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Quarter Berth Upgrade

terry_thatcher

Terence Thatcher
I always thought the 382 quarter berth was silly: not really big enough for two adults, but big enough to waste lots of space. I attach a photo of my "solution." My shipwright built me a teak locker to narrow the head of the bed. It stores lots of food. To create flexible storage aft of that, without getting in the way if I need to lower the overhead, my canvas guy made a sunbrella and mesh soft locker that fits in the space behind the teak locker. It has a plexiglass shelf half way down and is shaped to fit the curve of the hull. Lots of storage in there for clothes or other soft items.. Finally, several years ago, I made a drop down chart locker under the starboard cockpit coaming and put a 23 gallon auxiliary diesel tank under the aft part of the quarter berth. The tank required that I raise the aft part of he bunk flat by about 2 inches, so my quarter berth cushion is now in two pieces. Forward piece is still 4 inches thick, but the aft section is 2 inches. Since that is used only to support my legs when I am prone, I find the 2 inches perfectly comfortable. In addition, I don't have to fight the big quarter berth cushion when I want to get to my batteries.
 

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Hi Terry - thanks for sharing that. You're right in that the quarter berth is too small for a double and too big for a single. This is a great way to use the space. You said you made the chart dropdown under the port coaming, and I think you meant starboard?

It looks to me like you have your battery charger mounted on the aft bulkhead in there too? That also seems like a great idea because it's nice and close to the batteries. Ours is over in the port cockpit locker. Longer runs of big diameter cable.

I like the idea of the bonus fuel tank too. And a smaller cushion to deal with too.

Would this Friday or Saturday work for Susan and I to run by to look at Adavida (and photograph)? The last couple of weekends ended up having messed up schedules.

Cheers,
-Mark
 
Hi Terry - thanks for sharing that. You're right in that the quarter berth is too small for a double and too big for a single. This is a great way to use the space. You said you made the chart dropdown under the port coaming, and I think you meant starboard?

It looks to me like you have your battery charger mounted on the aft bulkhead in there too? That also seems like a great idea because it's nice and close to the batteries. Ours is over in the port cockpit locker. Longer runs of big diameter cable.

I like the idea of the bonus fuel tank too. And a smaller cushion to deal with too.

Would this Friday or Saturday work for Susan and I to run by to look at Adavida (and photograph)? The last couple of weekends ended up having messed up schedules.

Cheers,
-Mark
Mark, I sent you an email about a visit. tlt
 
Here is a picture of the pull down chart locker. I replaced the flimsy vinyl overhead with plywood, with a cut out for the drawer under the cockpit coaming. The drawer is teak plywood, epoxied. Its bottom is painted white to match the plywood overhead. You can see the molding I used to cover the gap between the drawer and the overhead. This idea was not mine. Another member, over 10 years ago, posted a thread about his similar drawer. Searching on the site may locate the original discussion. On the port side of the boat, I use the space under the coaming for the Clark pump for my water maker. Mark Pearson told me he placed his diesel furnace under the port coaming. There is lots of room up there.
 

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Wow very cool all around! We made a bunch of soft hanging canvas pockets for the outboard wall of the quarter which work great for canvas and clothing storage, but it is still a fair amount of wasted space. And that fuel tank is especially tempting given our recent experience of a slow mostly windless passage made even slower by lack of adequate diesel.
 
I like this. In my case, my life raft goes in that spot. However you manage to do it, the Morgan needs more storage. I will point out that on a passage, by far the most comfortable spot to sit is in the quarterberth, athwartships, feet against companionway steps, and back against where you have that locker. The v berth cushions fit that space well, and I will probably have one made to fit when I replace all mine.
 
Warren

Glad to see you have completed your journey to St Thomas. Hope there were no problems to deal with. Are you going to hang in the Caribbean for the winter or head straight to the Canal? Enjoy the sunshine and the warmth.

