The V-berth

No big changes for the V-berth were planned. I intended to keep the berth (mostly) just as it is.

The problem was that the water tank was located under the V-berth and it really needed to be replaced. 40 years for a fiberglass tank is long enough. It was making the water taste funny and I wasn't sure what was living in there; plus, I had thoughts of making it bigger. To remove the water tank meant removing the entire berth. While it was out I had the chance to make the berth more level. I never noticed it before but another Triton owner told me about it. Apparently most, if not all, Triton V-berths are a few inches higher at the forward end. When I checked mine I found it was three inches higher at the forward end too. Then, while the berth and tank were out I thought it would be a good opportunity to insulate the hull surfaces too.

A New Berth

The berth came out easily enough. A skilsaw an inch inside the hull quickly cut out the panel that makes the berth. A hand chisel took out the tabbing that held in that last pesky inch. Finally, my grinder and flap wheel attachment cleaned it up nicely. The water tank underneath was only lightly tabbed in. That came out easily too..

The next step was a bit trickier. I needed to put the replacement water tank and waste tank back in (see the plumbing section). Before the tanks went in I had to glue in the insulation to the hull. Before I could install insulation I had to tab in the two bulkheads that hold the tanks in position and support the berth. Before I tabbed in the bulkheads I needed to install the tanks...

There is some overlap between the tank installation and the V-berth construction. More detailed info on the tank itself is in the Plumbing section.

The mounting blocks for the tanks to sit on were tabbed into place.

Insulation that would lay under the tanks was glued in.

A couple of blocks that would support the inner storage compartment plywood backs were also glued in place.

The tanks were layed in position.

The bulkheads in front and behind the water tank were tabbed in.

More insulation was glued to the hull.

The plywood panels that cover the insulation and make up the bottom of the storage compartments forward of the tank and another on starboard side aft of the tank were installed.

Two panels on either side of the water tank were installed just to keep anything sitting on the tank from sliding off and getting trapped forever underneath.

Everything was given a coat of boiled linseed oil to seal it and two coats of white Interlux Bilgekote to make it look pretty.

Then it was time to put the berth back in place. I cut out 1x2 strips of fir and using epoxy thickened with colloidial silica, screwed the strips to the main bulkhead and anchor locker bulkhead at the corrected heights. I didn't change the height at the main bulkhead but after leveling the boat, I used a level to project the new height of the forward end of the berth. This turned out to be about 3 inches lower than the original. I installed strips at this new position.

Then I made a small mistake. I bent strips along the side of the hull between the forward and aft strips. It looked straight so I abandoned thoughts of building in a curve to correct for curvature in the hull. I glued in the strips along the side of the hull. Later when I had installed the berth I realized that the berth does indeed dip about half an inch in the middle because the strips along the hull follow the hull curvature. Its not really noticeable until you... notice it... but it really is not an issue. Until I wrote this I had forgotten all about it. If I were doing it again however, I would have taken more care and had a level berth to show for it.

Once the epoxy had set up I ran a hand plane along the fore and aft strips along the hull to make the top edges flat for the berth panels to lie on. Since they had been glued directly to the hull the edge tipped up perpendicular to the hull surface. The plane fixed that. After applying epoxy fillets and rounding the edges of the strips I epoxied two layers of biaxial tape over the strips, completely encapsulating them and making them much stronger.

I decided to make the berth in two halves split right down the middle. This was the easiest way I could think of to get the job done. I found that trying to work in the V-berth area with sloping sides, a tank and bulkheads, and large sheets of plywood was incredibly awkward and frustrating. I lost count of how many times while stooping and twisting in the tiny area, my foot would slip and my shin would catch my fall on the sharp corner of the water tank. Anyway, building the berth in two halves minimized the damage to my shins from the awkward maneuvering with big panels. Using two large pieces of cardboard I made half patterns of the berth. Curiously, the two half patterns were not at all the same. Further proof that the Triton is not at all symmetrical. Once I had the patterns it was a simple job of cutting out the 3/4 inch fir plywood panels that make the berth, bevel the edges to fit against the hull (making sure that the panel didn't actually contact the hull and create a hardspot that would show up after painting) and screw down the panel into position. The panels were screwed down to the edge strips and to the tops of the bulkheads on either side of the water tank. Finally, more to drive any water running down the inside of the hull out into the open than anything, the panels were tabbed along the edges with six inch biaxial tape. The berth is very stout.

The only point of weakness of the berth was where the two halves joined. The two halves are rigid at the fore and aft ends and the two points over the bulkheads (the waste tank also supports the port side berth panel). In between these areas there was a tendency to flex and creating an annoying lip. This was easily fixed when access holes for the water tank and a forward storage area were cut and filled with hatch covers. The blanks that fill the access holes sit on lips. These lips are of one piece and span both berth panels, tying them together. I didn't explain it very well. Pictures say it much better. These were taken at a particularly dirty moment but they show the idea.

Storage

The space between the bulkhead in front of the water tank and the bulkhead that defines the anchor locker was unused so I made it a general storage area by adding floor panels over the hull insulation and an access hatch. (see the picture above) I have no idea what can go up here but when I figure it out I have it. The boat is small and I can't waste any space.

Behind the water tank on the port side is the 16 gallon waste tank. On the opposite side is another open storage space (currently still under construction). You can see the fill port for the V-berth water tank there too.

Forward chainplate knees

I had decided to install forward lower shrouds for the mast and while the V-berth was torn apart it was a good time to install the knees that the chainplates would anchor too; just like the aft lower shrouds. While unnecessarily big, I decided to simply copy the rough dimensions of the aft chainplate knees. I did it more for continuity of form than anything else. The details are under The Rig project page. Briefly, the knees were cut out from 3/4 inch okoume marine plywood, epoxied to the hull and then covered over with three layers of biaxial cloth anchoring it securely to the hull.

Ceiling