Cockpit Grate for CP16
I posted this in the CP16 area (with a bit of thread drift) so I thought I'd repost it here for all to partake,
if interested.
I've slept in the cockpit of my CP16 and it was great! Rigged up a boom tent to fight off dew. I have
a cockpit grate that I can raise to be flush with the seats with three supports. An air mattress covers
the entire cockpit. Plenty of room for two. One caveat: When fully inflated, during a decent blow, you
could easily roll right off the boat! My solution was to let enough air out to sink into the mattress a bit.
Slept like a log!
Details on my grate project:
The Ikea "planks" are about 2-1/2" wide by 3/4" thick by 38" long of sturdy Swedish pine (I think!).
To be long enough, I added 12" for a total length of 50" (6 planks total). I laid out 5 staggered supports
(beam-wise) of 19-1/2". The long pieces are separated by little 2-1/2" x 3/4" x 3/4" spacers (25 of them).
Then I glued the whole lot together and screwed them with a zillion brass screws. Looks and works great!
Took a couple of hours to make. Total cost was about $5.00! I made 3 supports of the same planking with
90 degree steel angles (you could use bra$$) that I wrapped with duck tape to protect the cockpit seats.
Just lift up the grate, slip the 3 supports in place and inflate your mattress!
One thing I would have done differently is to urethane all the separate pieces before gluing and screwing
for a neater job. Oh, don't skimp on the screws. Every little spacer needs one too. I originally tried to not
screw them in place and rely on the glue - wrong! A single screw in each spacer is sufficient. Also, I cut
out a small section at either end to allow clearance to the scupper drains.
Marty K.
81 CP16 Pegasus
Pictures or it isn't real... or said nicely, could you post some pictures so the slow people like me can follow?
tmw - Yeah, I deserve that. I promise I'll try, but I'm up for election as president of the procrastinator's club.
Marty K.