This is what its looked like for about the last month or so while I was finishing all the glass work. I must have went through 100+ plastic gloves, 40 or so plastic cups and spoons, yards of cloth and more epoxy than I'm admitting to my domestic fiscal specialist, a full tube of boat life white caulk, sheets and sheets of sandpaper, a small can of high build primer and a large can of Old Salem, Petit yacht gloss white.
And this is a real sign of progress. For the last six months I wore boots, shoes and whatever I wanted inside this construction site of a boat and after this last push, for the time, I had the urge to take my shoes off before stepping on board because it looked so nice in there.
What a difference 6 months makes.....
In the boxes of bits that came with the boat, I found a Maximum inc. wind speed instrument (see port side) and a tide clock (strbd). The tide clock seems to work well enough with new batteries and a cleaning. The anemometer, I found out by sending a photo to the company, is the Vigilant model and is about 30 years old and it needs a new wind speed generator (the bit that goes on top of the mast). It requires no external power source, has a gust recorder and can measure wind up to 100 mph. I put them up high on the bulkhead because otherwise, I'd hit my head against them when leaning there.
Between Friday and Saturday, I spent sun up to sun down working on the boat. My mom ( Memere Kiki ) generously took the kid for the whole weekend) and we took full advantage of it, Maki went rock climbing and I sanded all the finished fiberglass, varnished the cabin sole and cabinet fronts, painted and caulked hanging locker walls, the aft section of the forward berth, the stringers etc under the deck. Sanded and painted again. This boat looks nothing like the empty hull I was sitting in with a space heater last January.
Knees finished
A shot of the knees that are above the head
The head (picture is not upright)
I didn't work too hard to make the space between the knees itself perfectly smooth because this area is covered by varnished slats. I have to alter the slats somewhat because I made new knees but they still look great. I'm also thinking of adding a shelf between the knees/ the knee and the bulkhead for toiletry stuff since the area does serve as the head (need to finish rebuilding the toilet and plumb it this winter).
I had some help with the trim pieces. She first tried the screwdriver but quickly figured out that the Dewalt cordless was much easier and more exciting.
Strbd and Port side up forward...
It looks better with the trim in place. I made the two blocks by the tiller to support a bar in the hanging locker for lines and clothes. They should look good when varnished.
Port and strbd foot wells
I still need to get a couple coats of paint on the inside of the footwells and varnish the cabinet fronts with 4 more coats of varnish...and make the counter tops....and plumb the sink... etc...
Port and strbd "saloon"
That varnished sole looks great. Friends came by and thought it was wet. I only put six coats on but it'll do for now. Maybe a couple more before launching.
Up forward, I put a couple coats of paint on the lower part of the berth. I still have a few pieces of trim to finish varnishing and put up. This winter I had about a hundred pieces of trim lying around my basement and now I'm down to just a hand full.
One of the next things to do is make the shelf that runs along the walls. I have the front of the shelf but have to make the brackets and shelf itself. There is one on each side of this main area, two more up forward and I think I'll add on in the hanging locker too. Lots of storage space on this little boat.
Later this fall I will finish the counter tops. I finally decided how to finish them. I have been thinking of a way to use the old teak decking and I decided on using the old inserts which are in good shape and building a "new" surface using the old deck. I'll leave them bare with white caulking instead of black. Even the flip up extensions can be made this way. It should look pretty good when done and is a nice use of the old boat bits.
Port side sink and sliding insert
Starboard side longer sliding insert.
I also have to crawl forward to finish caulking and painting the underside of the deck in the v berth. Its a messy job with lots of fumes in a small space but I can get to this or any of the last touch ups little by little over the fall. No more structural work inside! All the projects inside now are just little ones (Including rewiring/plumbing the boat?)
Jan 2007 and August 2007.
No comments:
Post a Comment