F32 V-berth door removal

[Mordaunt]

Has anyone removed the door to the v-berth and small partial wall on the right next to the dinette on their F32 to create more light and space in there? Just wondering if there’s anything structural I should be wary of.

[captainmaniac]

There were different layouts available when they built them. My F32 does not have the door or full bulkhead - just the hanging locker with an open shelf on top. So in mine, there is nothing structural there (head side may be structural though). Don't know if they decided to make the starboard side structural in your layout though. Try Bob at Beacon Marine - he would know.

[kallen]

On my 1981 F-32 the V-berth door was hinged on the right side. Swings inward. Totally open up the original opening. Made a big difference when the front hatch is open.

[Mordaunt]

On my 1981 F-32 the V-berth door was hinged on the right side. Swings inward. Totally open up the original opening. Made a big difference when the front hatch is open.

Kallen. That sounds very interesting. Do you happen to have any photos?

[Reel Easy]

My F-32 Express has the head directly in front of the lower helm. The V birth has a wall with closet to port and a hanging locker that goes just above the dinette. Other than that it is open.

[mikeandanne]

On our 78, the door was hinged on the port side and opened out with clasp on the head wall. Now the other side had an enclosed cabinet. So the point of this is the door frame, when they replaced the stringers, they missed the height of the door frame, as it was altered a bit too short, maybe 1/4 " and this resulted in the front deck moving a bit between the hatches.

Have a close look at that before you remove that section, may be ok but I really don't know if the other models had more support built in with the lack of the frame work. Beacon may know how these went together.

[ken64k]

On my 75 F32 I removed the door to the v-berth and small partial wall on the right next to it. It was very easy to remove and it does let in more light and it gives the appearance of more room. I put in an accordion door from HomeDepot if we need privacy.

[Mordaunt]

On my 75 F32 I removed the door to the v-berth and small partial wall on the right next to it. It was very easy to remove and it does let in more light and it gives the appearance of more room. I put in an accordion door from HomeDepot if we need privacy.

Ken do you happen to have any photos of yours? Curious how the trim looked after removal.

[ken64k]

No I don't have any pictures and the boat is now under shrink rap. I did get a piece of trim from Lowes and I stained it to match. I just needed a small piece of trim. I really like it much better without the door and that small panel.

[Rickforth]

Hi, this was one of the first things that I did when I purchased my 1988 F32 in 2015. It really opened up the bow layout on this boat. I was originally going to fill the opening of the V and create a larger bed but after numerous overnights we left the original dual berth layout as it is much easier to swing your legs when getting in and out of the bed. I was able to cleanly remove the original teak door and then expanded the opening another additional 12 inches. This really made the sleeping area very easy to get in and out and also makes easy access when using the front bunks for day storage of bags and stuff. I was able to use the removed teak pieces to make some proper looking finish pieces. I also added a 5 fishing pole rod holding system on the port wall above the shelf inside of this forward cabin. It really looks great.

[Fun sized]

Hi, this was one of the first things that I did when I purchased my 1988 F32 in 2015. It really opened up the bow layout on this boat. I was originally going to fill the opening of the V and create a larger bed but after numerous overnights we left the original dual berth layout as it is much easier to swing your legs when getting in and out of the bed. I was able to cleanly remove the original teak door and then expanded the opening another additional 12 inches. This really made the sleeping area very easy to get in and out and also makes easy access when using the front bunks for day storage of bags and stuff. I was able to use the removed teak pieces to make some proper looking finish pieces. I also added a 5 fishing pole rod holding system on the port wall above the shelf inside of this forward cabin. It really looks great.

Any photos? I'd like to see how this turned out..

[Mordaunt]

Well I went ahead and removed the door. Getting the starboard wall piece off presented a little more challenge. Those old screws were rather soft and after stripping several I had to make a hardware store detour to get a screw extractor to finish. I am not going to remove the wall piece above the dinette bench as I originally considered as it has become the bar and one must have that on the boat! I also had to change the hinges around to the storage cabinet behind the wall as they originally attached to the removed piece.

Still working on creating some trim pieces to cover the old door hinge frame and a small piece on the right upper section for cosmetics. Matching the wood color will be the trickiest part. Also noticed his site sells the original plugs for the screw holes so might get a bag of those to refill the spots that are now exposed.

All in all though the berth feels SO much more accessible and open. Excuse my mess in the photos. Lots of tools and junk laying around.

[Mordaunt]

Some before photos

[captainmaniac]

Looks good. My layout never had the door, so the whole stbd side bulkhead is also open (ie not there). So ahead of the dinette I just have a shelf.

Just a FYI - those screws are probably not Phillips heads... they are probably something called Frearson. Looks a lot like Phillips, but the V-shape for the screw driver tip is cut in a different angle than Phillips. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_s ... s#Frearson I don't know how many I stripped before I found out about that and got the right bits. Still pretty soft and strip easily, but at least now I have a better chance of getting them out.

[mikeandanne]

+1 on the frearson.You can modify a Philips driver , but it is better to have the real deal.

The stain used by Trojan at the factory for our 78 was min wax red oak, I think the number was 215, yours looks like it might be the same. Looks good.