Building Logs

Chaise Lounge Shaped and Fitted

Posted by Paul

Whilst working on the galley cupboards I also got some more work done on the chaise return of the lounge. Not sure if I had mentioned it but we have decided we would fit a single dishdrawer dishwasher (Fisher and Paykal) under the chaise return. It meant I would need some extra height (again! #*@&!!( to that of the rest of the lounge. The seat height of the lounge was carefully considered bearing in mind the usual comfortable height of a lounge suite and taking into consideration how much padding thickness would be required (150mm). Fortunately there will be enough depth in the padding to have less thickness over the chaise so as to fully conceal the extra height from the lounge side of the unit so that it wont effect the seating at all. It will just mean there will be 50mm less thickness (100mm).

Some might be thinking we are building a condomaran with all of these appliances and they are right. But we are going to live on this boat and dont want to live without them if we can. When sailing or on anchor we would not use a dishwasher but having galley up, the sink is right there in full view, and the time when you least want to do the dishes is when you have guests aboard, usually in a marina so we would be on shore power and water. And at the very least you can put dirty dishes into the dishwasher so that they are not piled up in the sink and looking messy, and do them later. A dishdrawer uses only 9 liters of water and while they do use some power, again we could run the generator if we wanted to, but I doubt we would use the dishwasher unless in a marina. We have a grey water holding tank so this wont be an issue. (we will also have a washing machine on board) but no dryer, that we will depend on nature for.

This part of the build has been planned for some time but I had been waiting on buying a dishdrawer so that I could be absolutely sure as to get it all to fit. Its one thing having the dimensions off the internet but another having an actual unit. I have so many other priorities for the money for one of these at the moment so I bought a not working unit off eBay for $11! With it I can build the unit in, then fit a new one just before launch. In fact I may try to get this one fixed and sell it to help fund a new one, because this one is white and the fridge and microwave are both stainless steel so to finish the set we will buy a stainless steel dishwasher. Jo hates it, reckons it is about the hardest surface to keep clean, but as the fridge is stainless, and the microwave also only comes in stainless she is shit out of luck.

couch endcouch end 1

Having shaped the kickboard to leave the opening required whilst maintaining all the curve consistency in the lounge and other curves in the galley I made a ply shelf to sit on the kickboard in order to help me shape the rest of the seat upright side. The curved kickboard has the deck to be anchored to so I needed the ply shelf to do this for the upper section. The shelf was made with the 30mm overhang over the kickboard consistent in the rest of the lounge and of course that also maintained the exact shape that this next curved panel will be. Another ply panel above which is the base onto which the upholstery will sit completes the structure and makes it very easy to make and maintain the shape. Next job here will be to complete the raised section that covers the dishwasher. I want the front of the lounge to hide that there is a raised section so because the seat is 700mm wide but the dishwasher is only about 550mm deep there room for the padded roll of the upholstery to be full height at the front and then be shaped up from underneath to conceal the raised section covering the dishwasher. My next job is to build this section. I have decided to keep the lid to this section removable so that the fitting and servicing on the dishwasher can be easily performed.

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Paul