The Cockpit Table

When we bought Finisterra it was equipped with the standard steel and fiberglass cockpit table. It was great for dining but inconvenient for sailing the boat and for general living aboard. Last year I removed it and replaced it with a small pedestal that was really nothing more than a combination drinkholder/handhold/GPS mount, and it works great for all those purposes, but we still need a table of some sort in the cockpit. On our last voyage to Mexico we used a couple of plastic folding tables which worked okay for that trip, but I had always intended to build a fold-down table. Now that were home for awhile I got busy and built one out of teak.

Here is a typical table installation with the removable drop-leaves in place

Finisterra with the table removed. I used the existing mounting holes to install a teak footrest.

The pedestal is handy when were underway. The GPS is mounted on a swivel so it can be seen from anywhere in the cockpit. 

The new table measures 15.50" x 24.00"

I found a nice piece of teak at my local hardwood supplier. It was about 9 inches wide so I cut it to about 25 inches long and edge-bonded two pieces together to make a single piece. Then it was a simple matter to round off the edges and attach a folding leg to it.

In this photo you can just see the bolt that I used for a pivot. The table is attached to the underside of the wood part of the pedestal with a pair of stainless steel hinges.

I drilled a hole in the bottom of the leg and epoxied a stainless steel pin into it. It sticks out of the bottom about half an inch and fits into a  hole in the footrest. 

Table in the folded position.

When underway, the table is folded down and secured to the pedestal base, leaving the cockpit wide open. It took about 12 hours to make and install the table, not including the varnish work.