In the hanging locker there is a large volume of space behind the hanging rod and above the clothes hangers. I built a shelf to fit this space. The volume of the space above the shelf is about 0.8 cuft. That's the equivalent of about 3 shoe boxes. It's a great place to store things like gloves and hats.
I carefully measured the space for the shelf panel I needed to build. I built the panel from a 1/2" birch faced plywood "handi-panel". These nice pieces of plywood and are very stable - they don't easily warp. I cut the panel and trimmed it to fit the space. On the bottom of the shelf I cut out sections about 2/3 the thickness of the panel to lighten it. I painted the entire hanging locker space with an good durable acrylic paint a few years ago. The finish is holding up very well and it's easy to wash. I painted it white to help make it brighter.
I coated the panel and the wood support blocks with West System Epoxy with a white pigment added. I did 2 coats sanding between. I sanded the top to 400 grit. The finish came out very nice. It took several evenings to complete the epoxy. I got the best finishes by laying the surface flat and putting on a lot of epoxy and letting it level itself out as it set. There were no brush strokes left behind. There were some bubbles but they sanded out pretty well. Leaving the last coat un-sanded gives a high gloss slippery finish with a few tiny bubbles. It should be easy to clean.
I mounted a block to the forward bulkhead in the space for the shelf to sit on. On the aft end I left a 1" gap to clear the chainplate bolts and wiring. I mounted a support block at the inboard end and glued a block to the inner surface of the hull.
The access to the shelf is smaller then the space on the shelf because the hanging bar and part of the cabin liner is blocking part of the opening. But you can still get good sized objects onto the shelf (e.g. first aid box, binocular case, TP rolls, paper towels...). I spent about an hour an evening for 4 evenings to complete this project.
-DHP