How to install a drawer?

[Walter Hobbs]

One of the projects on my winter to do list is to install a drawer in the cabinet below my galley sink. I have a drawer with a teak face but I don't know what to build to accept the drawer. Need instruction, advice, or reference to instructions. Of course it must be sturdy and have a latching arrangement to keep it from opening while underway.
I keep searching the internet, but everything I have found has metal slides that look like they would corrode quickly in the seaside environment.

Thanks

[Tom Keevil]

Cape Dory installed drawers with metal slides on our boat, and we have not had any corrosion issues.

[jbenagh]

You can just frame it in and let the drawer sides slide on the cabinet rails. If you do this you can add a shallow notch on the lower edge of the sides (long going in, about 1/8 going up) to prevent it from sliding open when the boat moves. If you do this, you lift up slightly to open it. You'll need to leave enough room on the top of the frame to tip it up to open.
That said, I have the metal rails (with a similar lifting system) on the drawers near the icebox on Christine C.

Jeff

[John Stone]

One of the projects on my winter to do list is to install a drawer in the cabinet below my galley sink. I have a drawer with a teak face but I don't know what to build to accept the drawer. Need instruction, advice, or reference to instructions. Of course it must be sturdy and have a latching arrangement to keep it from opening while underway.
I keep searching the internet, but everything I have found has metal slides that look like they would corrode quickly in the seaside environment.

Thanks

Walter,
How are you going to install a drawer below the sink? Won't the sink be in the way? Drain hoses and other stuff in the cabinet? Maybe I misunderstand and only state the obvious, but you have to have room for the drawer....

If you don't use steel hardware then you need cleats (long rectangular piece of wood for the bottom outside edges of the drawer to slide on. And they have to be attached to something. The cleats are usually about 1" x 3/4' by how ever long the drawer is. If you also attach a strip above the top edge of the drawer it won't tilt down when you extend the drawer past half of the drawer depth. Lots of ways of doing this...too many to describe here.

When I first started the rebuild of the Far Reach I did lots of reading. One of the books that helped me figure out some ideas is Fred Bigham's book, Boat Joinery and Cabinetmaking Simplified.
https://www.amazon.com/Boat-Joinery-Cab ... 0877423547

Bingham's book is a little bit pedestrian and I have moved beyond it now that I have more experience but it does a good job of illustrating options. There are lots of drawings. Boats are kind of unique so his book is useful in that way. But, cabinet making is cabinet making and once you learn how, the same techniques for building drawer boxes and face plates in high end furniture can also be used in boat cabinetry. I have a couple furniture making books I rely on now that I am more skilled.

I personally would not use metal slides but they are not inappropriate. It might be the easiest way if there is no vertical surface to attach the cleat stock to. What works, works and what does not, does not. Do a little reading. Map out the space on paper (make a sketch). Figure out what you need in terms of tools and materials. And have at it. When I started out, and sometimes even now, I make full size mock ups. That way I make my mistakes before I make the final product.

Good luck.

[Walter Hobbs]

Thank-you gentlemen for your replies,

John, as you know, no two boats are alike. My early CD 27 does not have some of the features that the later ones do. One of these is the drawer under the sink. It is quite a bit lower than the sink and off set to clear the drain hose. If you look at some images you will see that some 27s have it, and some do not.
Thanks for the book reference, that is what I need. And I'll mock it up before I proceed.

[fmueller]

Walter,

Aren't we both at Bullock Cove ? This winter the yard has parked me, a 25, a 28, and a 30 all in the same spot. But I haven't seen you yet. I should take a few snaps of the frozen rally and post them just for fun.

My 27 has the below sink drawer and you could just have a look at it.

Very handy little catch all in that spot. If you've got nothing else under the little OEM sink, there is certainly enough room for a little drawer.

This is the only picture I have that shows the drawer rail - (from when I did my big rebuild a few years ago). There is a board mounted to the outside of the ice box which carries a lateral board at the rear which allows a typical metal "rail" to run from the cabinet face to that rear board. The bottom of the drawer has a centered nylon "claw" that grabs the rail.

my cell: 508 250 1164 - give me a shout.

Fred

17 Jerezana refit @ Carbon Ocean Yachts.JPG

[Walter Hobbs]

Hi Fred,
Merry Christmas. Yes I'm at Bullocks Cove. Should be hauled this week. Have a long list of winter projects so I'll be there often.
The picture of your drawer is exactly what I need. I may want to look at a few other details on your boat as I upgrade my older boat.

Talk again soon.