My last post I ranted about the poor service I got from a West Marine store. Well, I decided to email the company and let them know what happened. Not something I normally do, but I consistently get poor service from that store and I needed to tell somebody. Anyway, I received an email back from the store operations manager. I was surprised to hear from them at all, but he was very apologetic, and insisted that they would look into the matter. Acting on a single complaint would be odd for a company this large, but the gesture was nice. Like I told him, it was too late for me, but perhaps this along with whatever others have written will eventually effect some change.
But on to more important things. I have a new nav station. It's nothing super special. I didn't take pictures during the construction, because really all it is, is some plywood with a laminate top and a couple of fiddles. However, being installed is big for us, one less thing to make.
I threw together the little support under the lift up portion of the table. It is a far better solution than what was originally there. It provides a surprising amount of sturdiness, and doesn't get in the way at all. I did make a couple of boo boos though. The drop down portion is there to allow the end of the table to hide away when someone is sleeping in the quarter berth. However, I didn't quite compensate enough for the thickness of the fiddle, and the end portion does not hang straight down when the support is swung out of the way. It's easy to fix, I just have to run it through the tablesaw and knock off a 1/4". But still, poor engineering. Also, while mounting I accidentally put two of the screws underneath in the wrong spot and put them up through the laminate. They are tiny holes, and difficult to even find unless you know where to look, but it sucked when I looked up and saw them for the first time. Ughhh....
And below is the hatch pulled out. There will be a storage compartment in behind the set of drawers that are going in, and this will be the access point. It worked out well, but the handle was a pain to put in.
The only thing that is really bugging me now is the back splash. It is covered with the old laminate, and I don't really want to put new laminate on it. I think I will probably slide in a piece of 1/4" ply and stain it up with a couple of coats of cetol. However, I think Serena will get the last say on that one.
I also permanently screwed in the slide down panel from the other side of the wall. I'll have to plug the holes later. Having the panels down, makes for better airflow, and makes the boat seem bigger, but it cuts down on privacy, so tomato/tomatoe, to each their own.
And lastly, I picked up some $7 led 12V replacement bulbs at Princess Auto on Thursday. They weren't an exact match for the bulbs in the boat, but they were the same socket. After some testing I found out that they were reverse polarity to the existing ones, so when I rewire everything I'll just change that and have inexpensive low power lighting. That takes care of three of the interior lights. The other three are different and I have had no luck locating cheap replacements yet.
They are calling for 7 days of rain here, so I will be in the shop for the week. Hopefully I'll get some cabinetry done, ready for install next weekend.
Cheers, and fair winds.
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