CONTINUOUSWAVE

Hi all. I'm making a filler piece for my 1987 REVENGE 20 W-T. I am going to use a thick piece of plywood--but open to suggestions.

How did you all design your so that it dealt with the "lip" on the hatches? Did you do a cutout for that or something?

Thank you for your input.

I think most of us with the extra cushion are utilizing the porta-potty cover that reverses for use as a table. A quick search on the internet should provide you with several pictures. My Revenge did not have one but I was able to locate a used OEM cover/table from a individual that was parting-out a wrecked Revenge. They are a simple design so I would imagine if you had the dimensions, it would be easy enough to replicate.

Thank you. I believe a number of folks decided to make replacement extension pieces (including JimH) To extend the v berth as well since that porta potty piece doesn't even come close to filling it in.

The vee-berth filler I made is supported in only three places. The narrow forward end rests atop the cabin well. Each corner at the wide end rests on the side of the deck surface where the under-berth hatches are located.

The filler is made from plywood. To stiffen the wide end an oak beam is added across the span on the upper side. This also serves a fiddle to hold the cushion in place. The panel is reinforced with douuble thickness plywood on the bottom, fastened with adhesive, two longitudinal stringers and one transverse stringer.

The construction has proved to be strong enough. We have slept many, many nights on that new, wide, queen-size berth.

The filler can be lifted out and moved forward and temporarily stowed in the forward half of the vee-berth.

When cruising we keep stores under the berth, in a long narrow container. The container slides out toward the stern, filling the little space remaining in the foot well. You get out the item you need and slide the container back under the filler panel.

When I have a more time I will show you a picture and give some dimensions.

Here is a view of the jimh-Revenge-VeeBerth filler panel, showing the general shape; this is the underside view:



WIDTH:
--at forward or narrow end = 14-1/2-inches.
--at aft or wide end = 30-5/8-inches

The sides are approximately 40-9/16-inches long.

The main panel is made from Maple plywood with nominal thickness of 7/16-inch ("half-inch"). The plywood thickness is doubled along each side and at a midsection cross brace. These reinforcements are glued in place; no fasteners. The reinforcements were cut from the same plywood, and they are 2-5/8-inches wide. The midsection cross brace is 18-1/2-inch from the narrow end.

The narrow end rests on lip of the cabin footwell where it rises and turns to become the base of the berths. There are 1-3/4-inches of single-thickness plywood that lay over the deck lip.

The wide end rests on the slightly lower part of the cockpit deck. A piece of rubber foam (cut from an old mouse pad whose color is a close match for Pacific Blue) is placed under the panel so it does not abrade the gelcoat. The foam also helps level the panel.

Here is a side view that shows the upper surface and the cross brace at the wide end:


The beam reinforcement is made from an Oak lumber of 3/4-inch by 1-3/8-inch. To give the beam a more nautical and finished look, the thickness was tapered to 3/8-inch at the top. The beam is fastened to the main plywood sheet with eight wood screws which are countersunk just below the panel surface.

When the panel was darkened with a mahogany wood stain it was discovered that the areas with excess glue did not accept the stain as easily. If you plan to stain the panel underside, carefully mask off the panel when applying the glue for the second layer of plywood so the adhesive does not affect the wood stain. I can't recall the exact adhesive used; it may have been Gorilla Glue. Or it might have been WEST System epoxy resin.

The panel was made in less than one hour. Material selection was based on what was available in the carpenter shop scrap bins. The designed was based on a sketch I made from the boat. The carpentry was done by a friend of mine, a fellow boater, who is skilled at building stage sets, scenery, and displays and had more than 25-years of professional work as a union scenic carpenter in professional theatre.

As best I can recall, I actually made this for my REVENGE 20 W-T. The cabin in the REVENGE 22 W-T is the same, so I just moved it to the larger boat when I bought the 22.

I always intended to sand and even the stain color, then give it a coat of varnish. But my boating ways are not oriented to flashy appearance. In use, 99-percent of the panel is covered by the cushion, and all you can see it that Oak beam or fiddle. It looks quite good enough for me.