TopShot25
Well-known member
2520 Cabinet sleeper bench addition for the Horndog Part 1
Here is my latest project for the Horndog and some of the obstacles I had to overcome.
I wanted to make the 48-inch bench seat into a comfortable bunk, as well as make it higher so my guests could actually see out the windows. This would give me a place to sleep where I could get up and down through out the night and easily keep an eye on my surroundings without bothering anyone else aboard. That, and the fact that gas is going out of sight, I can fit an extra guy on longer trips to share the costs. This also gives me a place to install my 15-gallon fresh water tank.
I must admit that although I had an idea of what I wanted to do, after going to the Fred Hall Fishing Tackle and Boat Show, I changed my mind a little. After talking with Mark Wisch of Pacific Edge Tackle, I changed my plans. Mark has spent a bunch of time in small boats and he has some pretty good insight into what a person really needs to make everything come together in a true fishing machine. He also has the exact same Parker 2520 I have. Actually I have the same one he has, but who’s counting. Anyway, I liked the way he has the end of his cabinet swing up and lock into place so I used that idea on mine also. I was going to leave mine extended (solid), but I was afraid someone, someday, would lean against it and with the help of a good wave, well it might not hold up.
So I sat down with my list of essentials
1. Comfortable place for me to sleep
2. Raise the height to help everyone see out the windows
3. Microwave
4. Fresh water tank
5. Tackle storage
6. Storage, for large things like pots and pans
7. Storage, spot for things like keys and wallets
8. Drawers for tableware and stuff like that
9. Extra storage behind for hard to store things
If I was going to spend this much time, energy, and money, it had to have all these things or it just wasn’t going to be worth it. So started drawing up my new bench and when I finally got all the essentials to fit in somehow, I started to build it. The only thing I could not work in was a place to put my Honda 2000 generator. I was kind of bummed, but you know the deal with small boats, you just can’t have everything.
Now that I had my design, I started cutting the ½” plywood into all the various size pieces. I should add that all through my projects I always look to keep things as light as reasonably possible. So I like to build things using dado joints for added strength. I try to make everything kind of interlock it seems to help make things stronger and they handle the pounding of a boat much better. It also helps line things up during assembly. After gluing, screwing and clamping everything together it was time to cut the holes out of the front. I use a router to cut all the inside holes as I like that it leaves a cleaner edge and is more precise.
I also lined most of the inside corners with fiberglass cloth to ensure overall strength.
I covered the front, and side facing the bow with cloth also. My thinking, although not from experience, was that it would be a lot more durable if it were hit by anything sharp. If it was just painted or gel coated, I felt it would dent the wood and chip the coating. Also I am learning to play with fiberglass and it sounded like a cool way to go. The hardest part by far was applying the gel coat. Patching something is easy compared to actually coating something. I ended up buying a spray gun just for gel coat and that was not much easier, although it did get the job done.
I made the front and sides of the drawers with ½” plywood and the bottom and backs are ¼”. After all the messing with the gel coat I decided to just paint the drawers. This drawer is only covered in primer at the moment.
The top is ¾” inch plywood and shaped to fit the side of the pilothouse. My son held up the end that folds down when not in use.
I am also using teak for the trim to hold the main cushion in place. The other two bottom cushions will have starboard for a base. I though the teak on Mark’s looked cool and matched the teak in the boat as well so I went with that idea. I like challenges, but bending teak turned out to be more of a challenge then I thought. Actually I’m not even done yet but I think I can do it now. I guess I will have to address that further in part 2.
I also needed to get 12 volt and 110 volt power to the port side of the boat. I have a custom made battery compartment that I made in the center of the floor of the pilothouse, so I already have wire runs to there. Now I have to go another 24 inches or so to the port side under the deck. I sent an email to Parker and explained what I wanted to do. I wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything there that I could damage. They sent me a drawing of my stringers for that section of my boat and told me that I should be fine with my project. I decided to run a piece of 1” hose for my wire path. I cut the hole in the top first so I could assess what I was dealing with underneath. After checking it out, I decided that the best way would be to put in a 4” inspection plate so I would be able to seal up the wood under the deck properly. The hose for my wires comes out between the two red cables on the left side of the battery compartment. I put a wrench in the end but you can barely see it in the picture.
This picture gives you a good look at the layout, and also one of the brackets I made to secure the front end of the cabinet. I’m using 1”x1” aluminum angle for the brackets to hold the cabinet down to the floor. I also made a heavy-duty bracket of stainless steel for the front end support, shown in the top middle of the next picture.
As it turned out the stringer under the deck did not go all the way to the top, and I could run the wires over it. So I did not really need the inspection plate. It did however make it easier, and now I have a small storage place to maybe hide valuables out of sight.
After posting a question here about my water tank, I decided to build a small enclosure to house the tank. So the thought process began and I came up with what I thought to be my best choice. I’ve also shown the bracket I made because I decided to place the pump on the backside of the water tank bracket so it will be out of the way. I can slide the pump in and out for any kind of service it may need. The starboard base is angled so it will just drop into the groves of the sidepieces. I am going to zip tie the hoses and wire together on the top of the pump so they won’t move around and will lift out as one solid unit.
