Vberth Workbench Conversion in progress

[Meanderthal]

36' Catalina, with the 2 person dinette on starboard side, settee and table on port side. Aft cabin is a notion more than a reality, and we generally use it for tidy storage. Two tall and (ahem) husky people, and a large dog. We do all our own work (sometimes to my husband's chagrin) plus dirty hands hobbies, and I really wanted a better area to work in. I talked the husband (by fiat while he was gone) into moving the sleeping area into the main cabin and freeing up the vberth for a workspace.

Pros: the vberth has both a solar vent and an opening hatch for exhausting paint fumes, the space is enclosed so sawdust (if not captured by a dust collector bc I haven't built another one for the boat yet), there is space for a removable tall work bench surface to use while standing, the lower surface of the vberth can be used for sewing and sitting work, plenty of storage nearby, and I don't need to heat it or clean it up every time someone comes over.

Cons: larger pieces will still probably need to be worked on in the cockpit or over the nav station. Losing a sleeping area doesn't worry me--when we have guests, we'll give them the comfy main cabin sleeping area and we'll camp out in the vberth or aft cabin temporarily. No biggie--guests get the good stuff :-)

Pro or con--depending on how my husband feels about me at the time--I might disappear into the vberth for days...

SO anyways. I'm hoping to get the best out of the limited space by getting ideas from you guys. Or pics of anyone else's workbench...

[sailor_ed]

I did the v berth to workroom conversion when we first purchased her twenty years ago. The boat needed a lot of work so it was a necessity rather than an option. A sturdily mounted vise which could be rotated so long objects could extend into the main cabin was the first and most important addition. At the halfway point of the berth I put an 8" a thwarts hip bulkhead. Sails and junk go forward. Aft on the side opposite the vise are built in boxes for tools. The other side is work area with some tools on the hull. There are a couple of hull mounted racks going forward for wood, metal and whatnot. All the original joiner work is intact so in theory it could be returned to normal.

I don't know what I would do without it. I have rebuilt my transmission there, done all sorts of woodworking, repaired whatever, etc. The vise is used almost daily.

Of course I live aboard, for the weekend user it would probably not be worth it. But I am in love with it! 😍

[sailor_ed]

Sorry, my boat is a Gulfstar 41.

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by sailor_ed

A sturdily mounted vise which could be rotated so long objects could extend into the main cabin was the first and most important addition. 😍

Thanks! Any chance of a pic of how the vise is mounted?

[Jim Cate]

FWIW, on our previous boat, an ex-IOR one tonner, the V-berth had a trapezoidal filler board that slotted in to join the two halves of the berth. I mounted a 4 inch bench vise from the bottom of the board... hanging downward into an otherwise useless space. When needed, one removed the filler cushion, extracted the board and flipped it over so the vise was on top. Quite sturdy and very useful it was!

Jim

[JPA Cate]

I'll just add to what Jim already wrote, to mention that this vise got taken wherever the work needed to be done--on the dock for rigging work (Sta-Loks & Norseman, etc.), over to other people who might need its use, etc., etc. It proved to be very useful.

As we had a cushion made for the top, when the vise board was stored upside down, it made the V berth wider, for cuddling.

Ann

[sailor_ed]

Here is a crude sketch of my basic layout. I am lucky in that one corner of the v berth lines up with the doorway. It is nice to have a vise you can move around but then it must be clamped if you are to put much force on it. Mine is through bolted and will take a lot of force before I worry about pulling the joinerwork apart.

Sorry no photos but I won't see my boat until the springtime...gone south....in an RV....don't ask....

[olaf hart]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmHC...&feature=share

[Meanderthal]

Got the vberth scrubbed, dried, and prepped for alteration. The tarp is temporary, so I can get started and have some dust control. Slapped together two mini sawhorses from scrap wood. Added some plastic padeyes for hanging and restraining light but bulky items along the sides of the vberth, and one overhead to loop our favorite headlamp (a walmart-brand Bushnell, of all things) for extra light. The power tool plastic tub is now behind the tarp and below the shelf at the foot of the vberth, instead of the former location under the bed in the main cabin.

Fitted closed cell foam insulation to the foot of the sidewalls, and used strips of the leftover foam to keep materials lifted just clear of the foil faced reflectix on the actual sidewalls (only found condensation where there was direct contact).

Upgraded the retrofit led bulbs to better warm light led bulbs. (which I'd already done in the before pic, which actually shows the cleaned-up version, eek. All the bits for the bimini frame build got tossed back there...).

