I thought I would ask Guppy if he could shed some light on my repair idea with the starboard he mentioned in one of his previous posts to me.
Last time out my overhead storage locker about the cockpit where you store all your small particulars came loose and almost fell down. I had enough bongies aboard to securely hold it into and place till I got home. The locker is held into place by small tiny screws at it's lip circumference screwed into the edge a 1/4" thick black plastic rectangular sheet which is fastened to the stainless overhead rail with big washers and nuts and bolts. The problem is that this 1/4" thick black plastic is not real rigid and does flex (especially if it gets hot in the sun). The lip of the storage locker has a bunch of these tiny screws that are SUPPOSE to hit the dead center of the this 1/4" black plastic however I noticed that many had missed or were on the very edge (not in center) and hence it all came loose and the white locker dropped down. So...... I have to fix but I do not want to use the what i consider poor design that held it in before as under the best circumstances it's integrity would be iffy. With all the stuff I have in the that overhead locker (large fish fillets.... see if anyone is paying attention...)
and the boat bouncing I don't think she would hold so I need to improve on the original design . That black rectangular 1/4" sheet is (17" x 29" long) long enough to hold some nice size fillets...
. I am thinking of just changing that with 1/2" starboard that way I have a half inch to hit with all those screws plus it won't flex being thicker like the 1/4" black plastic that is currently holding up the locker. The only question I have is...... as you can see from the picture the black plastic is bolted to the stainless frame but it does have a slight curve downward on each side in shape, over the 29" length I think about 1/2" bent down on each side (this is the same shape of the locker too...as this black plastic fits INSIDE the top of the locker). BUT..... I am not sure if 1/2" Starboard 29" long can flex enough to accomodate that 1/2" downward shape on each side. If it did I would imagine it would be infinitely stronger than the factory 1/4" black plastic that is currently there. That black plastic just fits on the inside of the locker all the way around and siliconed to prevent water from entering the top side of locker. You have worked with starboard, do you think my idea will work ? If not any suggestions. I just figured that at 1/2" thick there will be no flexing in the head and plenty of thickness to hit the middle of that 1/2" which will bring lots of integrity. The reason my fell is a LOT of the screws were not in center of the 1/4" black plastic or they missed completely and with the bouncing the flexing that did her in.
Have included 2 pics so that you can see the issue. One is a pic of the black plastic overhead and the 2nd is the edge of the locker where all the screws are .....
Kind Regards,
Fish Raptor
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