Crows Nest interior rebuild

[John F.]

Rebuilding the interior of Crows Nest. The cool thing about B31s is that you get to make them your own. My idea is simple as possible, The port side dinette is pretty much staying as is



I decided to change up the starboard side. I moved the head compartment forward and made it smaller. I made a bench thing starboard aft. It'll get blue ultraleather to match the rest of the interior. I kept the fridge, and under the bench is the fridge (that's why its so deep), storage, and the holding tank.







This isn't the best picture (yeah, none of mine are), but with the aft head compartment out, it really opens up the interior.



That's pretty much how she'll lay out. I was going to close off/bulkhead vertically behind the windshield, but decided to leave it as is per my wife's request. There will be less storage, but it keeps the interior a little more open. Yup, and no galley or sink. We never used the fresh water system in the Anna E.--it was easier (we're lazy) to use bottled water for a quick wash than to keep the fresh water system fresh. When we spent the night on the Anna E. it was always at a marina with bathrooms, shorepower, and a decent restaurant nearby, so no galley. Although I have a few friends who enjoy cooking on the boat (and who doesn't like bacon and eggs on a calm day out in the canyons when lines are in), neither of us wants to cook on the boat. A lot was really left as is to keep the amount of work down. Its been enough work. The interior is made so that it can all be taken apart and removed from the boat. I'll take everything back out in the fall when I'm done dry fitting stuff and I'll paint the interior then. I'll finish the ply with Formica/paint this winter in my garage, and will be asking for help along the way there (although I think I understand the technique from reading posts).

[PeterPalmieri]

looking good!

[Joseph Fikentscher]

3/4 Ply?

[John F.]

The deck will be 3/4". The vertical panels, seat bases, etc are all 1/2."

[John F.]

Winter project of Crows Nest Interior rebuild about done. I need to get cushions for the new starboard side seating area done to match the dinette, and she needs to be trimmed out. I get it that its a big contrast to Bob Lico's work--he made a beautiful head door and I used the older one and just turned it upside down--but it works for me. My goal was to make Crows Nest as simple as possible.

The port side dinette stayed about the same. I redid the things the cushions sit on. The A/C is under the forward cushion, and there is storage under the aft cushion. I plan on making a new table--maybe next winter. Doug traded his "chart" table for this white table at one of the Atlantic City Rendevous. The white table came out of "CatEquipt"--Fred Haas's boat as I remember.



The port side is not much different than how she came. The starboard side is different. I moved the head compartment forward, and made another seating area aft of that. The fridge is under the seating area.



Here's the seating area.



Here's the door to the head just forward of the seating area, and the head. You can tell I flipped the head door--the lockset is upside down now--but it works fine.







The v-berth is the same. That big piece of mahogany trim will get drilled for rod holders. The sides of the v-berth are carpet. I really wanted to do teak or mahogany like Dug Stowe's Alchemy, but that'll have to wait. You get a sense of how much brighter the whole interior gets when the aft is opened up by moving the head forward.







The headliner throughout is foam backed white vinyl from Sailrite. Somebody on here suggested it--thanks. Its nice stuff.



The interior still needs some cleaning up, some touch up, she needs to be trimmed out, and lots of little detail stuff needs to be done. But, she can be used now, and I'll do that stuff during the season as I get to it. She's in, and I'll be adding 4 more gunnel rod holders next, and she'll be ready for Rock (striper) season.

[Yannis]

Great work John, if you like it this way, then this is the way you should do it. It really sounds you're happy, until here!!

Oh, and something else, that cabin forward stbd is NOT the head; its the hired captain who is a bit grumpy and he likes the door closed while he navigates from the lower station !

[Bruce]

Very nice work John.

[Tony Meola]

John

Nice work. I give you and Bob a lot of credit. By the way, that white table is original to the boat.

[John F.]

Thanks.

[scot]

Very nice, great job.

[Capt.Frank]

John as usual you did a awsome job. Is plywood covered with formica or just paint?

[John F.]

Capt. Frank-

Thanks. Its ply saturated with epoxy, covered in f'glass, and then faired (as much as I was in the mood for at the time). I was going to do Capt. Pat's instant fairing method, but the day I wanted to start, I drove to Home Depot and learned that they didn't stock sheets of laminate any more. So, I bought f'glass cloth and epoxy instead.

John

[Capt.Frank]

OK, looks great. The windshield is just coverings the aluminum frame right?

[John F.]

Yup. She has a thin f'glass covering that's glassed in on the outside of the windshield. The inside was separate Formica panels that were held in place with caulk. I dug the caulk out, and epoxied and f'glassed and faired. That was a major pia.

[Capt.Frank]

I bet John. Nice work you should be proud of your work

[John F.]

Thanks.

[Dug]

John,

That is f'ing beautiful!!!!!

Dug

[Bob H.]

John, Simple n sweet that's how you do custom...nice job.BH

[John F.]

Thanks guys.

Dug-

Looking forward to pics. of Alchemy. You're overdue for some pic sharing.

[Dug]

John,

I hear ya. Shoot me a PM with your email and I will send some down. If you would be willing to post?

Its all external work at this point, not to minimize that. But she is getting close! Hoping to have her floating in late may sometime.

D

[Rawleigh]

Very nice!