(Updated 10th January 2005: new pix and dimensions)
I’m the fourth owner of Pearson 323, hull #142. Legend has it that the original
owner bought the boat for coastal cruising from the Chesapeake to the Caribbean.
He bought the boat with every available option except a propane stove, but it
appears he still wanted more. He had all running rigging routed to the cockpit
and added an opening hatch above the head, which was a great idea. The biggest
(in size and weight) addition was a large wooden cabinet over the navigation
table that housed an old Loran and VHF radio. When I first saw Ping, I didn’t
like it. But now the usefulness of this addition is beyond question.
Early
on, I knew I wanted to replace the Loran with a small chart plotter and get a
new CD/MP3 stereo to replace the tired Radio Shack tape deck mounted in the port
side cubby, forward in the saloon. It turns out that the nav cabinet was the
perfect place to mount this new gear and some of the other electronics that was
strewn about the boat. 12-volt power and antenna connections were already
established to the box, running up the support pole from the bulkhead below it.
But I found, after removing the Loran, that the wiring was pretty willy-nilly in
there. To organize the power I added a panel of fused switches on the
port-facing exterior of the cabinet and wired it to a terminal strip inside. To
that I connected the new Garmin 180 chart plotter, a new Standard Intrepid VHF
radio, and a new Sony CD/MP3 stereo. I also connected the DC power for the television
and two cigarette-type power adapters for cell phones and the like.
Since all
the new gear required a bunch of additional wires running to sensors, antennas,
speakers and such that would not fit down the opening in the support post, I had
to run it externally across the bottom of the cabinet and down through a hole in
the shelf to the right of the nav table. It’s not as pretty as I’d like, but it
works.
The benefit of having
everything located in the cabinet is that it’s all within arms reach of the nav
station and the instruments can be read from the helm position. This eliminates
the need for repeater displays found on many larger boats. The little wireless
stereo remote lets me choose my tunes while driving. I’m so spoiled by the
cabinet now I wouldn’t take it out, even if it makes the boat list a bit to
starboard.
Three
items of note about the gear I've installed here. I love the Garmin. The display
is large enough for these old eyes to see from the helm. It'll even display the
DC system voltage, which is
helpful if you want to keep the crew from draining
the batteries dry while under sail. Trust me, it happens. I also love the CD/MP3
player. Since I'd already ripped most of my CD collection and much of the good
old vinyl onto a "music server" computer at home, I could easily copy these MP3s
to CD for the boat. You can fit an average of 15 albums on a single CD in that
format, so if I want a "blues cruise", I can insert one CD and go from John Mayall to Kenny Wayne Shepherd with a visit to Stevie Ray without ever touching
the music box. The wireless remote also lets me turn on the silence from the
helm. The last item is kinda cool. Having the 12-volt cigarette outlets let me
stow my cell phone safely in the cabinet while underway and charge it at the
same time. But what's really cool is that I can charge my electric razor. For
some reason my Norelco came with a 12-volt charger. I guess it was for all those
high-powered .com executives that shaved in their cars. Although I never did
that, it is nice to have a charger for the razor for those
weekends on the boat.
One
other thing I did at the nav table was to make a pencil holder from a block of
teak and screw it into the bulkhead just above the table. I drilled holes
across the top front corner into which I could stick pens, pencils and
navigating dividers. I’ll admit I stole the idea from a Swan I’d been on, but if
you’re going to steal boat ideas, a Swan’s a good source for plagiarism.
Headliner
Frame: I have no idea how the headliner frame is made, but I suspect that it
is a cross-braced frame made of plywood covered by cosmetic teak pieces. It is
probably designed mostly as a spacer as there is one big bolt that hold the
cabinet to the coachroof. I cannot see where the top is exposed as it is covered
by the sea hood over the companionway hatch. It appears to be directly in line
with the aluminum track on the starboard side of the hatch. If this is the case,
the head must be countersunk into the aluminum track to not impede the movement
of the hatch. The bolt extends through the spacer, into the cabinet itself.
Cabinet:
It has a top and bottom made of plywood with some corner braces to make up
the basic structure. The top piece of plywood appears to be screwed or bolted to
the headliner frame. This will make the two pieces function as a single unit. I
have not taken the cabinet apart, but I suspect that the exterior corner wood
and panels were applied later and are not structural. However, the gluing will
likely enhance the structural rigidity of the unit. 
The bottom
of the lower plywood piece is painted white. I have no idea what the top looks
like as I cannot see it. I suspect that it is also painted. This isn't a bad
idea as the exterior framing that holds the paneling in place creates a raised
edge around the top piece of plywood that can be quite a dust collector. Having
it painted would make it easier to clean. But that's probably important only to
people as anal retentive as I am. 
Support
Pole: It is both simple and complex. It not only holds up the cabinet, but
it is also the conduit for many of the cables that exit the cabinet. It appears
to be a 2" square piece of teak ($!) just shy of 2 feet in length. The center
section of the pole was lathed round, which makes a good hand hold when moving
around the cabin. There is a channel that is about 1/2" in diameter that runs
down the center of the pole that handles some of the cables. The 12v power,
ground and VHF antenna cable feed up through this opening. 
Wiring:
The remainder of the wires, which include the stereo speaker wires, GPS antenna
wire, VHF RAM mike wire, TV power and antenna wire, exit the cabinet through an
exposed flexible conduit that exits the bottom of the nav cabinet and disappears
through a hole below the shelf outboard of the navigation table. It might be
possible to have the wiring exit the cabinet through the top and traverse
through to its destination through the space between the cabin liner and the
doghouse exterior but I have not investigated this possibility.