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On the counter top under the companion way there is 2 enbedded chrome brackets with 1/4" holes alittle over a foot apart and 5" infront of the switch panel, are they factory and if so what are they for?
Like most of the E32s I have seen pictures of, the little step was removed, and a larger top step was made for the countertop.
Not my boat; I stole the pic from Yachtworld. Interestingly, it doesn't have the little brackets the OP asked about.
The problem is, one tends to step into the boat such as to step right onto the part of that new top step close to the electrical panel, and directly overtop of the engine access hole under the step. It turns out it was never engineered to take that weight. The structure is much bulkier a few inches out from that access hole right where those little brackets are, so the step would have transfered the weight to the stronger part of the countertop. As a result, after some years of use my countertop had started to sag a bit, and crack at the corners of the engine access opening. As well, inside the hole the teak ledges that receive the step had also started to break down.
In the last few days I have been rebuilding that whole deal a little bit. The teak ledge fore and aft has been replaced. Where once teak strips were glued and stapled in place have been beefed up with a couple of pieces of epoxy-coated plywood, well epoxied into place. After that, I epoxied a ledger board aft of the access hole (under the countertop, kind of below the electrical panel) to what would be the engine compartment side of the forward wall of the cockpit. When that sets up well, I will set in a pair of 18 inch aluminum angle stock "beams" running fore and aft, with screws through the countertop securing the forward end of the beams. These screws will be through the beefier structure I speak of above. The beams should totally re-stiffen and reinforce the whole area, making it such that my 230 lbs does not smash the countertop to bits.
The holes leftover from the brackets, the cracks in the countertop around the opening, and the screw heads securing the beams will all be filled with epoxy before I repaint the countertop a colour that is NOT that current gross putty colour.
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