Cabin Table

[jgellis15]

I am needing to put a table in my Mac 25. There is nothing there now, where the two seats face each other and a table used to be there. I wanted to mount it to the wall, but am hesitant about screwing anything in. I am thinking there is an internal liner and a core before I get to the outside hull, I have thought about glassing in a 1x2 strip of wood to screw into, but I am not that handy with fiberglass. I am also having some cabinets built for the opposite side and will need to anchor those to the wall too. What have some of the other folks here done for this topic? Is there enough space between the internal liner and the outside hull to put some short screws in?
Thanks, Greg

[Pete]

From what I have seen macgregors don't have anything but air between the hull and hull liner. As far as the distance between the liner and hull where you intend to drill I don't know. I just bought a fiberglass kit from Jamestown Distributors. I highly recommend it if you have not done much fiberglass work. It comes with a DVD and instructions. It also came with some tips on how to do just want your talking about. If you want to put a screw into your hull liner but don't have access to the back to attach a backing plate here is what they recommend: Drill your hole to twice the screw diameter. Saturate a cylinder of open cell foam with epoxy. Force the foam 3/4 of the way through the hole such that it re-expands on the back side of the hull liner. Allow the epoxy to cure and sand smooth. Now drill your hole into the hardened epoxy. You may want to try this on something other then your boat the first time.

[jgellis15]

Thanks....am investigating your advice....great job...

[noahvale]

There is no inner liner in a Mac25. There is a plywood core with fiberglass on both sides, inside and outside. The easiest way to attach something to the hull is to use stainless steel bolts from the outside. As long as they are above the waterline, you will have no problems. Take a look at how the stays are attached in your boat, you will see.

[RickD]

The Mac Venture 25 had some brackets pop riveted into the liner wall in between the two seating areas you mentioned.

The former owner of my boat apparently leaned too hard on it while he had it and ripped one completely out of the wall. I removed the other bracket last weekend and cleaned up, and glassed the area over. I'm going to build a table that stows on the wall I think - not sure of a design yet, but it will be all-wood with a detachable leg or something I'm thinking. I want something that will allow me to make that into a sleeping berth too.

Main thing though, on my boat it was pop riveted brackets. So - you need to know the liner is pretty thin too.

[noahvale]

The original table drops down to form the bed. You could build a better one out of hardwood plywood.

[johnnyonspot]

The original table design is the epitome of cheesy and cheap IMHO. But yes, there were simply a couple L-tabs pop-riveted into the liner with holes in the horizontal part through which two bolts from the table extend. It is best to secure the table with a couple wing nuts so its EZ to remove and lower for using it as a birth. I am sure a thinking sailor can come up with something much more convenient and better.