Head Cabinet help

[Hanktoo]

doing some repairs to the chainplate, in order to get at that area I want to remove the cabinet over the sink in the head. I have removed the shelf on top, which in my case was both screwed in and partially glassed on the top. I know there are screws on the bottom underneath the sink which i haven't gotten to yet. That said, with the shelf and screws out of the top I would think there would be some flex in the top or some indication it's ready to come out. I don't see any screws on either side, but this thing won't budge at all even with some really sharp whacks. Are the sides glued? Anyone ever take one of these out and can confirm if i get to the bottom screws it will lift out? Pics hopefully attached with top in and removed.

 

[Afrakes]

There may be screws securing it from the left and right as well.

 

[Loren Beach]

"What lies beneath"

I have found that EY used backing "cleats" in some rather hard to see areas of our woodwork. Look for a piece of wood about 1 X 1 inch underneath each side/corner with screws driven in two directions into both surfaces. We find that many of those screws, where no one would normally ever see them, are countersunk and plugged. Deconstructing interior stuff can get a bit tedious.
(During the later reassembly I do not plug those out-of-sight countersinks...)


Sometimes it helps, initially, to hold a mirror inside or better yet just reach around such places with a digital camera and snap pix. I insert a trouble light first.

 

[kapnkd]

doing some repairs to the chainplate, in order to get at that area I want to remove the cabinet over the sink in the head. I have removed the shelf on top, which in my case was both screwed in and partially glassed on the top. I know there are screws on the bottom underneath the sink which i haven't gotten to yet. That said, with the shelf and screws out of the top I would think there would be some flex in the top or some indication it's ready to come out. I don't see any screws on either side, but this thing won't budge at all even with some really sharp whacks. Are the sides glued? Anyone ever take one of these out and can confirm if i get to the bottom screws it will lift out? Pics hopefully attached with top in and removed.View attachment 24187View attachment 24188

I'm slightly ahead of you with my head's cabinetry work. ...We took out all the cabinetry when replacing all the bulkheads. I still have my original head shelf and am including photos of the ends. You can see there are screws that came through the main and V-Berth bulkheads to tie in the back of the sink shelf. Check your bulkheads to see if you see any wood plugs in said areas on the opposite sides of the bulkheads.

Hope this is of help to you...I'll send another response later this PM with some more photos of where we are at now.

 

[Hanktoo]

thanks gentlemen. Loren good idea to take a pic from behind that does seem most likely. I could look down from the top, but not from behind.

kapnkd I didn't see anything from the sides, but based on your pic I'll have another look, I would think it would be obvious on the bulkhead, but maybe not so much.

I love the wood work and would like to keep it, but trust me it is coming out either the easy way or the hard way.

 

[kapnkd]

thanks gentlemen. Loren good idea to take a pic from behind that does seem most likely. I could look down from the top, but not from behind.

kapnkd I didn't see anything from the sides, but based on your pic I'll have another look, I would think it would be obvious on the bulkhead, but maybe not so much.

I love the wood work and would like to keep it, but trust me it is coming out either the easy way or the hard way.

Yes, pretty hard to miss the wood plugs. Considering mine is a '73 32 Mark II - it's hard to say what they did from one boat to another let alone a few years of production in between.

Our cabinetry pretty much bit the bullet coming out from being water soaked at the bottom several times from the head overfilling the bowel plus just general old age on non-marine ply. The head could have been just a tad higher to be above the water line. This go-round I've added a Plas Teak base to raise the bowel height up above the water line. (2 photos)

Here's a photo of the old cabinet front and the new front. Notice how I epoxy coated the back side and bottom edge to hopefully avoid it ever getting water soaked again. (It's also now marine ply.) I was able to save the old trim to reinstall and use the sliding doors again.

 

[kapnkd]

doing some repairs to the chainplate, in order to get at that area I want to remove the cabinet over the sink in the head. I have removed the shelf on top, which in my case was both screwed in and partially glassed on the top. I know there are screws on the bottom underneath the sink which i haven't gotten to yet. That said, with the shelf and screws out of the top I would think there would be some flex in the top or some indication it's ready to come out. I don't see any screws on either side, but this thing won't budge at all even with some really sharp whacks. Are the sides glued? Anyone ever take one of these out and can confirm if i get to the bottom screws it will lift out? Pics hopefully attached with top in and removed.View attachment 24187View attachment 24188

Here's the almost finished cabinetry to date. (Just getting back to work now that it's spring time.)

