I finally had a chance to finish painting the bridge deck and put the non-skid paint on it. After sailng and working on the boat over the last two months, I’ve ben very pleased with how well the new bridgedeck has worked out. The locker is easily accessed from the cockpit, as well as the nav station and galley. It is also a surprisingly large locker.
Here are some photos. The first photo is a detail photo of the cockpit which shows the how low the original companionway was. I moved the fire extinguisher up, and cut the companionway dropboard rails to fit. I also added a handrail to the starboard companionway dropboard rail. Instead of using screws, the dropboard rails are now through-bolted. I also drilled two holes in the port-side dropboard rail for 1/4″ fast pins, which now secure the two dropboards in place if desired.
The second photo shows the new bridge deck. I designed the bridgedeck’s new companionway threshold to be the same height as the original lowermost dropboard, which is no longer used. The aft surface of the bridgdeck was angled to maximize interior volume, while still allowing me to operate the outboard throttle.
The third photo is a detail of the new water deck fill. I had to relocate it, since the old one is the black deck fill in the first photo and is now inside the bridge deck locker. I replaced it with the stainless steel one in the second photo. I placed it on the angled portion of the bridgedeck to help prevent standing water from getting into the freshwater system. The old deck fill sometimes had some water standing around it.
The bridgedeck was constructed from 3/4″ plywood and fiberglassed in place with four layers of six ounce cloth on the top, and three layers of cloth underneath. It was then painted with Petit EasyEpoxy white topsides paint. Then I masked off the edges, the water fill and two strips going from the cockpit sides to the companionway edges, and painted the bridgedeck with Interdeck non-skid paint.