Jonny built a plywood platform that slides out in tracks mounted on the bulkheads. It slides out to the mast, and greatly increases the area of the port settee for sleeping. The plywood is 3/4″ thick and the tracks are pieces of 1″x1″, above and below the plywood, and secured with screws every ~3″. The most important aspect is the trim piece on the leading edge. We used the same piece that was on the settee. It needs to be strong, in order to provide rigidity to that edge. Ours is still a little wobbly, but I think that if we put a half dozen more screws up into the trim from the bottom (right now it is only screwed in through the front) it will fix it.
The design was based on notes gleaned from the Valiant Owner’s Group, and a huge thanks to all who gave advice on that topic. It was a reasonably easy job and is a HUGE improvement in the sleeping comfort in the salon.
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