After installing a Fiddle on the starboard side kitchen ledge I found I simply couldn't stop there... and started on the design/installation for shelves with Fiddles in the headroom area at the entrance of our R-25. I provide a link to various photos I took during the installation.
This task was inspired by seeing these as a stock item on the R-27.
The most challenging part of the design was figuring out how to hang the shelves without pulling things apart too much. What I came up with was to use framing joint plates that would simply slide in between the cabin headliner and the fiberglass roof. Sliding them in far enough left a sufficient portion sticking out for laying the shelving on. There was enough friction between the headliner and the roof to keep the plates in place. The plates could then be concealed with 3/4" molding.
I stained all the wood with Teak stain and it matched the surrounding Teak very nicely. I used 1/2" wide brass angles to hold the Fiddles. These angles were 3" long and cut from 12" long strips of brass. The right angle bend was easily formed with 2" vertical and 1" horizontal.The bending was done using a B&D Workmate non-metal vice so that the brass was not marked. Brass bends quite easily. Only 2 holes were needed in each piece of brass. Everything is held together nicely with brass washers and screws. Care was taken to ensure screw lengths were sufficient to hold things together securely but not long enough to puncture through into shelf's surface.
The first assembly was to screw the three shelves to the framing joint plates making sure the shelves aligned nicely with their surroundings, then every thing else followed that.
I would have liked to build all of this at home but it was not possible because precise measurements had to be made as the boat cabin entrance headroom is not quite symmetric. I placed all the brass screws/washers in a symmetric pattern and the 1/2" wide brass angles matched up nicely from a design consistency view point with my recently installed Fiddle for the galley ledge which is posted else where.
The actual custom fitting took me maybe 4 to 5 hours.
The beauty of the design/installation is that the complete shelving assembly can be removed as no drilling or removal of the stock configuration was done. The Cabin entrance can easily be returned to its stock condition if necessary and no one would be the wiser... except for me. :lol:
Here's a link to photos I took during installation along with the final look of the shelves.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cd2nwmdp7la3nkl/0xHhSDCR63
This task was inspired by seeing these as a stock item on the R-27.
The most challenging part of the design was figuring out how to hang the shelves without pulling things apart too much. What I came up with was to use framing joint plates that would simply slide in between the cabin headliner and the fiberglass roof. Sliding them in far enough left a sufficient portion sticking out for laying the shelving on. There was enough friction between the headliner and the roof to keep the plates in place. The plates could then be concealed with 3/4" molding.
I stained all the wood with Teak stain and it matched the surrounding Teak very nicely. I used 1/2" wide brass angles to hold the Fiddles. These angles were 3" long and cut from 12" long strips of brass. The right angle bend was easily formed with 2" vertical and 1" horizontal.The bending was done using a B&D Workmate non-metal vice so that the brass was not marked. Brass bends quite easily. Only 2 holes were needed in each piece of brass. Everything is held together nicely with brass washers and screws. Care was taken to ensure screw lengths were sufficient to hold things together securely but not long enough to puncture through into shelf's surface.
The first assembly was to screw the three shelves to the framing joint plates making sure the shelves aligned nicely with their surroundings, then every thing else followed that.
I would have liked to build all of this at home but it was not possible because precise measurements had to be made as the boat cabin entrance headroom is not quite symmetric. I placed all the brass screws/washers in a symmetric pattern and the 1/2" wide brass angles matched up nicely from a design consistency view point with my recently installed Fiddle for the galley ledge which is posted else where.
The actual custom fitting took me maybe 4 to 5 hours.
The beauty of the design/installation is that the complete shelving assembly can be removed as no drilling or removal of the stock configuration was done. The Cabin entrance can easily be returned to its stock condition if necessary and no one would be the wiser... except for me. :lol:
Here's a link to photos I took during installation along with the final look of the shelves.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cd2nwmdp7la3nkl/0xHhSDCR63