Widening a Console

I need to widen the center console on my boat about 6". How's the best way to do this? I've done the opposite with fiberglass successfully, removing material and making it narrower, but not this. Thoughts/advice?

 

It needn't be too difficult if the console has fairly flat or totally flat surfaces.It helps a lot to have some reference marks on the inside face so you can verify that the two halves are totally parallel once you have split it down the middle.Melamine faced chipboard is a good material to attach to the faces with double sided tape or self tapping screws and the reference marks come into play when you have two halves.Bevelling the edges of the sections of old console is no bad thing and a bit of filleting will probably be needed.Then just bond it back together.If enough care is taken there won't be too much gelcoat finishing to do.

 

Welcome to the Forum Teaser.

I am just wondering why you need to widen the console by a mere 6" - is it to fit an item of equipment which is currently too wide for the space available?

 

What is the console made of?

 

Fiberglass console. Buying a premade one for a project, it's just a little too narrow.

 

pictures of new needed...

Assuming too narrow for mfd, and so you only need to widen the top or face and not the base. You could probably get fancy with teak plywood
/hardwood and avoid glasswork. Otherwise, to make it look good will require a s..t ton of work. Even good marine ply and paint would be a week vs a few for glass.

 

Here's the console in question

 

I'd do everything in my power to leave that alone. I suppose you want side by side displays or something...

To do it in fiberglass, you could slice it down the middle, put 1/4" marine plywood in between plus a few inches, plan to leave in place or remove, grind out a taper 8-12 to 1 and hand laminate 4-5 layers of glass to get close to thickness, piece are laid smaller to bigger, fair and regel the whole thing...but yuk. Lots of finishing of something already done.

I'd rather rearrange the displays.

Another option is to make a wooden overlay; then taper it back to the original, so only the section needed is larger. But you need to allow for clearances for mounting. You could make that as a single piece and just use a sealant to glue it on after painting it some fun color.

Or, you could cut the vertical display section off and split it down the middle and make it bigger, then make it so it mounts on the bottom. You could use some teak trim to hide the joints on front and back. The bottom side joints would be sharp, which is kinda yuk..but downward facing. A lot less work..

 

I’m planning to redo a 17 Montauk. I’ve always hated the factory console. Like everything about this one except that it’s 8-10” narrower. Trying to “split” the difference.

 

Just make it work! It'll allow more walking space around it.

 

Here is a picture of one with a wooden addition. Of course, if you need it wider behind the wood==more wood, but gives the idea. This one may have solely been done for aesthetics.

 

With all those flat surfaces it won't be too hard to modify.A curved face or two would make it much more difficult.Bit of a stretch to reach the full depth is the only minor difficulty I see.