Hi all,
So Patrick and I had mentioned that we (and by ‘we’ I mean he) removed the sink in the V-berth to make some more storage room in those lockers.  Since then there has been a patched hole where the sink used to be.  I undertook the task of making this space more usable and pretty (which seems to be my job).  We took a serious look at our options, from new formica, which I don’t care for, solid surface and wood.  We finally decided wood would be the solution as Patrick pointed out, that those lockers really perform as furniture, ie chest of drawers.  So then we needed to decide if we wanted to completely remove the old countertops and replace them or just go over top of them with the new wood.  We decided it would be much easier to just go over top of the old.  The V-berth starboard locker was put in fully finished and therefore removing the fiddles was not possible due to the hull overhang.  For the materials, we decided to match the wood grain and stain as closely as possible to the holly in the floor since attempting to match the aged teak on the lockers would have been beyond our skill level.  We decided on ¼” ash plywood with a Natural wood stain would do the trick.
1.  I started by removing the fiddles from the lower starboard and port lockers and then created templates with craft paper.  I couldn’t remove the fiddles from the upper starboard locker so I created a template of the inner-countertop space between the fiddles.  They were pretty much square with the exception of the upper starboard locker.  I decided to make that piece of wood square and then modify it later to fit.
2. Purchased the ash ¼” plywood, stain and high gloss polyurethane.  I decided that high gloss would be a good idea as the potential for abuse is quite high in area.
3. Cut the ¼” plywood with a small circular saw and then did a dry fit to ensure that they fit nicely over the lockers.
4. Sanded them down with 100, 150 and 220 grit sandpaper and then stained them.
5. Performed a quick 220 sanding over the stain and put on another coat after wiping them clean with mineral spirits.
6. Final sanding and wiping and then 3 coats of polyurethane.
7. I placed the dry wood pieces on the locker countertops using epoxy and weighed each of them down and taped them down with blue tape so they didn’t move.  Waited overnight for them to dry.
8. The next day I took a circular sander and sanded down the plywood so the edges would fit snug up against the fronts of the lockers.
9. Put the newly sanded and re-varnished fiddles back on using stainless steel wood screws.  Put teak plugs in to match.
10. I glued the plugs in with wood glue and sanded them down using 100 grit, 150 and 220 sandpaper and then polyurethaned them.
11. I had one issue where the fiddle on one of the holes was damaged while trying to remove the original old brass screws.  It had a large gouge on the side around the hole.  I decided that I would stuff it with the plug and glue and then take the teak sawdust that I created by sanding the others down and smushed it into the gouge to let dry.
12. Next day, I came back and finished sanding it down, (still needs another layer to make it perfect) but it looks pretty darn close to a perfect match!
13. For the upper starboard locker, I placed the wood on top of the locker and slid it down towards the drip rail as close as I could get it and marked the wood.  This is where I knew I needed to start cutting.
14. I used a jigsaw and cut small pieces away on the wood and then would try the fit again.  I did this several times as I did not want there to be a visible line between the wood and drip rail.  Especially since this is not a square cut due to the drip rail not being square.
15. I finally dry fit it and then epoxied it in place.
16. I measured the little 1”x1” space left between the corners of the two fiddles and cut a piece from the scrap to fit it perfectly in place.  I created a nice diagonal cut against the grain of the wood to make it look seamless between the fiddles and the newly added piece.  By the way, make sure your wood grains are moving in the same direction.  I forgot to do that the first attempt and started over.
17. I epoxied that in place and then varnished the ends of the plywood to match the lockers.

I will send over some pics of the finished product shortly but I have to say they look pretty fabulous!
Dawn

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