Goodbye crew dinette, hello office!
Crew Dinette Before Demolition
For a long time, the dinette space in the crew cabin has been wasted. We have yet to take a meal there, and it has been a place that collected everything that didn’t have a place, all stacked until it fell, only to be re-stacked. There were a couple of nice deep drawers in the seat benches, but we wanted more for both clothing, and to have ready access to the boat’s records.
Cabinet Bases to be Installed
So, we decided do something about it, ripping out the original dinette, which was screwed into place from every imaginable angle at the Hatteras factory.
In it’s place, we’re using kitchen cabinets, purchased at Lowes, Ikea style (come assembly required). We liked these, primarily due to their price, and because they are made of plywood rather than particle board or MDF. Note that the pre-assembled cabinets of the same brand in the store, are not the same materials or construction. In addition to the plywood construction, this series has drawers that are of dovetail construction rather than stapled frames. We toughened up the structure a bit during assembly using Gorillla Glue, and they turned out quite sturdy.
This new desk area has 6 drawers for storage. It will also provides us with a place for the laptop and printer to live, and a work area for the horrid task of paying Sanctuary’s bills.
After securing the base cabinets to the floor, we laid a piece of 3/4″ mahogany plywood on top, creating an exceptionally large desk, which also doubles as an excellent place to fold laundry. The new desk is conveniently located next to the stacked washer/dryer set.
A little stain and varnish, and it’s just about completed. A very useful improvement, we’d say!
Desk Varnshing