Since I did not keep to the design with bench seating, I added structural bracing in the cockpit at the corners between the rear sides and bulkhead 17. At the forward end of the cockpit, my plan was to do the same thing: the starboard bracing is built in with the helm station, and for the port side, we are going to turn the bracing into a shelf.

The idea here is to build a box placed on its side using bulkhead 11 as the bottom and the side of the boat as one of the sides. I have to leave enough clearance underneath the shelf for the battery box that will reside there.

The basic shelf unit is complete, just have to coat it with epoxy, like everything else on this boat. I found out when washing the boat that the bottom shelf easily holds water up to the fiddle. I drilled drain holes at both sides of that shelf to take care of the problem.

I added a middle shelf to this unit. Since this shelf would not carry any real weight by holding items like gloves, a sponge, and my GPS and handheld radio, I added numerous lightening holes and a short fiddle.

You may notice the notch cut out of the left rear of the shelf. This is so the shelf would be able to slide all the way back to the bulkhead, and fit around a form member on the "right side" inside the box. Either I cut the notch out of the wrong end of the shelf, or I glued the fiddle to the wrong side. Stuff like this can happen when you are not paying attention. In this case the fix was simple: I just cut another notch on the other side of the shelf. No harm, no foul.

The port shelf is essentially complete. I will paint the inside of it eventually. The bottom shelf is perfectly sized for the propane cylinders that I use for cooking. I also put detergent, waterproof gloves and dishwashing sponge in there. Can't forget, bug dope goes in there as well.

The wires you see hanging out the front go to my fish finder when it is clamped to the top shelf. That metal-looking device to the right rear is a mount for my stern/anchor light.