[C320-list] Removing shelf/floor in starboard rear locker

[Graeme Clark]

I mentioned in relation to another post that I had managed to do this and was asked to detail how to do it -  useful if you need to easily access the fuel tank and also - as I found - it makes replacing the hoses or filler points for water and fuel (or bilge pump hoses) a whole lot easier if the shelf is removed!

There’s no big secret - it is just a bit fiddly!  The shelf lies on forward and aft battens that lie athwart-ships. As you look down the screws that are holding the shelf to the forward batten are obvious but the rear of the shelf is hidden by the return on the transom that forms the sugar scoop, making it seemingly impossible to get to those screws.

In fact the screws that hold the shelf to the rear batten are inserted from below. This requires some dexterity and contortion but it is possible for even a sizeable chap such  as me (6ft 4 and 210 pounds) to crawl through the hatch from the aft cabin and wiggle around the rudder post to reach the screws.  

Having undone them you can then remove the two halves of the shelf  - the outboard one is easiest to remove first -  by a combination of lifting, twisting and turning. Its a bit fiddly but it IS do-able.

By the way I found that I had to remove the retro-fitted rudder reference unit that was not part of the original kit on the boat, which obstructed the inner forward corner of the shelf. It was easily refitted afterwards.

Once the shelf is out it is so much easier to work in the rear lazarette/locker as you can literally sit on the bottom of the hull (either on port-side or on starboard side, outside the fuel tank)  with your legs horizontal behind the rudder post and you then have good access to all the kit and fittings.

Hope this is of some use

Graeme
#366 Jaskar, 1996
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