No one would ever accuse me of being a good carpenter. Wood-butchery is a better title for my efforts. There’s just something about the time-consuming finickiness of carpentry that does not work for me.
Give me a wiring, mechanical, or rigging task and I’m into it, but for me carpentry is just about getting it done.
That said, during my over six decades of boat ownership and four refits—I do stupid stuff so you don’t have to—I have been forced to learn a few carpentry skills while completing a bunch of projects, including a new chart table, redesigned forepeak and much better sea berth, to name just a few.
All of these, like most any carpentry project around a boat, have one thing in common: Cutting out expensive bits of wood to fit in irregularly shaped spaces.
So here’s a photo Tip on how I built the bottom of the locker, shown in the shot at the top, in a surprisingly short time (surprised me anyway), without any screw-ups or wasted materials (even more surprising to me).
