Connie-- It seems that in your usual imaginative way, you have come up with an elegant solution to the problem of the inaccessible space beneath the cockpit. After I get a little more experience doing fiberglass & gelcoat work, I intend to try it myself. (My own vessel, hull #152, has the shallow lockers on BOTH sides, so I have NO access whatever to that space at this time.) I have one question: When I look back toward a cockpit locker from underneath (inside the cabin) I see just forward of the locker a vertical "bulkhead" kind of a piece, which appears to form the forward wall of the locker itself. Didn't you have to cut that? Or is that actually a separate piece of fiberglass, not part of the locker wall? Steve M15 #152 Conbert H Benneck <chbenneck@juno.com>@mailman.xmission.com on 01/02/2002 01:18:02 PM Please respond to montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Sent by: montgomery_boats-admin@mailman.xmission.com To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com cc: Subject: Re: M_Boats: First test sail - guess I'll be buying a centerboard David, My M15 - #400, had the port locker that went to the bottom of the hull, but the starboard locker had the moulded in shallow storage space. I looked at all the nice storage space I couldn't reach; scratched my head for a bit; contemplated my navel, and finally decided on my course of action. I carefully cut around the lip of the sail locker - at the center of the flat surface, and removed the shallow locker. Then I added supports at the inside of the sail locker so that the shallow locker had something to rest on when I dropped it back in place. Now I had the best of all worlds: the shallow locker for glasses; keys; and small stuff; but if I lifted it out, I now had access to the whole space below, where I now keep my boarding ladder; extra cockpit cushions; my paddle; and the bimini top. It also allows me to check the bilge aft of the centerboard trunk - that is normally unreachable. A 4 foot hose and my old PAR pump and I can remove any water that may get in there. It's quite a job doing this, but well worth the effort. Connie M15 #400 ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats