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Between COVID, snowing outside, no workshop and the Admiral frowning on power tools in the house, I have to resort to indoor projects and/or designing.

The Admiral and I do not like sleeping in the aft berth.

• It's claustrophobic
• Can't sit-up and read in bead - lack of headboard, lighting
• Ventilation, even with fans, its stagnant.
• Even in my 40s it was chore to get out of without coffee. I don't expect it to get easier with age.
• It gets dirtier with all the climbing of the steps.

We like the V-berth. It is very nice up front when on the hook and with the hatch scoop blowing tropical breezes over...
But there is no way humans can fit in the V-berth... as-is. I've tried and I wake up with night mares of being buried alive in a coffin.

So this project is to enlarge the V-berth:

1. Remove the head (It will be showing up in a later MX episode).
2. Remove the partition between the existing berth and head.
3. Creating a platform in that location
4. Adding a trimmed Queen-size mattress - This is what I'm currently thinking about: https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Brands-M ... B00PWM8R1U I figure I can take off the cover and use a heat-knife on it and trim and re-sew-up the cover.

At first I had a simple shelf, then a bay with trap door on top for access. And with many hours of sitting in the boat with beer, chips and measuring tape, I came to this monstrosity of a design. This way we'll have a proper closet and shelves for clothes. It'll have tiny bed-side tables and a foot cabinet (not shown).

All the following views are facing forward from about where the stock galley is positioned.

This is with it in the down position. The mattress is not shown.


This is with it in the up position. I'll use an air-shock on it, but determining weight (w/ variable Admirals gear) is proving to me that measuring the force required once its loaded is probably a saner thing to do.


To see how it will move, open the AVI file. - https://inqonthat.com/wp-content/upload ... g-Unit.avi

Cool concept!

I was in the boat on a glorious sunny, 65F day, yesterday starting the MX-4 demolition... as trivial as it is.

Before


After


For the Inquisitive... As it turns out, it does not appear that partition was being used as a structural member... at least on my M. The fiberglass in the upper support was only one layer where the inner bolt attaches. The hole was enlarged and in fact, larger than the nut. It contributed no transfer to the board. To further convince myself (as I'm far more conservative than you might think) I put dial indicator on it and measured the deflection while I hopped around on top. Maximum deflection was 0.15 inches.


To give me a feel of what should be normal... I did the same test at the forward end of the main hatch and got about the same 0.15 inch deflection.


Even though the partition wasn't helping the deflection, I am considering reinforcing this area so it will. I have noted delaminations around the head windows. I'll need to add some fiberglass inside the upper support and make a C shaped stainless steel pipe to mount using the same holes.

I don't understand all your problems at all...
I just made the port side longer, so I have plenti of room for myself. I used the matress that is left if you put the fridge box from the aft...

Is to say... my wife is short ineough... so that she can sleep comfortably on the starboard side without changing anything there...

So think about this solution ...

kurz wrote: ↑Sun Jan 03, 2021 7:51 am I don't understand all your problems at all...
I just made the port side longer, so I have plenti of room for myself. I used the matress that is left if you put the fridge box from the aft...

Is to say... my wife is short ineough... so that she can sleep comfortably on the starboard side without changing anything there...

So think about this solution ...

I know I'm odd, opinionated and a fiend about changing things. I also know, many will think I'm off my rocker. That's fine. I went totally silent on this forum ten years ago because my skin was a little thin. I never posted my raised seating ideas from ten years ago viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27492&start=15#p346702 because I knew the nay-sayers would outnumber the curious. Interesting that you commented with some interest on it. Thanks.

Now, my skin is a little thicker and I post so that the more learned forum members might throw out an observation/problem I hadn't thought about and if there is even one person that might gain something constructive from my projects, that'll be good enough for me.

To your points - I guess I'm claustrophobic. I like the front better for ingress/egress and the nice breezes. Sleeping alone, I've tried starboard and I end up head crammed in the corner and literally waking up from coffin dreams. Sleeping port wise, I always wake up having lost my pillow and hanging my head over the edge. Extending just the port side is an option if I want to sleep alone. Even though the Admiral's 58" could sleep starboard wise, there is no way our feet could share the 2 square-inches in the nose.

Since project MX-5 is moving the head to the 's position, that silly M-Head space is empty and really of no use for anything else. Opening up that space for extending the full berth:

1. Gives a full 80" of length to the berth.
2. Over half of that length is full Queen size bed width.
3. Where our feet will be, it'll be between 3' and 4' wide.
4. Even at the 80" mark, it'll be 26" wide.
5. Far more head-room to read in bed.
6. Great air circulation right over our feet, drawing aft.
7. The forward windows will be directly over our heads. I really didn't need them in the Head.
8. I'll have about 15 cubic-feet of covered storage under the extension.
9. We'll have space for hanging slacks / dresses.

I used to be an avid back-packer. If I couldn't carry it on my back, I didn't need it. Now, I like my luxuries... the finished goal of all the MX projects is to make the nearer to an RV's level of comfort. So that we might spend weeks and maybe months sailing. I know that isn't everyone's cup of tea... its just mine.

VBR

Interesting concept. I do not like having to fold something down / up or shuffle foam bedding to go to bed or to get clothing, so it’s something that I might do. Good to know about the bulk heard not being structural. Those bolts look impressive.
Ix

Ixneigh wrote: ↑Mon Jan 04, 2021 8:45 am Interesting concept. I do not like having to fold something down / up or shuffle foam bedding to go to bed or to get clothing, so it’s something that I might do. Good to know about the bulk heard not being structural. Those bolts look impressive.
Ix

I have my doubts as well... how easy will it be to push the mattress up so the cabinet will clear? Are the benefits of easy access (once up) and hanging clothes worth mechanical/strength complexity? And I hate creaking/rattling crap even worse. That alone might have me fiberglass tabbing it into the boat. I tried imagining getting to that volume in a simple bin/top-door type arrangement. Around the D/B trunk into the far corner is quite the reach to be looking for something.

Also, I'd be interested to hear if anyone else could look at their M's partition. As I mentioned, I could flex the board aft without removing the nut/bolt. It was not clamping the fiberglass and the 0.15" flex of the roof was the same with the partition there. I'm wondering if my boat just slipped by QC in that area. Did they not put enough layers down for that portion of the liner? Which is why I may replace it with the steel pipe.

was today on my
Your Idea to have a real BIG bed ist hot.

Good luck! But I would not go to complex in mecanical turns with the shelf.

The problem is the daggerboard trunk will stay for ever... So with the you had other chances about that...