420/44 DB Owners Club

bajturner said:
We store quite a bit of stuff both in the cabinet and the covered tray up top. In the tray we put the screen covers while underway, charts, binoculars, keys, deck port keys, handheld VHF when not in use...all sorts of odds and ends.

The cabinet is always jammed with stuff. Deflated inflatables, watersports and dinghy lifejackets, air pump, flares, the helm cover when underway...basically anything that is laying around the bridge.

While underway there is often someone sitting on it facing forward. Before buying the boat I wondered if the three helm seat configuration would be preferable, but after a full season with it, I would definitely miss the cabinet.
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I second that emotion. These boats are not long on storage as it is, I'd be hard pressed to want to give it up too. A fridge on the bridge would be nice though.
 
I would not want to give up the storage either. Planning to have a cushion made that snaps on top as we use it for a 3rd forward facing seat as well.

Bennett
 
I'm totally on the same page regarding the storage comments. We use the boat as our 2nd home and we need all the storage we can get. However, after about two seasons and number of extended trips, it didn't take too long to realize that we need our bridge to be climate controlled. Therefore, we agreed on losing the storage in the cabinet.

Although, we miss that storage, I'd never give up the A/C- heat for that, as we use it quite often.

As a crew of 4 (lately it's 5), we think that between main salon fridge and the cockpit one, we're doing pretty good on the food storage. We cook a lot, so the fridges are packed. Point being, I don't think it's worth on giving up the cabinet space for an extra small fridge. As I recall, the boat came with a cockpit icemaker from the factory. But, later the icemaker was replaced by a fridge. It's very logical move for us. We're not big consumers of ice. For what we need, we make ice cubes from bottled water in the main freezer section.

Just like others posted above, we have someone sitting on top of the cabinet. Since we have custom made deck cushion, the filler pad (the part that covers the FWD hatch) is a perfect fit which we place on the top of the cabinet, so it's used as padding without any snaps. Works just fine.
 
Not planning on making any drastic changes as yet as i know you should live with it for a bit to see how we will use the boat but was just wondering what most people have done.
 
I just replaced my cockpit refrigerator and gained a ton of room. PO had installed a 110v dorm refrigerator. I have no need to run the gen everytime we leave the dock so I replaced it with an AC/DC NovaKool. It was taller than the cut out, but perfect in width. I had to cut upward another 3" or so and do a little modification for the depth, but it increased our refrigeration capacity nicely.

Bennett
 
Irie308 said:
Hello all, newly minted owner of an 04 420DB.
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Congratulations Irie308 that's fantastic! Talk about a whole new world to boating, many happy hours on those diesels!!
 
looking to replace all the interior bulbs to led. I currently like the color and lumen of the current bulbs. Any recommendations on where to buy and which to get?
 
Irie308 said:
looking to replace all the interior bulbs to led. I currently like the color and lumen of the current bulbs. Any recommendations on where to buy and which to get?
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I have replaced all interior lights with these LEDs 18 months ago and have not had one issue. Removing some of the fixtures in order to replace was another story....they are cool and draw way less amps...from Amazon.

Your selection is limited due to the length of the bulb and what will fit in the fixture. I wanted something just maybe a touch brighter and wanted to stay with the warm white. These fit the bill perfectly. Be sure to measure the length.

Bennett

upload_2019-2-8_12-32-57.png
 
Thanks, will check them out.
 
Well it finally happened. The first mate has decided we need to remove the carpeting and install hardwood through out the cabin. Its something I have on my ultimate wish list but its way down on the list because of the scope of the project. It got moved up on the list in leu of a spring trip to Cabo. Of course it will be a DIY project as I loath the idea of hiring out work on my baby. Has anyone been able to locally procure the same flooring as original that SR used? I know we will not match it perfectly as there is some fading that has occurred. I have seen posts over the years of members installing wood flooring products but Id like to match the original not redo the entire boat.
Thanks
Carpe Diem
 
Carpediem44DB said:
Well it finally happened. The first mate has decided we need to remove the carpeting and install hardwood through out the cabin. Its something I have on my ultimate wish list but its way down on the list because of the scope of the project. It got moved up on the list in leu of a spring trip to Cabo. Of course it will be a DIY project as I loath the idea of hiring out work on my baby. Has anyone been able to locally procure the same flooring as original that SR used? I know we will not match it perfectly as there is some fading that has occurred. I have seen posts over the years of members installing wood flooring products but Id like to match the original not redo the entire boat.
Thanks
Carpe Diem
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Following closely....