We decided to forgo the top slider doors and use the old top shelf rail for an open storage area. I'm now crafting another shelf that will fit midway up to provide more open storage. I've created covers for the chain plates that will be easily removed for inspections. The top shelf will have a chrome plated shoe shelf railing ( http://www.rockler.com/hafele-shoe-fences-matte-nickel ) to keep things in place yet allow easy access.

I now have two storage drawers built into my hanging locker for items/supplies that were previously stored in those too small head compartments. I still need to replace all the wood plugs and use a little filler but it's coming along.

 

[Hanktoo]

looks great. What is that you have on the hull? Like the gloss to the wood, varnish?

 

[kapnkd]

looks great. What is that you have on the hull? Like the gloss to the wood, varnish?

No, it’s a flooring product for pontoon boats. It’s about 1/4” thick due to a foam rubber backing and is soft to the touch with the woven vinyl teak and holly appearance.

I made paper patterns first, then traced them onto the product, cut and then glued them in place using contact cement. The material cuts easily with just scissors.

I also did the V-berth walls, hanging locker and rear qtr berth as the original vinyl’s foam backing had deteriorated over the years.

As for the wood itself, I've used Minwax's "Gunstock" stain. For me, it had the best Mahogany color and look that I wanted and matched some of the old cabinetry we kept. I then, of course, followed up with Interlux Goldspar SATIN varnish.

 

[Loren Beach]

The effect is very nice. Great workmanship!
Compared to my laborious reworking of our V-Berth hull ceilings, which when all is done are just plain old Formica surfaces, I am "floored".

That material looks like it will provide some insulation as well. Nice to have when the afternoon sun tries to heat up the hull side. And, the covered portion below the waterline will stop condensation.

Keep those projects coming!!

 

[kapnkd]

looks great. What is that you have on the hull? Like the gloss to the wood, varnish?

Did a little digging on the Internet and found the source for the pontoon flooring we used. At the time, we were able to buy some factory 2nds with a slight flaw in the weave that I couldn't detect so got a great price.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Marine-Vin...374839?hash=item2cc8bcc2b7:g:RK8AAOSwYc5Z84ug


...There is also another product now out with the name "EVA" Teak which is more of a foam based top and bottom. THAT we have placed in the cockpit seating and flooring instead of trying to refurbish the patterned non-skid. The EVA Teak has it's own 3M adhesive backing but I don't think it would take the curvature of the hull as well as the other product (???). It' supposed to last anywhere from 5 to 7 or more years with no problems. (We shall see!)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/US-95x35-7...206879?hash=item3b08a69b1f:g:OEAAAOSwNuVayfL0

View attachment 24209

 

[kapnkd]

The effect is very nice. Great workmanship!
Compared to my laborious reworking of our V-Berth hull ceilings, which when all is done are just plain old Formica surfaces, I am "floored".

That material looks like it will provide some insulation as well. Nice to have when the afternoon sun tries to heat up the hull side. And, the covered portion below the waterline will stop condensation.

Keep those projects coming!!

Thanks Loren, taken as a real compliment coming from you. You're one of the premier "GO TO" folks on this site.

We've got a LOT more projects I'll be posting info and photos on such as an improved compression post to fix an age old structural problem with the old 32-II's, rewiring the boat with new AC and DC systems, new fresh water plumbing and on and on - (THE Never Ending Project for sure!!) Also, while having the boat interior apart, we found a great little unknown hidden spot for secure/private storage of valuables that I'll post when finished.

Fair Winds,
kerry

 

[Hanktoo]

Well Al was right, there are screws coming through from both sides. They did a good job on the bulkhead side, very close to the chainplate cover, I originally never saw it. Then they got real clever in the head locker, they used the same piece of wood that supports the shelf, goes all the way through to the head vanity cabinet. the top piece is connected to the uprights with wood dowels. They really built this thing, hope i get it all back together as nicely as it was.

 

[kapnkd]

Well Al was right, there are screws coming through from both sides. They did a good job on the bulkhead side, very close to the chainplate cover, I originally never saw it. Then they got real clever in the head locker, they used the same piece of wood that supports the shelf, goes all the way through to the head vanity cabinet. the top piece is connected to the uprights with wood dowels. They really built this thing, hope i get it all back together as nicely as it was.View attachment 24286

The Ericson quality never stopped over the years. ...As with our '73 - they built them well for sure as you have just found out the hard way.

Here's an update on our progress of the secondary shelf in replacing the original sliding cabinet doors. We utilized an inexpensive 23" chrome "shoe rail" from Rockler.com and added a simple teak piece on each end to fit it perfectly from side to side. All that is lacking now is to re-install the head plumbing and new LED lighting system.