A27- Head modification

[JT48348]

Photos of the finished bulkheads and my prior sanding job. Very pleased with the results and coosa board.

Next: installing the bathroom vanity and countertop frame

[JT48348]

Started the install of the bathroom cabinet and countertop. As I was fitting the pieces I realized there will be some nice storage space inside. But because the liner was cut away the interior of whatever lockers I create will be rough fiberglass and essentially the boat hull.

So I came up with a way to recreate the liner and span the openings where I cut everything away. I took a piece of FGP panel (like what I will use to line the shower area) and cut it to pattern so the pebble side is down. This leaves a smooth matte surface I can paint so the lockers interiors are very clean.

[JT48348]

Cabinets finally in! If I had to do it again I would have waited to cut the cabinet panels and adjusted off my original patterns. As slight imperfections and modifications added up there was repeated trimming and adding to the final pieces to get everything to fit.

Still needs some sanding and filling of various joints and places to make it seamless but the skeleton of the head is basically done.

Next: toilet platform and the subfloor support structure for the shower pan.

[Beta Don]

Do you still have the original cabinet that rested on the counter top in the head, under the port-light?

Mine was long gone when I bought the boat. We put a new solid surface counter top in the head, but it would be really nice to have the OEM cabinet

Don

[JT48348]

Don: I may still have pieces of it. I think it's basically a frame for sliding doors. I don't recall any other pieces. I think I have the frame but no doors as I had thought of switching to lexan. If your thinking of something else I need a photo of what I'm looking for and I will look around in my bins.

Let me see what I can find and I will get back to you

[Beta Don]

I think it's basically a frame for sliding doors. I don't recall any other pieces. I think I have the frame but no doors as I had thought of switching to lexan.

I think that pretty well describes it. I have some tinted plexi that I could make the doors out of

Don

[JT48348]

Toilet platform installed. The platform sits 2" off the bathroom floor so the new toilet will come right in at 16-17" seat height. One of the things I always hated was lower toilets in boats where you feel like your squatting.

This is my mockup toilet, the manual nearly new manual Johnson that is for sale incidentally if anyone needs a replacement head. The new toilet is a masterflush electric. There will be a switch on the cabinet bulkhead.

[JT48348]

Mockup for the cabinets. I decided on two plastic hatches 13x15" that have a very shiply appearance. This will give access to under the counter where I will have shelves for storage.

[JT48348]

One of the reasons I like coosa board is I can "add" on to pieces I cut that don't quite fit after the fact due to my poor patters or vague-arities of the changing layout.

Knowing what I know about coosa board now--I would have made patterns and pieces as I went along, rather than up front like I did. The reason is coosa board is very easy to trim to size with a grinder on the boat as you fit panels. It's much faster than trying to get perfect patterns up front. Messy for sure but you can shave to a per fit fit in seconds.

In the odd case where I cut too much off, or where my patterns were too small or just off I perfected the "staple and glass" technique. This where I cut small cardboard filler pieces to pattern in the missing coosa board. Then transfer it to scrap coosa and cut. I join the scrap to my main piece with staples from a staple gun and epoxy in the gaps and let set. For structural you can glass matte the back side. It saves having to buy new bigger pieces and again everything can be custom fitted with grinding.

[JT48348]

The shower pan is thin plastic; it's an RV shower pan and I couldn't get a cheap fiberglass one that fit my unquie size. So the plastic shower pan has to be supported completely so there's no movement or flexing.

I basically created a frame around the pan, by laying the pan upside down and building a coosa frame around it. Once together I was able to grind the frame from the outside to get the pan to sit as flush as possible to the bathroom floor. But even then the hull curves quite a bit so there needs to be supports along the span of the pan and then I had to build up the front facing if the frame. Again the staple and glue technique did not fail.

[JT48348]

Here's the shower pan frame installed. The shower pan will drop into place with adhesive.

[JT48348]

This is the 15" fiberglass sink and cabinet shelves. It's white in color, the blue is a protective film to protect the finish during installation.

The cabinet shelving is made of a new product called Apolic FR. It basically aluminum composite panel (ACM) which is used as exterior paneling for commercial properties and modern architecture. Also a common product for custom sign making or demo booths for sales conventions. It's approx 4mm thick. The bottom is powder coated aluminum skin sandwiching a hard rubber plastic core. Very stiff, very light. Has a clear coat on the finish side. I had some scrap material I scored off craigslist and decided to try it out. I've been testing a piece outdoors for the past two months and it's held up very well. I considered using this for a countertop because there's a brushed metal finish that looks like stainless but it turns out my scraps are white with a few metal trim pieces. So I guess I will go with a solid surface countertop and use the Apolic for shelving, instrument panels, etc.

[JT48348]

Don, unfortunately I repurposed my medicine cabinet frame to fit the new bathroom. You wouldn't have wanted it anyway since it was damaged on one end. Looks like a grinder mishap. Bad news for you, but good for me since I only needed 15" for my new medicine cabinet. Just need to tie it in with the cabin top.

[JT48348]

If anyone is interested. Here's a cutout of the bathroom floor from the shower drain. It's a good 1"+ thick

[Beta Don]

That is gonna be the most luxurious bath ever seen on a boat this size! Excellent design and a very good use of the available space. Great pictures too - Thanks for sharing your ideas

Don