rows of screws.
The bin bottom support against the aft wall is screwed
against the new the new side wall panel from behind with screws one does not notice
when the unit is taken apart.
The next picture shows the support planks against the inside aft wall panel.
There were a few nice warm days and I was able to sand and
varnish the inside aft wall of the bin.
The wall was varnished also at the area where the floor
support is mounted against the aft wall.
The new bin is than put together with the side wall and the
front wall both made of marine plywood of which the front wall is with a layer
of mahogany veneer.
All has been protected with varnish or the front panel with
a layer of epoxy and two layers of epoxy varnish to give it more strength against
future damages.
Next part to be installed is the support for the top cover
with drain inside.
Also this wood has been protected around with varnish.
Although difficult to see the transversal support for the
longitudinal side wall of the steering cabin is connected to the front wall of
the storage bin.
Although the picture does not show this this support was
still in a good condition.
Took me some time to find out why I could not remove the front
wall when all was loose according to my opinion.
To reach these screws the complete side wall needs to be
removed. Which also result that several support beams of the floor need to be
removed as well.
The hatch and top cover were cleaned and as one can see I
did not have too much trouble with removing the old layers of varnish.
After properly sanding the more or less yellow color was
replaced by the original deep wood color of the mahogany. The hatch and the
rest of the cover were protected with two component epoxy varnish, 3 layers to
protect it against future damage. This also resulted in that the deep shining mahogany
color came back.
Last thing which was done after all was screwed together was
to glue plugs in and sand the complete top cover slightly.
A final coat of epoxy varnish will be applied when all work
has been finished in the steering cabin.
As can be seen from the next picture there is a little gap
between the top cover and the walls, this gap will be filled with Sikaflex to
prevent that water can run into the storage bin.
