Getting Dirty - Haulout

[Ex-Calif]

Yes there was plenty of water and both black and green mold. First order of business was a cleaning party. We got most of it but didn't obsess over it until we can get the cabin water tight again and that requires the painting to get done.

Here are some progress photos. The topsides are painted and for a tip and roll it came out well. It is not cleaned yet and there are dirty footprints all over the place. I will upload some better paint photos later in the thread.

The tricky bit was what to do about anti-skid. The foredeck is largely textured and I used International Paint one-part Polyurethane Toplac (snow white). I used this in the cockpit a few years ago and know that it leaves a very slippery surface, especially when wet. I ended up masking the anti skid areas on the foredeck and created some anti skid areas with masking in the cockpit. I used the International Paints silica although some old dogs recommended beach sand (LOL). I mixed the silica in the paint in the first coat. Removed the masking and then did 2 more coats.

All in all it was 3 additional days of paint prep (sanding etc.) and 3 days to get the paint on after I did the locker covers separately.

It's not a spray job and it's not perfect but I am pretty happy with it. You can see we got most of the deck hardware back on.

[Ex-Calif]

A few things I learned about tip and roll painting.

As in all painting preparation is very key. As I sanded through old paint I found voids (bubbles) in the old paint. I theorize that in this climate (28-32DegC) the paint needs to be a bit thinner than normal. As the paint dries it gasses off. If the surface dries to quick the gassing gets trapped as bubbles inside the paint.

All these old bubbles were removed down to the underlying original primer and in many cases through to the fiberglass. I used International "Prep-Kote" to touch up any bare areas before using the Toplac.

I measured the thinner about 8-10%. I knew it was about right as small surface bubbles would appear but in a minute they would burst and the paint would flow out. I also measured the sand for consistency.

In Singapore the best times to paint were between 7:30 and 12:00 then take a break till about 4pm. 4pm to 7:30 was actually better as the air temp was continuously cooling and the surface temps of the boat were pretty low by about 6PM.

[Ex-Calif]

Having spent over a year on the hard with no real activity it was embarrassing to go to the club - all people wanted to talk about was, "What are you doing about the boat?"

So coming back the mindset was, "Get it done quickly and float it." - This is probably a decent idea but my original plan was always to do the paint job in 2012 and then do the interior in 2013.

The interior was pretty ratty and I figured had a year left. I don't know if the moisture accelerated the deterioration but Sunday I was on the boat and said, "Well, I've been here 20+ months. What's another 2-3?" And then started ripping out bulkheads - LOL.

I have some very specific ideas about how I want the interior. I have original brochures showing a happy blond Swedish family of 5 sleeping aboard. Unless they are hobbits it's pretty crowded. I also have many photos of interior redos for Maxis. One theme I really like is the removal of the bulkheads before the v-berth. It opens up the cabin and let's a lot more light into the forward area.

My idea is to make it great for 2 people to weekend in with a 3rd as an option in the salon.

The head is mounted on the centerline under the aft end of the v-berth. I have always hated that and I am pretty sure I can move it to the starboard side. It will end up similar to a cuddy-cabin. Headroom for sitting of course but maybe not for standing. The bulkhead will move aft about 2 feet and it will be a half height bulkhead with a curtain closing the top part for privacy.

The port bulkhead has the electric panel and the radio. This has always been problematic as you have to go forward to use the radio and change switches. I will move this to the aft bulkhead starboard side. Not sure if I carry the 1/2 height bulkhead idea on the port side or go with no bulkhead at all and just a privacy curtain.

The galley will be completely redone. It's a fiddly bit of kit. I will end up with an "L" shaped galley top that carries from the companionway opening (also the top of the engine cover) around the port side. I am going to extend it forward about 20 inches and give up the port salon berth. This extra area will allow me to mount the fridge (cooler) and air conditioning. The a/c/ sounds like overkill for a 26 foot boat but we go to Indonesia and Malaysia a bit and stay in Marinas. We usually get a room because in the still air of the marina sleeping on the boat is painfully hot and humid. The a/c is a bit heavy for it's size and not conducive to racing but I am getting old and decided not to fart around with a removable a/c.

You can see the salon berths have always been a compromise. To make a berth you need about 28-32 inches at the shoulders. A seat only needs about 22-24. So sitting at the table has never had back support unless you scootch back. Then you can't reach the table. So on both sides I am going to frame in a locker. The seat depth will be about 22-24 inches and then the locker will be between the seat back and the cabin side. I reckon it will be good storage for lifejackets and a host of other stuff.

The centerline table is always a pain to navigate around. I am going to "skinny up the table" so that the port side from the compression post over is free and clear. It''l only give a couple inches but it will be better.

It sounds daunting but it is a small boat and doesn't need heavy woodwork. I haven't decided on 1/4 or 3/8 ply yet but there are plenty of hardpoints to frame it in. I am planning 1x1, 1x2 AND 2x2 framing. I am a simple butt and don't plan on lot's of drawers and difficult stuff like that. Mostly shelves, fronted with ply and well fiddeld so stuff won't fall out.

I've started "practicing" my woodworking. I had to make a piece of trim for the companionway, the bilge (engine bay & batts) floor and some hatch covers. I was pretty successful turning my drill press into a router.

The new house has a nice "maids" room that I turned into a small workshop and the back porch is covered by awning and I built a workbench.

Here are some snaps.

[Ex-Calif]

Last post for today - I must be boring everyone - LOL. But this catches up to where we are.

The goof photo is interesting. First - boats are dangerous. I cobbled together a scaffolding for the painting works. It was "serviceable but a bit dodgy. The aluminum beam was a the longest span and flexed pretty good. It held one fat guy (me) but you can see we are putting the black bumper back on and me and Doug were together and the old aluminum girder gave up. As they say when sh!t happens it's funny. When people get hurt it's hilarious - thankfully this was just funny and no one got hurt.

