Peter Pegasus
Veteran Member
As a sailor who came over to the dark side by moving aboard M/V Aquabelle, I was surprised to find that the forward storage lockers on the Ocean Alexander Mark 1 under the flybridge, forward of the main cabin and aft of the Portuguese bridge, are wet lockers. No sailor puts up with wet lockers for long as they will lead to mildew and rot.
They seem to be wet by design-default or due to an oversight, with loosely fitting lifting lids that enable the water that falls from the cabin top and flybridge plus directly onto the surface of the seats to enter the storage area below. Some of this incoming water flows onto the deck and overboard via the port and starboard cutaways; but a lot flows into the lockers either through the finger-lift hole, or around the cut-away lid hole. This latter design is to allow the cushions to sit flat (but we never use the cushions, this whole seating arrangement seems more of a marketing fantasy). There are also three ventilation holes in the forward bulkhead that seem designed to catch slanting rain.
From the lid-hole, water flows along the floor to starboard where there is a limber hole. It is pretty much always damp and often wet. I installed a floor of gardening plastic trays cut to the curvature to allow stored items to be off the floor and ventilate-dry, but that’s a slow process, especially in the sub-tropics. I put buckets under the lids and they filled up in a remarkably short time. A lot of water flows through the area.
The port third of the storage is a closed volume that is used for internal systems, so the only drain is to starboard aft corner.
There doesn’t seem to be a Ocean Alexander Mark 1 owners’ on-line forum (rather, the existing one on Facebook is for modern OAs, not Mark 1s). So I thought I’d try TF OA sub-forum to see if any OA Mark 1 owners have tackled this or a similar problem: how to make it dry and easily accessible?
I can envision a number of approaches. Install a rim around the hole, make lids that are wider all around and lock down onto the new rim with latches; use a flat Wichard folding pad-eye to lift off when released. Cut new cushions to conform to the new lids raised above the deck. Close the overhead holes altogether and install locker doors that open forward and close tightly with gaskets? Install ventilators instead of the 3 small holes, if not dorades.
Any other creative ideas most welcome.
They seem to be wet by design-default or due to an oversight, with loosely fitting lifting lids that enable the water that falls from the cabin top and flybridge plus directly onto the surface of the seats to enter the storage area below. Some of this incoming water flows onto the deck and overboard via the port and starboard cutaways; but a lot flows into the lockers either through the finger-lift hole, or around the cut-away lid hole. This latter design is to allow the cushions to sit flat (but we never use the cushions, this whole seating arrangement seems more of a marketing fantasy). There are also three ventilation holes in the forward bulkhead that seem designed to catch slanting rain.
From the lid-hole, water flows along the floor to starboard where there is a limber hole. It is pretty much always damp and often wet. I installed a floor of gardening plastic trays cut to the curvature to allow stored items to be off the floor and ventilate-dry, but that’s a slow process, especially in the sub-tropics. I put buckets under the lids and they filled up in a remarkably short time. A lot of water flows through the area.
The port third of the storage is a closed volume that is used for internal systems, so the only drain is to starboard aft corner.
There doesn’t seem to be a Ocean Alexander Mark 1 owners’ on-line forum (rather, the existing one on Facebook is for modern OAs, not Mark 1s). So I thought I’d try TF OA sub-forum to see if any OA Mark 1 owners have tackled this or a similar problem: how to make it dry and easily accessible?
I can envision a number of approaches. Install a rim around the hole, make lids that are wider all around and lock down onto the new rim with latches; use a flat Wichard folding pad-eye to lift off when released. Cut new cushions to conform to the new lids raised above the deck. Close the overhead holes altogether and install locker doors that open forward and close tightly with gaskets? Install ventilators instead of the 3 small holes, if not dorades.
Any other creative ideas most welcome.
