In Deck Tub Removal 2320

[miky2884]

Well for quite some time now I have been wanting to cut out the in deck tub in my 2320 located right behind the PH door. I wanted to do it last spring but chickened out due to thinking I would use it still and not really wanting to cut up my boat. When the boat came out of the water last week for the season I realized that I didn't once open this hatch all season and the few ropes I threw in there in the spring had not been touched.

It was time to cut it out. Called up my cousin Bryan Saturday night after a few beers and a little discussion out it came. Im very pleased with the decision to get rid of this tub. It has opened up a lot of space down in the bilge between the pilot house bulkhead and the gas tank bulkhead. I will be able to keep a couple totes down there and I also plan on dropping in a 10 gallon fresh water tank.
Im gonna sand and prep the area and paint it, and then with the help of the shop teacher (Bryan) I want to build a deck to fit down there to keep things dry.
Few pictures, the one picture doesn't really do it justice to how how much space is really down there.

 

[Megabyte]

I love projects. 8)

 

[miky2884]

I will update this thread as I go

 

[DaleH]

I love projects with pictures 8) !

 

[big tuna]

That's where I keep my fenders and dock lines. Where do you keep your fenders?

 

[Bryan 2530]

Area was to small for fenders.

 

[Shannonigans]

. ....Mike I can't wait to follow this! I'm sure between you and Bryan you'll come up with a much better use of the space than that 'fish box'!! I was planning on cutting a hatch in the pilot house for space. ..similar to what Phil did. ...but I'm liking this direction you're going in. ....lot's of photos please!

...BTW. ...how do you plan on plugging the drain hole? I never did like how it's below the water line at an almost horizontal run. ...

 

[miky2884]

. ....Mike I can't wait to follow this! I'm sure between you and Bryan you'll come up with a much better use of the space than that 'fish box'!! I was planning on cutting a hatch in the pilot house for space. ..similar to what Phil did. ...but I'm liking this direction you're going in. ....lot's of photos please!

...BTW. ...how do you plan on plugging the drain hole? I never did like how it's below the water line at an almost horizontal run. ...

Big tuna im not sure what size fenders you use, but I cant even come close to putting my fenders in this hatch it is way to shallow.

I would also like to cut a hatch in the pilot house floor, that's another huge section of wasted space in my opinion. Im gonna start with this first. The drain hole in the lip of the hatch will stay open, the drain in the tub was really stupid it was not piped in anywhere and would dump directly into the bilge. This hatch did stay mainly dry any water would get caught in the lip and that drain is piped in to a through hull over the side.
As soon as I cover the boat and get the heater under the cover I will start to prep the space for paint.

 

[Shannonigans]

. ..hey Mike. . .where's all the progress posts?? You should be moving right along. ..seeing that it's been one of the warmest winters in years :lol: :lol:

 

[miky2884]

haha they are coming, I went out to start sanding the bilge on Saturday but it was just to cold, I have no motivation when its this cold. I goit the paint so I am ready to go. Progress pics will be posted soon.
Hope you are staying warm!! :roll:

 

[miky2884]

Well I uncovered the boat this week and the work has begun. First thing on the list is to finish the project I started in the fall. I spent nearly two hours last night scrubbing this area in the bilge to begin preparation to finish and paint this area. Since this part of the bilge has not seen the light of day since the boat was built (14 years ago) it was pretty nasty down there. Mixture of hot water and simple green I got the area cleaned up to the point where I know can start to sand and prep for paint.

 

[Megabyte]

Simple Green is good stuff in the bilge.

During this process, keep an eye out in the bilge for FOD. I found a LOT of it in my boat.
Discarded nylon wire ties, pieces of fiberglass, and simple construction debris is mostly what I found.

Some mechanics (and previous owners) don't always police up those old zip-ties and it only takes one in your bilge pump to render it inoperative.

If you have a drain snake, run it through those drains running aft. You might be surprised what you find.
I was. :wink:

 

[miky2884]

Took the next step to finishing this project. I was lucky enough to have a good friend give me about a quarter of a gallon of the Interllux Bilgekote. Saved me about 60$.
I sanded the whole area again after washing. I wasn't interested in making this whole area smooth because after all it is just the bilge. I then wiped it all down with tack cloth. I ended up putting 3 coats of paint on the area which is all that remained in the can. I could have used one more coat but it wasn't worth buying a quart for one more coat.
This week I bought two 8ft lengths of Trex board. The next step is to build a deck to fit in down in the space to level it off to allow me to keep plastic totes down there. Hopefully I can get that built this coming weekend.

Excuse the dirty lip around the hatch that will get cleaned 8)

 

[TWOBOATER]

Nice job. that's a nice chunk of storage space. it looks like you could almost stuff a couple of deck chairs in there!

 

[miky2884]

It really is a huge area, and wasted space in my opinion. The tub that was cut out was a total waste. It was only about 10 in deep, not even deep enough to store fenders. It could not be used as a fish hold because the tub was plumbed to dump directly into the bilge. It was a poorly thought out by Parker. By cutting it out I have now opened up a huge storage area to allow me to keep items on the boat that I would normally have to truck back n forth from my house, grill,spare anchor, bigger fenders etc......
Next year I think I am going to do the pilot house floor. That is another bigger area of wasted space. Thats where I will drop in a fresh water tank, and possibly move my batteries forward.

 

[sabalo]

Looks great!!

I really want to do this on my 97 2320. I have a thru hull just below that is plumbed to this box that makes no sense...I guess it was intended to be some sort of fish well???? I plan to remove the thru hull and repair the hole. My only issue is that I always seem to get water and leaves and junk in the hold (tub), despite the lip drain. I'm concerned that this crap will end up in the bilge instead if i cut the box out. Did you say your tub was normally clean and dry before you cut it out? Maybe my lip drain ain't working too well.

Anyway, thanks for the motivation. It will be nice to have some more storage. I was thinking about a custom fish bag or some other type of insulated cold storage in this spot.

Craig.

 

[miky2884]

Yea my tub was always pretty much dry. The lip drain works good on mine. Even after having the cover off this spring i still dont have any water in that area. I have both ends of the center drain plugged and we have had heavey rain and i have no water in there.
Try blowing your drain out with a hose

 

[miky2884]

Well this project is finished. Over the weekend the deck was built for the area in the bilge.The deck will allow me to store items in totes and keep them up off the bottom of the hull where everything will remain dry. I am pleased with the way everything came out, and i am looking forward to the added storage space I have gained.

 

[TWOBOATER]

Wow, that's nicer than the factory would ever do. Nice work!

 

[DaleH]

What kind/brand/color of Trex board is that?