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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Little mods - big difference..

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britinusa
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5404 Posts

Initially Posted - 01/03/2007 : 07:31:04

Two mods made a big difference on this weekends 4 night trip.

1: Moved the handles from the ends to the sides of the 5 Day cooler!
(Admirals Idea!)
Huge difference! moving the cooler out to access is now easy! Just pull up on the inboard handle and the cooler slips over the retaining lip of the cabin deck. To stow just pull up on the outboard handle. Added bonus is that it is easier to manhandle the cooler in and out of the boat.

2: Cutlery draw under the galley stove.
(My idea!)
Now that it's easy to pull the cooler out, I can use the space above it for a cutlery draw. Two Wynn Dixie Supermarket wooden trays basterdised to form a single tray nearly the width of the cooler space. White plastic handle to easy opening/closing. Not having to search for the cutlery and utensils.. priceless.

Future mod is to put wooden runners on the floor under the cooler to prevent damage to the fiberglass, it's already showing signs of scratching, particularly in the aft outboard part of the floor where it turns up with the hull shape. That should have been a standard feature from manufacture as there really is not enough room to raise the lid to access the original cooler adequately

Paul.
We always pull th

Joint Decision. (Sold)
PO C250WB 2005 Sail # 841.

Moved up to C34 Eximius

Updated August 2015

Edited by - britinusa on 01/03/2007 07:33:26

raulpou
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144 Posts

Response Posted - 01/03/2007 : 15:04:09

I just did the same thing with my cooler and I must say that changing the cooler has made a huge difference in ice retention! That blue box, it is blasphemy to call it a cooler, is simply worthless if you overnight at all!!

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StSimon
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Response Posted - 01/03/2007 : 23:35:13

Paul, How bout some photos?

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britinusa
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Response Posted - 01/04/2007 : 20:44:32

Here's one of the cooler handle mod
<center>

</center>I simply removed the original handles from the ends and relocated them on the front and back.

Paul.

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britinusa
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Response Posted - 01/04/2007 : 20:51:28

And here's the cutlery draw.
<center>

</center>

Paul

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StSimon
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Response Posted - 01/04/2007 : 22:48:25

Nice work !!!!

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mhartong
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Response Posted - 01/05/2007 : 10:01:31

Paul,

How did you mount the new drawer?

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SEAN
Admiral

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Response Posted - 01/05/2007 : 12:44:08

Looks great , were did you find the draw ?

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coldducks
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342 Posts

Response Posted - 01/05/2007 : 21:51:56

we love your drawer and will have to look into it. we took the cooler out of the boat all together and use it as a captains seat on the fuel locker. its the perfect height. and because ours is white it looks like part of the boat. then we installed a microwave oven on a shelf where the cooler used to be and there is even room for a storage basket under it fits perfectly.

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britinusa
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Response Posted - 01/05/2007 : 22:53:28

The Draw is made from 1 & 1/2 standard cutlery trays purchased $7.95 each at the local supermarket. The right hand side is one of the trays, the left is the cut off from the second with the partitions removed. They were pinned from below thru a piece of 1/8" ply and along the front with a piece of 2" red oak stained. The handle is the same as I used for the companionway hatch handles.

The whole thing is just mounted on two slides made from 1/2" square trim screwed to the sides of the cooler area. There's a magnetic catch mounted on the back of the draw but it is not strong enough so I'm going to put a toggle on the front of the galley front panel that will swing down to prevent outward movement of the draw in heavy seas.

Paul.

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Tom Potter
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1913 Posts

Response Posted - 01/06/2007 : 19:41:29

Paul, I like your cooler idea. I wonder why Catalina moved the stove. It looks like it takes up most of the counter space and totally took away the drawer space.

I notice in one of your pictures behind the sink it looks like two vertical tubes, what are they for?

Edited by - Tom Potter on 01/06/2007 22:21:09

britinusa
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5404 Posts

Response Posted - 01/07/2007 : 07:41:18

Tom, those tubes support a completely removable shelf, normally used for seating the DVD/TV unit. The Stereo/CD player is mounted on the forward side of the galley unit, I have run power and stereo inputs from there that we can use to connect the DVD/TV unit so that we can use the audio system to enhance the otherwise really poor DVD/TV audio output. I'll take a pic later and post it here.

BTW, news years weekend, we met up with the West Coast Trailer Sailors at Elliott Key on Key Biscayne, nice group of people, one of them (name?) mentioned you were a buddy of his. He's a Teacher, retired from the Coasties.

Paul.

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Tom Potter
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Response Posted - 01/07/2007 : 08:40:05

That will be Eddie, we met him on the BEER cruise several years ago. He owns a Potter 19, I have a link to his web site in my links page. Looking forward to see him and his wife Becky again on BEER 2007.

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britinusa
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5404 Posts

Response Posted - 01/07/2007 : 10:53:31

Thanks for his name Tom, (if you have his email address, could you send it to me.)

Here's the pic of the galley shelf.
<center>

</center>
The shelf has two brass picture frame holders screwed to the back facing downwards, they just slip in between the teak rail and the cabin side. The legs have velcro aheared to the bottoms and a velcro square is glued to the top of the gally counter under the legs. (no holes!)

Paul.

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.