Cockpit Grate for CP16

[MKBLK]

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

[tmw]

Pictures or it isn't real...  or said nicely, could you post some pictures so the slow people like me can follow?

[MKBLK]

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.