Bennett
 
Carpediem44DB said:
Well it finally happened. The first mate has decided we need to remove the carpeting and install hardwood through out the cabin. Its something I have on my ultimate wish list but its way down on the list because of the scope of the project. It got moved up on the list in leu of a spring trip to Cabo. Of course it will be a DIY project as I loath the idea of hiring out work on my baby. Has anyone been able to locally procure the same flooring as original that SR used? I know we will not match it perfectly as there is some fading that has occurred. I have seen posts over the years of members installing wood flooring products but Id like to match the original not redo the entire boat.
Thanks
Carpe Diem
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I’m impressed you still get to refer to her as the first mate. I got away with that for 3 years. Then she realized all the other women in our group were “Admirals”. The jig is up!
 
I agree with Alex. You might want to run her for a season as to better qualify the upgrades that work best for you. For me, I did install a Starboard side TV on the Arch. I have it on a swivel mount and high enough where it does not affect the seating. To me, this is a perfect spot. On the electronics, I did a complete upgrade a couple years ago. I used technographics (sponsor on this site) Amazing company. Even the screw holes matched up. All Raymarine electronics..Dual ES127, Autopilot, Eng. camera .. If handy, you can do yourself. Very much a plug and play process and the Ray Marine support folks are great. Being "budget wise" we had picked off the projects annually. Last year we finally did the interior... Carpet, fabrics, covers... 2019 is a first year off with the big annual upgrade spend …. Good luck
 

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bbwhitejr said:
I have replaced all interior lights with these LEDs 18 months ago and have not had one issue. Removing some of the fixtures in order to replace was another story....they are cool and draw way less amps...from Amazon.

Your selection is limited due to the length of the bulb and what will fit in the fixture. I wanted something just maybe a touch brighter and wanted to stay with the warm white. These fit the bill perfectly. Be sure to measure the length.

Bennett

View attachment 64989
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Ordered 12 of these to try them out. Looks great, but like you said removing some of the fixtures was the worse part. I think i may not touch the 2 above the stove. They won't even budge. The 4 in the speaker panel in the salon were impossible. I had to remove the speakers and have the Admiral reach her arm in and unscrew the fixture from the inside.
 
scooper321 said:
I’m impressed you still get to refer to her as the first mate. I got away with that for 3 years. Then she realized all the other women in our group were “Admirals”. The jig is up!
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She had no idea that I refer to her as first mate on the forum. She has her FB and I have CSR. She prefers to be referred to as the ‘owner’ and refers to me as ‘skipper/ cabin boy’
 
Irie308 said:
Ordered 12 of these to try them out. Looks great, but like you said removing some of the fixtures was the worse part. I think i may not touch the 2 above the stove. They won't even budge. The 4 in the speaker panel in the salon were impossible. I had to remove the speakers and have the Admiral reach her arm in and unscrew the fixture from the inside.
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I use a plastic putty knife and an old credit card. You learn real quick to look where the springs are mounted so you can keep your fingers away when they come clean of the ceiling....I got them all, but some were not a 2 min job....

Bennett
 
bbwhitejr said:
I use a plastic putty knife and an old credit card. You learn real quick to look where the springs are mounted so you can keep your fingers away when they come clean of the ceiling....I got them all, but some were not a 2 min job....

Bennett
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I replaced all of them last summer...around 30 bulbs! Used back-pin disks from LunaSea for all the recessed fixtures. Good bulbs. The fixtures in the heads were tough. You have to turn then pop them, off, but there isn't much to get a grip of. I used a strap style jar opener to get them off...still was a challenge.
 
So far I've removed all but the 2 above the cooktop. I'm going to leave those as it seems the whole valance is coming with it as i try to get it down. Another question, what do you recommend for bulbs for the 2 ceiling fixtures in the aft cockpit? I haven't tried removing those yet but want to know what it takes for an LED bulb. Seems like there may be 2 bulbs in there?
 
Irie308 said:
So far I've removed all but the 2 above the cooktop. I'm going to leave those as it seems the whole valance is coming with it as i try to get it down. Another question, what do you recommend for bulbs for the 2 ceiling fixtures in the aft cockpit? I haven't tried removing those yet but want to know what it takes for an LED bulb. Seems like there may be 2 bulbs in there?
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Those are a different challenge. The chrome ring turns counter clockwise to twist off maybe 1/4 turn. I would have to check, but I think I used something like this-
upload_2019-2-14_12-30-10.png
and there may be two of them. Mine had blue lights in there when I got it, but I changed to the warm white....

Bennett
 
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