With a little luck I should have the bench in the boat this weekend and then I can do all the finishing touches and post part 2
Here is my latest project for the Horndog and some of the obstacles I had to overcome.
I wanted to make the 48-inch bench seat into a comfortable bunk, as well as make it higher so my guests could actually see out the windows. This would give me a place to sleep where I could get up and down through out the night and easily keep an eye on my surroundings without bothering anyone else aboard. That, and the fact that gas is going out of sight, I can fit an extra guy on longer trips to share the costs. This also gives me a place to install my 15-gallon fresh water tank.
I must admit that although I had an idea of what I wanted to do, after going to the Fred Hall Fishing Tackle and Boat Show, I changed my mind a little. After talking with Mark Wisch of Pacific Edge Tackle, I changed my plans. Mark has spent a bunch of time in small boats and he has some pretty good insight into what a person really needs to make everything come together in a true fishing machine. He also has the exact same Parker 2520 I have. Actually I have the same one he has, but who’s counting. Anyway, I liked the way he has the end of his cabinet swing up and lock into place so I used that idea on mine also. I was going to leave mine extended (solid), but I was afraid someone, someday, would lean against it and with the help of a good wave, well it might not hold up.
So I sat down with my list of essentials
1. Comfortable place for me to sleep
2. Raise the height to help everyone see out the windows
3. Microwave
4. Fresh water tank
5. Tackle storage
6. Storage, for large things like pots and pans
7. Storage, spot for things like keys and wallets
8. Drawers for tableware and stuff like that
9. Extra storage behind for hard to store things
If I was going to spend this much time, energy, and money, it had to have all these things or it just wasn’t going to be worth it. So started drawing up my new bench and when I finally got all the essentials to fit in somehow, I started to build it. The only thing I could not work in was a place to put my Honda 2000 generator. I was kind of bummed, but you know the deal with small boats, you just can’t have everything.
Now that I had my design, I started cutting the ½” plywood into all the various size pieces. I should add that all through my projects I always look to keep things as light as reasonably possible. So I like to build things using dado joints for added strength. I try to make everything kind of interlock it seems to help make things stronger and they handle the pounding of a boat much better. It also helps line things up during assembly. After gluing, screwing and clamping everything together it was time to cut the holes out of the front. I use a router to cut all the inside holes as I like that it leaves a cleaner edge and is more precise.
I also lined most of the inside corners with fiberglass cloth to ensure overall strength.
I covered the front, and side facing the bow with cloth also. My thinking, although not from experience, was that it would be a lot more durable if it were hit by anything sharp. If it was just painted or gel coated, I felt it would dent the wood and chip the coating. Also I am learning to play with fiberglass and it sounded like a cool way to go. The hardest part by far was applying the gel coat. Patching something is easy compared to actually coating something. I ended up buying a spray gun just for gel coat and that was not much easier, although it did get the job done.
I made the front and sides of the drawers with ½” plywood and the bottom and backs are ¼”. After all the messing with the gel coat I decided to just paint the drawers. This drawer is only covered in primer at the moment.
The top is ¾” inch plywood and shaped to fit the side of the pilothouse. My son held up the end that folds down when not in use.
I am also using teak for the trim to hold the main cushion in place. The other two bottom cushions will have starboard for a base. I though the teak on Mark’s looked cool and matched the teak in the boat as well so I went with that idea. I like challenges, but bending teak turned out to be more of a challenge then I thought. Actually I’m not even done yet but I think I can do it now. I guess I will have to address that further in part 2.
I also needed to get 12 volt and 110 volt power to the port side of the boat. I have a custom made battery compartment that I made in the center of the floor of the pilothouse, so I already have wire runs to there. Now I have to go another 24 inches or so to the port side under the deck. I sent an email to Parker and explained what I wanted to do. I wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything there that I could damage. They sent me a drawing of my stringers for that section of my boat and told me that I should be fine with my project. I decided to run a piece of 1” hose for my wire path. I cut the hole in the top first so I could assess what I was dealing with underneath. After checking it out, I decided that the best way would be to put in a 4” inspection plate so I would be able to seal up the wood under the deck properly. The hose for my wires comes out between the two red cables on the left side of the battery compartment. I put a wrench in the end but you can barely see it in the picture.
This picture gives you a good look at the layout, and also one of the brackets I made to secure the front end of the cabinet. I’m using 1”x1” aluminum angle for the brackets to hold the cabinet down to the floor. I also made a heavy-duty bracket of stainless steel for the front end support, shown in the top middle of the next picture.
As it turned out the stringer under the deck did not go all the way to the top, and I could run the wires over it. So I did not really need the inspection plate. It did however make it easier, and now I have a small storage place to maybe hide valuables out of sight.
After posting a question here about my water tank, I decided to build a small enclosure to house the tank. So the thought process began and I came up with what I thought to be my best choice. I’ve also shown the bracket I made because I decided to place the pump on the backside of the water tank bracket so it will be out of the way. I can slide the pump in and out for any kind of service it may need. The starboard base is angled so it will just drop into the groves of the sidepieces. I am going to zip tie the hoses and wire together on the top of the pump so they won’t move around and will lift out as one solid unit.
With a little luck I should have the bench in the boat this weekend and then I can do all the finishing touches and post part 2
