Getting ahead of myself

Though I may be away from my project for the weekend, my head is still very much in it.  I’m using the time to continue fiddling about with a design for the leaning post / console that I began working on a while back.  Thought I’d share and see if anyone has suggestions for ways to improve it.  Here’s a quick screenshot of what I’ve got in mind.

This was done in Sketchup, which is a free 3D drafting program.  It has some limitations, and frankly at this point I wish I knew Solidworks or something of that ilk, but I can make Sketchup sing, I have a well-practiced workflow for getting parts from Sketchup to a CNC router and … did I mention it’s free?

Anyway, the idea here is that the leaning post (the thing you rest your butt on while driving) is built around a Pacific Edge 22 gallon baitwell.  22 Gallons is not a ton for a baitwell, but I have to keep reminding myself this is an 18′ boat.  Both from a weight and a footprint perspective, that’s about all I can muster.  Anyway, the idea is that I’ll buy the baitwell as a starting point, and then glass it into a bigger assembly so it all looks like a single unit.

On the sides, I’ll add some tackle storage in the form of these cool little tilt-out tackle tray holders.  Not shown, but in the teak part behind the seat pad I’ll put some Release Marine “No Bolt” rod holders. I like these because there are no visible screws on the top, which means there’s no place for salt water to collect and start corroding.  I’d like to put four of them on there, but I’m afraid that I’d start restricting access to the baitwell if I put two in the middle, so it may just be two on the outsides and maybe some drink holders in the middle?  Still TBD.

The center console (with the wheel) is tilted aft a bit primarily for visual appeal.  The front is curved for the same reason.  It’ll add work to do all this, but I think it’s worth it.  My current struggle is figuring out how to put access doors in the sides of the console that work well and look good.  To look right they need to be parallelograms.  But then they’ll open in a weird way.  And I’d really like to use off the shelf storage systems in it from the same outfit that makes the tilt-out holders above, but obviously they won’t be parallelograms.  I may just bite the bullet and put rectangular ones in there, even if it doesn’t look spectacular.  I welcome your thoughts!

All this needs is still in the daydreaming stage.  Once we turn the hull I’ll mock it up in cardboard to check the dimensions and then tune as appropriate.  But I want to get started building these before I “need” them because they’re going to take a while to do, and it’ll be good fodder for keeping busy while epoxy is curing in other places.

-Ben