January 10, 2013 - project progressing

It's been a while since my last post.  With Christmas and New Years progress came to a crawl.  We spent about 10 days over in Idaho skiing, sledding, snowmobiling, and sharing Christmas with Kathy's family (which included her two brother's and their families, from New York and Colorado).

The flybridge is all painted now and looking great.

Flybridge side with repainted stripes.

The painting project has grown to even more of the boat.  We are now painting the salon side walls, and the top of the cockpit surround.  That will really complete the painting with no unnatural break points in the paint.

Sal painting part of the cockpit overhang with primer.  Most of the topside
of the boat will have been painted by the time we are done.

Primed and ready for sanding.  It will look considerably newer when we are done!

A while ago I removed the 4 portholes from the bow stateroom and two heads.  I am rebuilding the mounts by sealing them in fiberglass to prevent leaks and to structurally tie them into the hull.  It is going to be a big imporovement because the old one would leak water when in really rough seas.  The water would work its way in between the plywood and the hull soaking the foam and fabric liner eventually.  The it would take weeks to dry out.  This problem should be gone forever.

Forward porthole opening before any work.

Sealed in fiberglass.  This should be quite strong and sealed for life.

I had to tear apart the two beds in the master stateroom so we can install the stabilizers.  They are located right underneath the beds and they take up quite a bit of room.  I had to remove the master toilet pump and all of the associated plumbing (not a fun job).  I had to cut out part of the floor and cut apart most of the bed's structure.

The port side bed partially torn apart

Floor cut out, pump and plumbing removed.  Heat unit moved and re-plumbed.
Ready for the big hole to be cut in the hull.

I have started to paint some of the decks on the boat with non-skid paint additive.  It's a multi-step process; first one coat is rolled onto the deck, then you sprinkle the non-skid additive like you are sprinkling salt on a bland meal, and last you roll another thin coat of paint to seal in the additive and give it an even finish.  The results are quite amazing.

Close-up of the non-skid surface on the steps to the flybridge.

I have even more projects going on.  Our new swimstep has arrived.  It is much bigger.  I hope this doesn't become an issue in really big seas as the water slaps up against the bottom side.  Time will tell....

We also have a new sea-water cooled freezer being built that will need to be installed under the galley cabinet with the corian surface converted into the access lid.

We are installing two new toilets.  One is a manual toilet (for maximum reliability) and the other is a fancy electric model that will be easy for non-boaters to use.  We will be making new railings for the boat deck and repositioning the dinghy to a spot that leaves more open space on the boat deck.  I am going to be modifying the anchor roller assembly to better secure our new anchor.  I'll be painting the running gear with a barnacle prevention paint (Pettit Barnacle guard) that we use a year and a half ago.  There was no growth on the props or shaft when we hauled the boat.  New zincs will be installed.  I will try to wax the bow of the boat before it leaves the paint shop if I can find the time.  This is a job that is almost impossible to do at the dock.

more to come.....