Re: 81 Sea Ray 26 Sedan Bridge I/O to OB Conversion/Restore (Pics)
[h=1]
Gunwale Extensions Template[/h]Now that I have completed as much FG?ing on the staircase as I can do at the salon, I need something to work on there. One of the items in the overall plan is to extend the gunwales.
There are several things I want to change/fix with the gunwales. First (#1 in the picture), is to bring the center of the gunwale up and level with the rest of it. As you can see, it drops down in the center. I want the gunwale to all be at the same level. Also, originally, the gunwales had wood railings mounted on tubing all around. Old school. But removing them leaves the gunwales a bit low. This at least gets me another inch in height.
At position #2 in the picture, you can see two openings that were originally engine room exhaust ports. Ugly, and again, old school. I will be changing this look. At position #3 was what I consider to be a dangerous problem. Right where you would step as you swing out around the bridge to go forward, several things we poorly designed. First, the short piece you see at a 45 degree angle is right where you want to make you first step. So that slippery little piece either makes your foot slide out from under you or starts you out a little further back than is comfortable. Next, as you swing around, your foot wants to come down right on a section that is tapered down to forward and to the side, with no non-skid surfacing, putting you right off the boat, hanging from railing if you?re lucky.
So, I plan to fix all the problems I see with the gunwales. In the picture you see I made a Styrofoam template of the top piece for the modification. The top surface (#1 in the picture) will now be 8.5? wide. It will bring the height of the gunwale up slightly and provide more comfortable seating when at anchor. It will also diminish that small slippery 45 degree piece.
Along the side, I will FG in a support structure and incorporate new louvered exhaust vents to match the boat d?cor, The aft end will be cut along the line you see in the picture to match the curve in the existing gunwale. Cutting this section out will allow any line I put on the aft cleat to have room to move around.
The forward end of this modification (#2 in the picture) will now add 5.5? wide of stepping space when I go forward. It extends far enough forward that I will be stable, with a good hold on the railing, before I have to step down to the level of the foredeck.
I know the above pictures are very preliminary, and it may be hard to picture the end result, but believe me, it will look like it was made that way when I?m done with it (or at least I hope it will).
