Honey Ryder Projects - Stateroom Shelves

Right side with the cleats for the shelves already installed

In our forward stateroom, there is a big hanging locker with two doors.  Cruisers don't hang many clothes.  Most are crammed into very small spaces!  The previous owner used the closet rod to hang cloth selves like those they advertise for teenagers gym lockers.  That was good enough to get us going.  However I always had in the back of my head to convert this locker to permanent shelves.  I happened to casually mention this idea to Tom - "Someday we should probably take a look at making real shelves."  Tom went to investigate.  "Oh my gosh.  There is a ton of unused space behind these cloth shelves!  We aren't even using all the space in here that we could be using!"  Tom hates unused space on a sailboat and has made finding extra space a new hobby - see Head Access Panels.  

Tom and Thomo - seriously!  Check the sign

Meet Thomo.  He is a local craftsman who does terrific woodworking.  We stopped by his shop behind the Catamaran Club to see if 1.)  He could do shelves for us.  2.) Would be interested in doing shelves for us.  There are SO many mega yachts here that keep the local craftsmen busy with refits, that they often don't have time or interest in small projects.  Thomo said yes to both questions.

Top shelf had to be in 2 pieces for installation purposes

Tom brought Thomo out to s/v Honey Ryder and he went straight to work making the pattern for each shelf.  Tom watched intently over Thomo's shoulder, quietly learning.  The space is not symmetrical at all and has several little grooves that cut in and out here and there.  "The pattern is key" said Thomo and he treated it as so at the end of the day, carefully lifting and carrying the patterns with him as if they were a delicate ship model.    

Tom sanding the shelves prior to painting them

Once the shelves were completed and double checked for fit, Tom set about to finishing them.  He decided to do that to save some $$.  Thomo didn't mind and let Tom use his shop to sand and paint.

Cutting holes for the bottom, lift out shelf

Left over teak edge trim from Tom's galley shelf project was the perfect finish for the front of the shelves.

Almost done - only the fronts missing

The project was completed.  The only thing left was to figure out who got what space.  Tom didn't realize until this project that I had given him the right side of the locker previously and that it was quite a bit bigger than the left side.  We decided he would take the top shelf, I would take the middle and we would split the bottom shelf.

NICE!

We are very pleased with the end result.  It gives us quite a bit more space.  I might have to go shopping for more clothes - just kidding!