[sailor_ed]

I am a bit embarrassed to show this pic but truth must be free! I was in the middle of refurbishing an Ideal windlass that had been submerged and was completely frozen. (I got it at a good price) It was a big job.

But it shows the vise and the low bulkhead and some of the tool stowage.

Good luck with your project...love the photos and update.

[toddster8]

I have gone back and forth on this idea several times. Giving up the workshop/laboratory is one of the main things I'd have to overcome to move aboard full time.

I've drawn, but not built, a removable tool chest/workbench that would fill one side of the vee-berth while leaving a large single bunk on the other side. One concern is that due to an offset passageway, the natural place for it is port, but the boat already has a port list due to furniture asymmetry. One could add another unit in the front, though I favor leaving a place on one side to sit. I did consider just putting a socket in the middle of the cutout area where I could attach the seatpost of my bicycle as a swivel stool.

The double quarter berth is actually a roomier place to sleep, but all the closet space is up in the vee berth. I guess one has to overcome the aesthetic and organizational resistance to storing the underwear next to the power tools. Also I currently have cushions installed all around the walls of the vee-berth (it gets cold up here in the winter) and with the door closed it is quite the snug and quiet little cocoon to be giving up!

The vice/cutout idea sounds like a great idea. One could also try that with other gear, like sewing machines, etc. Perhaps mounted on settee locker lids.

Keeping two double mattresses on board seems to waste a tremendous volume of space, except on those rare occasions when you need them both. I wonder if it would be feasible to use a plastic bag and a vacuum pump to flatten out un-needed foam cushions for storage?

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by toddster8

Keeping two double mattresses on board seems to waste a tremendous volume of space, except on those rare occasions when you need them both. I wonder if it would be feasible to use a plastic bag and a vacuum pump to flatten out un-needed foam cushions for storage?

I don't think vacuum packing cushions would actually be that hard (we've done it for other scenarios), but I'm more in favor of giving the guests your comfortable place, and inflating an airbed for yourself for however long.

I like the vise idea, but I'm not sure yet. I do know the tilt out bins on either side of the trapezoidal cutout in the vberth are getting replaced with vinyl rectangular prism duffle bags on pvc rollers (waterproof/rot proof/portable/ washable drawers) for storing sewing paraphernalia and small projects+disassembled parts in progress. Aka--say I had a windlass diassembled, but needed to do some cutting. Slap a piece of tape on a duffle saying windlass parts, stow the parts in various ziploc baggies and label, store with no worries.

Another advantage of vinyl is I can chemically OR heat weld the seams, and insert waterproof clear panels with ease. (I like wood, but the vberth bilge is perpetually damp dt condensation dt the surface area to enclosed volume ratio, and I have already had to treat every wood surface in the bilge space for mold.)

As to tool storage==most of our monkeywrenching tools are in four drawers under the nav station/in the companionway. It's where they belong and I'm willing to give up frippery or kitchen storage. The top drawer is for small frequently used general tools such as scissors/fine pick/bits and drivers bin/measuring tape, 2nd down is assorted wrenchs and related tools, 3rd down is electrical tools incl multimeter and wire puller, bottom is sockets/etc and hex head wrenches.

[toddster8]

Hmm... off-the-shelf plastic milk crates might do some of that and serve as shelving units too. I think there are pictures somewhere on line, but as an example, Bob Perry's new carbon cutters have a pipe rack system in the forepeak designed to hold large numbers of plastic milk crates containing... well, whatever.

Pipe rack, eh? Hmm... unistrut offers many possibilities. I once worked in a lab where the internal walls were just unistrut frameworks. We could hang shelves, cabinets, even cantilevered worktables on them as well as plumbing and power conduits. Easy to reconfigure at will.

Ah... back to work.

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by toddster8

Hmm... off-the-shelf plastic milk crates might do some of that and serve as shelving units too. I think there are pictures somewhere on line, but as an example, Bob Perry's new carbon cutters have a pipe rack system in the forepeak designed to hold large numbers of plastic milk crates containing... well, whatever.

Pipe rack, eh? Hmm... unistrut offers many possibilities.

Hmm, I'll look for pics and research unistrut. Milk crates won't conform to the steep curvature of the hull under the vberth to take advantage of a little extra internal volume, nor will they keep projects and small bits of projects dry and contained. Plus, our local tent and tarp guys share good scraps with me/why I wanted a workshop! I've built roller beds before and they are so easy and light and cheap and multipurpose, and removable if I need to inspect stuff....

[Meanderthal]

Clearly some work to do on the cabintop. PO work :-)