April 30, 3014. My May/June issue of Good Old Boat Magazine arrived a few days ago and I opened it to Jim Shroeger's article "Quick and Easy/The Reinpin". This was a system to pin sliding locker doors. Hey! I said to myself - and also in an email to Karen Larson, their editor - I know that!!

	So, now I have an excuse to invite the reader aboard Marionette to see "Ronspeg" at work. I have used Ronspeg for years in several areas - 1) to hold tilt down panels (seat backs) up, 2) to secure the 'dining table' conversion from settee to cozy dining for two, to really cozy dining for four, 3) converting a single seat port side settee into a galley work area, and 4) securing a cockpit table.

This is a little like magic. We start with a picture of the starboard settee with its cushions

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The seat back cushions do extra duty as cockpit cushions and emergency man overboard life preservers, and they do their job while paying close attention to the color scheme as dictated by the forward cabin privacy curtain

The top Ronspeg at left center secures the settee seat back in position. The seat is actually doubled back underneath itself and is the table that can be made to appear in this spot.

Ok, we skipped a couple of steps. There is more to this table than is immediately obvious. This picture is taken from the forward cabin. In the foreground to the left is the locker containing shelves that used to be the hanging locker. The life jacket bag is sitting on the starboard quarter berth cushion and forms the seat back for the person facing forward. More agonizing details follow.

Normally, I do not single hand with flowers and wine glasses out. This particular occasion is at a mooring (more on the Marionette Traveling Mooring System in another story) in Nantucket Harbor awaiting the Admiral's arrival by ferry. The table is actually the top of the starboard settee seat locker which originally was hinged to the back part of the top of the locker. It is now hinged to a custom made table panel you can see laying against the backrest of what otherwise is the settee back rest. Note the two 'lugs protruding down - more on this feature later. The fiddles on the 3 sides of the table top have integral small wood pins that press fit into holes drilled into the sides of the table.

Now the tricky part. In the first settee picture above, the afore mentioned table panel is folded back up underneath and against the settee seat. In the second picture it is nearly vertical with its outer edges resting on the inset edges of the seats. This panel forms the very sturdy 'back legs' of the table. The front leg is that mahogany post at the front. It has a 'peg' that locks into the underside of the front edge of the table - see below.

Those two openings in the seat back are the holes into which the afor mentioned 'leg lugs' will fit when the table top is unfolded, creating a larger table capable of seating 4, kinda....(picture coming). That version of the table has longer fiddles that provide rigidity, and another hole for the table leg. The larger table extends out over the cabin sole so that a crew could sit on the port side settee, another on the lower step of the companionway. Need that picture....

Now we go to the galley side of the cabin. In the beginning (when I bought the boat in 1995) the space, now taken up by the single seat settee, was a refrigerator inset under a counter that extended from the sink over the top forming a relatively large work surface. However, that refrigerator door opening out had to go, and I wanted more seating room. So I cut the refrigerator out, preserving the counter top, and in that space made a seat with a tilt down locker/seat back, and a seat locker underneath. These spaces are where I store many on the working parts of the galley. Note that the seat back is the original refrigerator top surface

The next picture shows the space converted to a galley work area - using Ronspegs to make the seat back into a 'table top".

If this 'counter top' looks a bit fragile with that hanging unsupported corner its really pretty solid with 2 Ronspegs securing the forward edge of the table, and one in the aft port side corner. I leave the inside Ronspegs in place in the out position - and never got around to varnishing the heads - don't tell anyone, besides they are inside the locker.... My original plan for this unsupported corner was to have a diagonal leg with a U bracket at the bottom pegged back to the bulkhead but it was so solid, and so rarely used, I never got around to it.

The Glowmaster stove stores under the seat when not in use, along with a kettle, frying pan, pot and other items.

The arrows in the photo at left show the location of the 2 Ronspeg holes that are accessed by their pegs from the inside of the locker next to the sink. As a practical matter, when single handing I just set up the stove on the seat, and sitting on the starboard settee opposite, do my cooking. I only set up all this stuff when the Admiral shows up or I need to show off to visitors. Silverware is stored in that plastic box on the bottom shelf. Normally place settings for 4 (plates and bowls) are stored where that plastic stuff is located on the middle shelf. I use plastic, open mesh boxes on the top shelf to store stuff I need to easily access - ie., fresh fruit, cookies, etc. as well as all manner of other things (ie.,wooden matches, sun tan lotion, band aids, wallet, back up sun glasses, etc) Note that the back of the seat back is varnished! It is used as a serving platter-table for guests in the cockpit - nez pas? Unfortunately, this photo highlights one of my unfinished projects - the inside portlight frame. That project, with excuses, is an upcoming Technical Section item. It should be noted that these portlights do not leak!

To be continued (need photos...)

July 3, 2014. My July/August issue of Good Old Boat Magazine arrived, and in their Mail Buoy Section, page 9, was an article titled Reinpin or Ronspeg - basically my email to Karen Larson, Editor! It concluded with a referral to this page - and here you are!

 

 

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