New Access Panels in Heads

Talk to any liveaboard and they will tell you that they hate wasted and/or unused space.  Last fall, fellow Caliber owers Deb and Fred on s/v Early Out gave us a terrific idea for adding space in both heads.

Wasted space - no pun intended

Tom immediately began measuring the second we got back to s/v Honey Ryder.  He ordered access panels made of Starboard from Buck Woodcraft over the winter.  He installed them this week.

Basic tools for getting started

Once the doors arrived this past winter, he made a template for cutting the fiberglass with our Dremmel using the roto zip bit.

Tom taped the template in place, double checking that the panels would fit properly.  Then he drilled a pilot hole so he could get the roto zip started.

Hearing protection is a must as the roto zip is LOUD

It was interesting to see the slight difference in fiberglass thickness between the forward and aft head.  Aft was a tad thicker.

FYI Caliber owers - slight difference but it's there

The next step was actually attaching the access panels.  For this step Tom used silicone because it's such a good adhesive - fewer holes to drill thus faster installation was the thinking here.

New boat C clamps helped on this step

However, the next morning we discovered that Starboard really can't be glued.  Plan B - drill holes to attach the access panels.  

Six holes were drilled for attachment

This of course meant not only drilling the holes but scrapping the silicone off the panels and the surface of the boat.

Then he simply screwed the panels in place.

I do plan to package anything going into the new space.  I just wanted to show you.

Voila - access to newly found space.  Priceless!  Thanks again Deb and Fred!