Cabinet & trailer work

The main cabinet has been a bane of my work for some time. I've been putting it off because a) it is mostly finish work and b) no one but a select few will ever see the interior, so who cares? I’ve also been puzzling over some functional changes I need to make to the trailer in order to get the boat on and off without so much effort....but that's another matter I'll get to later.

The problem with the cabinet that I never thought through was that once it was in place, there was no good way to build a front-face template. I tried doing it by measuring all the proper angles and lengths. This was a bad idea in that a 1-3 degree mistake could result in a 1/2" gap elsewhere. I tried to make a template with sheets of paper, but it sagged and my angles never looked right. I tried with cardboard. Cardboard was OK, but it’s hard to manage in such large pieces. My final solution was to overestimate the piece of wood I needed. I placed it in such a way that only the bottom edge was exact. Where it overlapped, I was able to draw an exact outline of the cabinet....and it worked! I took a jigsaw to the newly created outline and cut away what did not match. Wha-lah!

Next I positioned my doors where I wanted them and used a skill saw to slice out the openings. To save time at the sacrifice of aesthetics, I simply refinished the old doors vs. making new ones. No sense in adding more work where it is not required. Finally, I built a drawer to fit under the cooler. There was dead space there, so it made sense to make some use of it.

Some things to think about when planning to build and install a drawer in a sailboat. First realize that there are few 90 degree angles. The key is to pick one corner that is square in all directions. If you don't have a corner to base your measurements from, that snazzy rhomboid-shaped drawer will never slide easily in and out. Secondly. I thought that since I had a minimum of 21" in depth, I could make a 21" deep drawer. Negative, Ghostrider. Make sure you measure the distance from the cabinet to anything across the walkway. I only had 19" to play with. DOH! Lastly, do it like the pros and build a box with five sides. Once you have realized your vision of a box that moves freely in and out of its slot, only then will you attach the faceplate that matches your cabinet. I cheated a bit here, but you'll get the idea.

BTW, I did not put cabinet rails in. Rails will rust. I wanted the drawer to stick a bit so it would not easily slide out should it be left open in heavy seas. I did grease the bottom of the drawer with ivory hand soap, a old trick in anyone's book. You should also think about how it will lock. All drawers and cabinet doors need to have a locking mechanism.

Next I tackled the top.  With the cooler in place, I installed hinges because the old brackets were shot.  I next bought some laminate flooring to use as my countertop and a cover over that nasty looking cooler door.

With a LOT of careful cutting and measuring, I managed to build a faceplate for the door.

Lastly, I had to fit the remaining pieces such that everything was flush against all facing edges and the curved hull.  I used the marker taped to a compass to get the curve right.

I will be putting l shapped trim around every edge at some point.  This will give it a clean look, I hope.

The trailer:

In my effort to resolved the loading and unloading issue I'm planning two changes. First off, I realize that I have neither the tools nor the engineering prowess to completely pick my boat up from the trailer in order to cut down the supports, as I earlier intended. The prospect of performing vigorous work under it while it is suspended above me is not within the 'acceptable risk' quotient.

Instead I've complete the first of two tasks. That being to install vertical supports to the underside of each cradle that will enforce the natural bow the cradle needs to hold once the boat's weight is off them. These supports, made of 1/4"x 2" aluminum strips are first bolted to the trailer then screwed to the underside of the planks. They are also over-bent such that there is always a positive down-pressure.

The 2nd element will be comprised of a roller just under the bow of the boat which will not allow the bow to dive below the trailer hooking mechanism. Other CM owners have complained of the same problem. When loading the boat, buoyancy factors do not allow the prow hook to line up with the trailer's bow stop. When pulling the trailer out of the water, the boat settles into the cradle and prow shifts away from the trailer prow stop.