Tung hwa clipper v-berth

We recently bought a Tung Hwa Clipper 30 and are enjoying getting to know it better. Love the layout, a tad snug getting to the fwd cabin, but quite a step up space-wise from the NEWPORT 28 sailboat we had. One nit to pick however, there is no access to the space under the fwd. cabin v-berth. No drawers, no openings in the top, no nothing.
Does anyone know what, if anything is in there? Has anyone solved a similar problem to access more storage space?

Maybe it's a watertight bulk head.

I don't think so. It's a molded fiberglass piece shaped to form the top and inboard sides of the v-berth

Our black water tank is under our forward v berth, is that a possibility??

Still no winners. Our black tank is in the bildge under the stairs.
One of these days I'm going to punch a hole and see just what lurks in there, and maybe how I can convert the space into usable storage

amdavis,

In our Marben Pocket trawler -similar to your Tung Hwa, which we looked over prior to final commitment to this boat, On the Marben there is an abundance of useable space under the bunks. Next time you are in your bunk area, visualize side doors of about four feet long, maybe a foot and 1/2 (or less) hinged on the bottom on each below bunk surface. Then lift your mattress and visualize a hatch about 1/2 the length of the bunk running aft foreward. This is what we have and the space below allows for storage of the center V section and the mattress section that fits the V.. In addition we stow our immersions suits and extra life jackets there with still extra room for the sleeping bag for the sofa bed. Just saying, there is normally a ton of usable room if not occupied with tankage.
Let us know what you find when and if you cut into the area. curious people want to know.
Al Johnson-Ketchikan (Bridge to Nowhere) Alaska

amdavis said:

We recently bought a Tung Hwa Clipper 30 and are enjoying getting to know it better. Love the layout, a tad snug getting to the fwd cabin, but quite a step up space-wise from the NEWPORT 28 sailboat we had. One nit to pick however, there is no access to the space under the fwd. cabin v-berth. No drawers, no openings in the top, no nothing.
Does anyone know what, if anything is in there? Has anyone solved a similar problem to access more storage space?

Click to expand...

amdavis, if you look up the following thread, from post 125 on, you will see what an owner of the same type of craft found when they ripped out the V-berth to make a modest double - yes, it can be done. Erik of shipshape has not posted for a while, but if you PM he might notice it and PM back to answer any query...
http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s32/start-nice-project-clipper-30ft-4127-7.html

He did a wonderful job on that Clipper. Just a thought AMDavis do you have a hatch on the floor in the front cabin?, if so what can you see forward? We had a CHB 34(clipper) and that's how we found out what was what, ours turned out to have another water tank. Good luck.

amdavis said:

Still no winners. Our black tank is in the bildge under the stairs.
One of these days I'm going to punch a hole and see just what lurks in there, and maybe how I can convert the space into usable storage

Click to expand...

Be careful punching a hole as the hull maybe very close as the hull curves in and the keel up.

I don't think there is a hatch there, but I haven't checked that closely

On my 1981 Tung Hwa Clipper, the large space below the vee berth is accessible storage. Access is via port and starboard doors, and hatches in the "step" and forward below the cushions. There is also access via two doors above and forward, to the chain locker.

While it is unlikely that the space under the vee berth was used for tankage or flotation, use Intrinsic as a reference - the holding tank is aft under the cabin sole outside the head door! Water tanks are aft in the lazarette and fuel tanks are in the engine room. Grey water is below the engine room deck, fwd of the engine.

After confirming the location of all tanks, I would investigate what's under the vee berth with a hole saw, from the top.

I've been aboard 6 of these boats, all of which had storage under the vee berth.

Hope this helps.

Jim

Thanks, Vagabond. My tanks are laid out pretty much as you described, the only oddity is my fuel tank. I have a single tank on centerline at the back of the engine room, aprox.100 gals. on either side on the e.r. about 18 in. outboard of the stringers are acoustic tiles from hull to overhead. I was told by both the P.O. and the broker that the center tank is the only one. I know something is behind those tiles and assume they are original factory tanks that were simply abandoned in place. However, there is no sign of a deck fill for fuel on the port side and the fill on the starboard side is directly outboard of the aft tank.

I think you'll find that space is hollow, like Elmer Fudd's howwow wog...

Sounds like the front of your fuel tank would be in line with the stuffing box. It would relatively easy to get a big rectangular tank down into that space. Your tank is probably 2'X2'X5'?

My fuel tanks are about 12" outboard of the stringers. The aft end lines up with the back of the Lehman 120, and the front in line with the injector pump. They would have to be cut up for removal. Fortunately, they've been in a boathouse since new, and are in good shape.

Back to the topic of storage there's quite a big storage space aft of my tanks - shelves to starboard, Muffler, hot water tank, and more storage to port. All of this sits on aluminum checker plate decking. There's a lot of storage in Intrinsic's engine room.

There are deck fuel fills in both side decks, about 12" fwd of the steps. Teak decks. Do you still have teak decks? If not, the port fill might have been glassed over when the teak was removed.

Vagabond, I haven't measured my fuel tank, but that's not far off on the size. The acoustic tiles run full length of the engine room, so without tearing some out I don't know what's behind them. The boat still has the teak decks that look to be original, no sign of a past deck fill on the port side.

amdavis said:

We recently bought a Tung Hwa Clipper 30 and are enjoying getting to know it better. Love the layout, a tad snug getting to the fwd cabin, but quite a step up space-wise from the NEWPORT 28 sailboat we had. One nit to pick however, there is no access to the space under the fwd. cabin v-berth. No drawers, no openings in the top, no nothing.
Does anyone know what, if anything is in there? Has anyone solved a similar problem to access more storage space?

Click to expand...

We have tons of storage under our 1983 Tung Hwa Clipper V birth. There is a drawer and door on both the port and starboard sides of the V birth. The PO also installed a drawer under the foot bench in the middle. Here is a link to the pictures of my boat from Yachtworld..... yes they are still there after 2 years! A couple of them show the pics of our V birth.

Ebberdene

amdavis said:

We recently bought a Tung Hwa Clipper 30 and are enjoying getting to know it better. Love the layout, a tad snug getting to the fwd cabin, but quite a step up space-wise from the NEWPORT 28 sailboat we had. One nit to pick however, there is no access to the space under the fwd. cabin v-berth. No drawers, no openings in the top, no nothing.
Does anyone know what, if anything is in there? Has anyone solved a similar problem to access more storage space?

Click to expand...

I am new to the forum but have had our clipper 31 for about 3 years. The v-berth has been modified to a double (cozy but nice). There is access below but to date I have not used it much as there seems to be ample storage through out the whole vessel.

EBBERDENE,
Thanks for the post and welcome to the forum. I agree there seems to be ample storage around the boat and as we have only owned Neaptide for 3 months we have a long way to go to tap out the various nooks and crannies. But I am curious about what seems to me to be a large volume of unaccesable space.One of these days I'll take to it with a large hole saw if only for a peak inside.