Lance,
I am actually in the process right now of converting the pilot berth to storage. It all started two summers ago here on the Chesapeake.....I remember it well, highs approaching 100 degrees for days,weeks on end. I bought a portable A/C unit, which did a fairly decent job of cooling the boat, but it was a pain to rig and then store. Last summer was about the same....after July 4th, the heat made it very uncomfortable to be down on the boat without the A/C running and judging by the very warm spring this year, this summer could be worse. All of this has convinced me to add a permanant central A/C and heating unit on Tortuga's Lie. I figured that the foot of the pilot berth would be the right spot for it is centrally located making the duct runs easier and more efficient plus the added weight on the starboard side would offset the listing to port.
For this project, I deepened the lower settee 5" making this a very comfortable lounge seat and will be our new sea berth with an added lee cloth. For the remaining pilot berth, I will have two added drawers and two large raised panel doors, one will house a TV/DVD and the other will be stoarge shelves.
As far as the tension rod is concerned, if you can leave it alone, I would do that. Certainly, a proper bulkhead would work taking it's place, but it has to allign with the chainplates anyway, so why mess with it?
Here's a picture of work in progress before I added any cabinetry but it does show the deepened settee (more pictures to follow):
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Starboard renovation and Swans Nov 11 021.jpg [ 2.07 MB | Viewed 0 times ]