Several owners have increased their locker space, fixed up the head, modified the cooking area, and just plain cleaned things up to their likings.
The cabin is one area that I've not frequented too often. Just the opposite is Steve M. and his "C" model.
Just looking at the picture you can see the extra storage but look a little closer and you'll see a cooking area that folds away not to mention the stove itself.
Above the cooking area is a raised edge table, paper towel and rack. Even in the head it looks like a simple but effective toilet roll holder.
It's amazing how beautiful and functional some skipper's make their cabins. (Great job Steve!)
During the first year of ownership I noticed the carpet getting a little damp. Origionally I thought it was from a leaky water ballast air vent.
Just before retrieving "G Marlyn" from the water, I used to pull the air vent plug. Not a good thing! It seems WB water would slosh around and spill out as I drove towards level land to finish putting things away. For the immediate fix I just waited to pull the plug until the water level lowered. This seemed to work fine.
A month later the damp carpet showed up again and I knew I left the plug in! This time I pulled the carpet back and found... nothing obvious. (?)
Talking with other owners, I was advised to check the step ladder post, the sink drain through-hull, and even the rub-rail section. I checked everything I could think of. Rain could have entered while sitting in my yard but that turned out not to be the answer.
Not to be dumbfounded, (at least not too much), I sealed a bunch of things, just in case. The next time out the dampness showed up again. At that time my philosophy became, "If you don't know what it is, find out what it's not!"
To keep this story short I spent many hours looking about. Then I looked at the table post support hole and all looked well. Then after thinking some more I inserted the post and started to push and pull on it. Sure enough there was my leak.
What I think caused the problem was people looking in the dealer's showroom. The table was rigged up and the "lookers" bumped and sat on the table. As far as I knew they could have stood on it! This cracked part of the mounting seal. Water was leaking in directly from the WB tank but only when I heeled over and the table weight opened the crack. Having repaired the crack, I've had no more leaks!
*As a side note, I made a small mount inside the head to hold the table vertically against the bulkhead. Now I can sail around without the table being being in "harms" way! I rarely use it in the first place.
This is something that is simple and cheap. Steve M. told me of his water ballast water droplet catcher, and I had to have one. (More on his "slop-catcher" in the 'Hull, Deck, and Water Ballast" locker.)
You'll notice my crank handle in the blue pouch. It is normally for standard winches but now fits my modified my gooseneck / roller. They come in lots of styles from solid steel to floating plastic. I wasn't sure if it would work at first so I purchased a cheap-on-sale one made of pot metal. When I get some spare cash I'll probably go for the plastic floating type so it won't chip the deck and / or sink if I drop it. The location is easy to reach from on top of the cabin whenever I want to roll / furl the mainsail onto the boom.
In addition you'll notice a few hooks. The black plastic and UV protected hooks came from a friendly paper-route delivery person. You know, for the papers that are put inside a plastic bag and hung on the hooks on a rural mailbox. They are flexible and seem to last forever. The cost, I would guess, is about a quarter each, (free if you ask nice!)
I choose to put only four hooks on the port side and three on the starboard side. The hooks are smooth and flexible so they are unlikely to cause bodily damage should you bump into them. As you see in the pictures, they work good for holding things like docking and spare line, a throwable seat cushion, my pendants / flags, (behind the line), and a light weight boat hook / paddle unit.
Everyone needs a good boat-hook and an extra paddle. Both of mine came as one piece from West Marine.
Not knowing where to store it, I stuck another couple hooks in the galley area. Having placed them "just-right", I now have a holder for the hook/paddle which keeps it easy to reach and basically out of the way..
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