Compac 16 cabin door customization

cabindoor-origNow I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no Ty Pennington. I’m a systems administrator Jim, not a carpenter, so for all you true craftsmen out there, please hold your laughter to a minimum. Anyway, I got to looking at the cabin door on my sailboat a few weeks ago and had a bright idea to build and install a drink holder on it. There are no drink holders installed in the CP-16 from the factory, in fact, back in 1981 when this was made, there weren’t a whole lot of options period for this model sailboat, so one can pretty much pimp them out however they want. I’ve just started really, and this post is about the cabin door. The picture to the left is the cabin door as it was originally from the factory. That is still the way it looks when I have my customized side of the door facing in.

cabindoor-orig-backThe picture on the right shows the inside of the cabin door in it’s original configuration(at least, this is the way it was when I got it). That frame is a 1/2″ aluminum angle and I guess was designed by the factory to hold the slabs of Teak togetfher to form and brace the door. I thought the frame was ugly. All last year I thought about mounting a sailboat picture or a mirror in there or anything to dress it up a bit. While I was out working on the boat a few weeks ago it hit me. I can install a backing plate inside that frame and mount a drink holder and maybe some other stuff on there, so that’s what I did.

cabindoor-inside-finishedI had a 1×8 piece of pine out in the garage so that’s what I used. I cut two pieces to fit horizontally inside the frame and that left about 3 /12 inches left at the bottom. Perfect height for a drink holder. So I measured and cut out the top bottom and braces for it. Then I busted out the trusty 3″ hole saw to cut holes out of the top. Ooooops, no brass screws in the inventory, so I hustled up to the hardware store to grab some before they closed. You have to use brass or stainless on anything related to the boat or they’ll rust out on you. Anyway, I screwed it together and dropped it into place for a perfect fit. It looked good to me so I brought everything in, gave it a quick sand and a few coats of finish. Here’s what the cabin door looks like from inside the cabin now.

cabindoor-cockpitSince the cabin door is completely reversable, you can slide it into place front side out or front side in. So now I can put it with the functional side facing the cockpit when I’m sailing to keep my drinks and my GPS/Marine Radio from rolling and sliding all over the cockpit, and I can reverse it for some nifty organization for when I’m camping out inside the cabin. Since there’s still plenty of real estate near the top of the door, I may install a compass and a pouch for my cell phone. The possibilities are endless 😀

2 Responses to “Compac 16 cabin door customization”

  1. Oh yeah, I forgot to add. I tested it rigorously when it was finished. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to break after just 6 or 8 beers ;-D

  2. Great idea!

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