After making some decisions about water tankage and placement, I decided to go ahead and remove the starboard settee - the port settee had already been removed by a previous owner - in order to have port and starboard settees match each other. With the water tank I have on hand for the port settee, the new berth will have to sit higher than the original, so I figured I may as well double the capacity (from 18 gallons to 36) by adding a matching water tank under the starboard settee.
I hate to make more of a mess, but rebuilding the starboard settee as well has a couple benefits beyond matching the port side: 1) I won't have to scarf new material to the existing stubs of door jamb; 2) I won't have unnecessary holes from old equipment and hoses to contend with or repair; 3) I can do a better job of making the access hatches in the backrest of the settee than a PO had done; 4) starting from scratch will make installation of the forward bulkhead easier.
Here's the starboard settee before destruction:
I used a Sawzall for the first time on this project, and it made the work go much faster. Previously, I've used an angle grinder and cutoff wheel to cut the fiberglass tabbing. The Sawzall worked a hundred times better than the cutoff wheel, and it creates much less mess.
Settee gone!
I started working on removing shelving and a bulkhead in the area of the galley, but my Sawzall blade was just too dull. I'll be leaving the main galley bulkhead in place, but I'll remove the shelf, small bulkhead, and the galley-top remnant visible in the picture.
A PO carved out the intermediate bulkhead, so I'll remove it completely.
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