I split the quarter berth overhead to make it easier to take down. The square hole in the photo is right under the stbd cockpit coaming and it allows us to store 12 rolls of plastic wrapped paper towels up in there.

When I was doing a lot of singlehanding, the quarter berth was the best bunk to use. Now that single handing on overnight cruises is a not so often affair, the quarter berth is now designated as "the garage". We stow the spinnaker, cockpit enclosure curtains, and other sorted kit there.

Jim
 

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OOPs, Sorry about the double post!

We have also split the quarter berth cushion so there is access to the batteries and the stbd locker without having to take everything out of the garage.

Jim
 
I usually sleep in the quarter berth during passage. Storage is an issue, and as of today, all my sails are now lashed down on deck. There just isn't enough space for them. Also tossing my cockpit cushions. Great on sunny dry days, but when it rains they take up too much space below.

Passage sucked. Broke a steering cable and re-rigged it with dyneema. I'm going to do a more permanent fix, but with dyneema. I think its better than stainless, which will fatigue at the sheeve and break without warning.
 
Warren, sorry to hear the cable broke. Must have been a bitch repairing at sea. By the way, I purchased two of the stainlerss bearing sleeves for my Edson pedestal. Got them thru Fisheries Supply, so I didn't have to deal directly with Edson. Now I have to have a local machinist carefully drill out the pedestal. That needs to be perfect.
 
It wasn't to hard. Hardest part was rearranging gear for access. Dyneema is really easy to work with. The issue it seems is the sheave diameter. 4" is much to small, and fatigues the steel. So evan if the cables look fine, replace them often. I'm going to switch to dyneema for this reason, it won't fatigue like steel and will last longer. But I'm going a size bigger than what was on hand for my temp fix.
 
Terry

I am going to due some long overdue maintaince on Dana's pedestal this winter. Have you had any trouble dealing with Edson?

Jim
 
Edson has always been easy to work with. The owner has called me from his cell phone while driving home from work. Very expensive though. That said, it has recently been sold and i've not dealt with the new owner.

If it's still original, an absolute must is to replace the idler pulley assembly, the cables and chain, and install a rebuild kit which includes needle bearings and some bushings. There is also a break pad kit if the break isn't holding, and the shift and throttle cables are much easier to change with it all apart.
 
I had the same experience with Edson as Warren - the guy I talked to (multiple times) really knew his stuff, and got me all the exact right fittings. I originally called to only replace our disintegrated Idler assembly, but he talked me into replacing the cable (for the valid reasons that Warren mentioned above), rebuild kit, etc. Also as Warren said, all of the stuff was not cheap (a little over one boat buck), but I feel like she's set for a long while with her steering. Knocking on wood.

And steering is pretty darned important ;)
 
My words were poorly chosen. The long story: I too have had good service from Edson. But I am about to do something they did not want to let Warren do, as I remember it. The pedestals on early Morgans were built with 334 or 335 pedestals (now called 336). Their main shaft has needle bearings that run in aluminum races. Edson says not to use the pedestals with self steering gear that attaches to the wheel. They say to use the bigger 402 pedestral, that has 3, rather than 2 bearings and which has stainless bearing races. Warren's trip wore out the aluminum and he wanted to install the stainless races. Edson would not sell them to him. I want to do the same because I use a Monitor. But I knew they would ask me questions if I called and ordered the parts directly. So I went thru Fisheries. Putting in a whole new pedestal seemed a step too far for me, although perhaps I should have spent the money to get the extra bearing.
 
Terry, I'm going the same direction. Did you install sleeves ?
I don't see them on Fisheries web page. Did you call them to order ?
 
I called Fisheries. They had to set a price. A little over $20 each. I have not decided whether I will use the sleeves from Edson or have my machinist make sleeves, as Warren did. I will decide after I get the pedestal apart. Bear in mind that doing this still leaves you with just two bearings and Edson seems to think three is best for when using a vane a self steering device.
 
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