Cabin Layout - 2005 Rinker 290 FV

Black_Diamond

I just took my dinghy off today, so less 150# on the aft. No difference. You can see from the pic it is off to the hull step (which is level or very near). 

raybo3

Went to the boat today but forgot a level. However I filled a glass of water to the top and placed on the counter. Not one drop spilled. Also looked very closely at counter and looked perfectly level by eye. 

MarkB

Holy cr@p BD, that is easy to see its off against the other lines. That's just so wrong. I would contact Randy rinker. 

Dream_Inn

That's just crazy to be that far off!  The admiral would go nuts since she loves to use the range!

Black_Diamond

She'd love using the range, as she holds onto the pots so they don't slide off. lol. Ok not so funny. Waiting on RY to pester Al for a recommended fix.

Dream_Inn

You're gonna have me looking in every 342 in my marina now!   (& there are probably more than a dozen)  I'm really curious what percentage are this way.

Black_Diamond

DI: be interesting to get your 'survey says!' results!  I suppose the counter could be level less 2 engines and outdrives installed  lol  Raybo's 2002 seems ok, the 2003 is off forsure on at least (2) mine and RY's..one would think they would all be the same for a production boat.

Either way it does not match the lines of the hull from the inside, as you can see.  It's one of those things once you see it, it drives you crazy..let alone the functionality.  I bet Al has fixed this on some..or at least has a solution.  It could be a serious rework of the lower cabinet to fix.

Black_Diamond

I had the frig out last winter..have you looked how it is attached?  Not easy.  Plus you have to trim/fix both sides and the bottom too.  The top cabinet portion will just follow the bottom, so nothing really to do there, it is only held onto the lower cabinet by 3 screws anyways.

raybo3

I agree not easy. The electric panel in a nightmare in itself..........

Black_Diamond

I sent a note to Randy..we'll see if I get an answer.

Michael T

Very interesting discussion. I will be at our 2014 EC 360 this week. I have no complaints about any lack of level in counters/cabinets in the boat - BUT this may be interesting - My 360 sits more than 3 inches lower at the stern (8.2 Mags, B III XR drives and 5 series 31 AGM batteries) than an acquaintenence's boat - a Rinker 350 (basically the same boat as mine). That's MY doing - so, even if my  counters did slope downward bow to stern - I couldn't blame Rinker for my stern being lower because I chose the heavier engines and it was I who installed 5 much heavier batteries. Plus who puts the same loads in their rear transom lockers? I keep a lot of heavy items in there. How would Rinker build to account for all of those possible variations? Very interesting dilemma. I don't know enough about the 342s but - the 350/360s have 3 different engine sizes with much different weights. How could Rinker account for that? BTW - RY in NO real world does anyone in our tax bracket buy a boat that the cabinets are installed in once it's in the water. MT

Black_Diamond

Just an update, I got a call back from Randy Rinker and can hopefully get back with him on Monday as they are doing inventory.  Be interesting to see what he has to say about my cabinet issue.

Just as a note: I really don't have a lot of stuff on board o in the rear locker, it's about stripped clean for haul out right now and still 'tilted' galley.  I'm betting my 350 MPI MAGS weigh less than RY's diesels too.

Michael T

BD - It looks like you called it correctly, initially. :-( MT

Black_Diamond

I think the 350 is ~550# per engine

Michael T

There are two 342s that are"new" to our marina a 2002 and a 2004. I'll see if I can get a look at the cabinets. MT .....BTW I was at our boat yesterday,  2014 Rinker EC 360. It does slope down towards the stern a bit but that's MY doing (as mentioned above) but the cabinets are very true and level in relation to each other and all of the other fittings inside the boat. MT

Black_Diamond

That would be nice to know if only RY and I have flukes. lol. It should be obvious if it is off like mine. 

Dream_Inn

Oh man,  I was in two 342s over the weekend (2004 & 2005), but forgot to look.  (I'll blame the margaritas!).

Michael T

P.S. I looked at the water I our toilet. That's a bigger "glass of water" to look at. I added a shot from the manual pre-flush to put water into the bowl to better compare the water level to the rim higher up. It was pretty level srarboard to port and sloped slightly back bow to stern but this is imo normal for my boat with the bigger engines and batteries. Ran into this problem a number of times doing condo kitchen renovations. Poured concrete condo shells that were not level + lazy electrical contarctors who would measure up from the concrete and install their electrical boxes instead of taking a high point reading and snapping a chalk line or now simply using a laser. Once the kitchen cabinets would be properly levelled and shimmed the elec boxes would all be off. Made me nuts and was expensive to level them during a reno. To check your cabinet run-out. (low tech.) - I would use two 4 foot levels: one on the counter and one on the floor, right below. Measure the difference at the fronts and backs. That would eliminate any optical illusions of fabrics, hull lines etc. You would then have a pretty good idea what the run out was. Or (high tech.) - a digital level or laser level -  take one reading on the floor and one right above on the counter. I expect the stern to be lower on many boats. I don't expect the cabinets and flooring to be different levels. My 2 cents. MT

Handymans342

I just found a crack in my plastic top by the trashcan. Maybe thats a signal to install a new, level granite top!

bella-vita

My 2002 is level

Handymans342

So it looks like 2003 was a bad year for Rinker

Michael T

..... or a bad year for you,  Steve.  Maybe the  crack is from your diesels' vibration? 

Handymans342

No Michael. I had a high spot in the fiberglass on the transom side just like Raybo's 2003 342. Same problem and I am sure we were not the only 2. 

Dream_Inn

well, I'll add that the next year on the 342s is when they moved the transom back and gave an additional foot+ to the engine room area.  Made a huge difference for service and maybe made transom better?

Handymans342

That foot would be nice. 

TonyWalker

Meant to put this comment in the "improving the TV signal" set of posts.  It is there now.

bella-vita

That's for shure,when I bought my boat I looked at an 05 but it was missing The sun pad the filler cushions .The guy I bought my boat from had just replaced both outdrives the year before.so far I have been very happy except for the lack of  room in the engine compartment.

rasbury

That two motor thing is what I did not want and happy with the 270 and I like the helm area layout as well. Does just what we need....for now....

Black_Diamond

It might be way more of a project than you anticipate once you get into it.  I'd love to 'level' the counter on my 342 where the sink/range is, it's way off level and I know others are like this too but I've been into the cabinets and not sure it is worth my effort.

Black_Diamond

What is interesting is that the drawers and frig are perpendicular to the countertop itself.  Looking at the frig, you can see the space from the frig edge to the wall for the head is about 1" at the top and close to 2" at the bottom..it is that off, but it had to be built that way and I'm not sure who was on what that day to be that far off.

Maybe it was the same numbnut who framed a tack room in my polebarn and spaced the studs 16"OC at the bottom and 16" edge to edge at the top..(no it was not me either!  lol)