Monday 26 November 2012

A throne for my palace

Things are never easy... I have bought a Jabsco compact for Ciao Bella, as they are reported to fit in the locker without too much modification. Ciao Bella has a different layout to all other Hurley 20,s that I have seen, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that this wasn't going to go to plan.
Roger had been through this exercise last year and posted the process on the Hurley Owners Assc website here.
I will follow the same method, i.e. mount the loo on a plinth to make it easy to remove from the boat for servicing, emergencies and cleaning. The plinth will be two thicknesses of 9mm marine ply, mainly because I have some and also so I can overdrill the lower sheet to accept the bolt heads.
After shaving as much as I could off the pump end of the base, to follow the curve of the hull, I could see that there was going to be no way I'd get my throne to sit any lower in the locker; meaning I couldn't put the lid on. hmmm, time to think.
My plan now is to fit the loo and all the pipework then raise the lids of all the front v berth lockers by 1" with battens. I can only assume this will bring the v berth up to the height of other Hurleys. There should still be enough room to get to the chain locker... Even for me :-)
The following series of pictures show how I am contructing this plinth.

I cut a piece of 9mm Marine ply fit flat in the bottom of the  locker. Not sure if you can see but the  sides of the hull start to rise here making it impossible to site the loo with out adding a platform.  This bottm sheet will allow the bolt heads to sit through it to maintain a flat base.

Thw upper piece of ply was then cut and champhered to fit over  the lower sheet. The loo was then dropped into position so I could mark where it would fit.

A trial fit - The locker sides will need to be raised about 1" .  I have also had to shape the side of the locker to  take the curve of the bowl.

A view into the locker showing how little room there is.  The base of the pump had to be shaped to follow the curve of the hull.  This is the only modification to the loo that I will have to do.

Showing how the two pieces will fit together.
PVA'd together with as many clamps as I could find.  Once happy with the shape and fit I will encapsulate the whole lot in epoxy a paint with bilge paint..  I guess the only thing more corrosive than the sea is a toilet on the sea! 

5 comments:

  1. Hi Phil, that locker is both smaller and less deep than the one on my H20 was. I used shortish stainless screws from underneath to secure the two plates together once sloshed with epoxy as jam in the sandwich. looking good. cheers Rog

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  2. Thanks Rog, as you said tuther day, the blessing is that the edge of the locker won't dig into legs when the position is assumed... I always have to find the upside :-)

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  3. The cludgie in my boat is positioned in the section just aft of where you have mounted your throne.

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  4. Haha.. Cludgie... what a great descriptive word. I guess it come back as far as the bulkhead?

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  5. It does. I will send pictures.

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