In regards to the bumber - It laid under the boat for 20 months. It is pretty stiff and ended up with some twists and kinks. Discussions were had about heat guns and son on. I said, "Nah. We'll slap it on in an hour or so."

Well we laid it up and holy crap it was 18 inches short on both sides! Did the boat grow? No, the bumper shrank! It did not appear to have any stretch and Doug was thinking cut in a piece and splice it.

Necessity's the mother and all that... I went to the back, applied a climbing knot tailed the rope to the spinnaker pulley and forward to a winch. I thought we'd break it but that mother stretched 18 inches (with plenty of tension) and we shot the screws in. 4 hour job!

The other photos are some hatch covers - more woodworking practice - and some cockpit/companionway trim and the steps for the foredeck.

You can see what a couple of years of wood neglect does and I am lazy so after sanding and debating whether to varnish or paint, I decided to paint. I am thinking the blue trim will make the boat look a bit more modern and will be lower maintenance. I am not a total fan of the color but I haven't found a lot of paint choices and the color is growing on me.

The tiller will likely get refurbished stained and varnished (I am not a total heathen - LOL)

Well -gotta go to work and pay some boat bills...

[DeepFrz]

Wow, hit the ground running. Great, glad no one was hurt. Here's some music to keep you moving.
https://soundcloud.com/evarusnik

[Ex-Calif]

Thanks Phil...

[Wotname]

Welcome back Dan, you have truly been missed; at least by me .

Looking forward to seeing photos of slash day

Sorry to hear about your problems of 2013 but at least they are behind you now!

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Welcome back Dan, you have truly been missed; at least by me .

Looking forward to seeing photos of slash day

Sorry to hear about your problems of 2013 but at least they are behind you now!

That day would have been about 7-8 months ago - Couldn't decide throat or wrists nor mine or hers

Now I am looking forward to splash day -

Thanks for the warm welcome!

[Ex-Calif]

Soliciting opinions...

Having made the critical decision to rip out the interior I did the fun part of the job. Went shopping. Got some tools, planes, chisels, mitrebox - whoo-hoo fun!

Also stopped by the wood shop to start mulling over materials and construction methods.

The big one is whether to use pre-faced ply - it comes in white. Bare ply painted or bare ply that I face myself. I could put on woodgrain or white - I'd probably pick white. The wood grain looks oh so 70's cheesy.

Painting vs. facing. Painting could show the woodgrain through making people think - why didn't he stain and varnish. White facing looks modern and sleek and I'd likely paint white anyway.

I've always had the idea that if I did the interior it would have some sort of laminate surface that was easy to clean and modern looking.

The roll stuff is basically 3M - I worry about it getting nicked and torn over time. Looks like 2 kinds of prelaminated - wood with the 3M stuff applied and stuff that looks a little harder and more robust. The pre-laminate comes in one or two sided laminate.

I'm thinking the end grains and one-sided laminate will need paint or dealing for long term life so I am not getting away from painting I think.

Opinions?

[Ex-Calif]

The other dilemma is how robust the cabinetry needs to be. I think I am leaning 1/4 ply with maybe 3/8 fronts.

Here are some shots of framing material options. 1X2 seems and feels "heavy." 1X1 seems not robust enough.

There wasn't any real framing in the locker I pulled out. It was basically screwed into the fiberglass bulkhead. Maybe I need to look at the galley. It has a bit of framing to it.

I also looked at a selection of crown molding and quarter molding. For the galley lockers/seat backs I am planning to make decorative top pieces. Basically dowels between a 1/2 round at the top and flat beam at teh bottom to make "trelisses" - I know there's a word for these and I read it recently but am blanking.

So the white laminated cabinetry will be decoratively enhanced with these kinds of moldings and features. These will be painted in an accent color to create a theme.

[Ex-Calif]

The final part is construciton methods. I am obviously not a cabinet maker but I am not flying completely blind. I have a copy of "Boat Joining & Cabinetmaking" - (Bingham) that I saw recommended some long time ago. It seems very dated but has some excellent basics in it.

I am probably looking at lots of lap and maybe dadoed butt joints for the framing. With the limited tools I have I don't think I can make 4 drawers that will look the same so like I said I am predominantly going to go with shelves, plywood fronts with the classic boat "oval" cut out that also acts as fiddles. That's what's in there now except the galley which does have 2 small drawers.

I have probably 50 open tasks already. This weekend is getting the cabin top (winches and clutches) and companionway finished so the interior is finally water tight again. Finish getting the water and mold out and finish removing the old cabinetry and getting ready to do interior work.

Of course the cabinet work has created the need to rewire the boat. The current radio and switch panel are on the starboard forward bulkhead. This was always planned to be moved so we add rewire the boat to the list <sigh>

Thoughts as always are appreciated!

[Ex-Calif]

I am thinking that there may be some rule of thumb about to bite me - something like for every day of disassembly there is 4 months on the hard?

Anyway crappy rain Saturday so took the opportunity to try and stabilize my work bench. I had a 4X5 cut of 1/2 in ply. After looking high and low for either saw horses or saw horse brackets I gave up. Out Walmart equivalent here had these 3-shelf side tables on sale for like $10 each. Josh and I whacked them together and screwed the ply straight in.

So it rains a lot here and it is clear these cabinets won't last long getting wet (you can see the water staining and wet ground) so I framed the bottom to get them off the ground and put the bench on wheels so I can move it around. It's not fancy, I should probably paint it but it's serviceable and I only need it to last the life of this project.

Also went wood shopping. Looks like I am going to end up working in all in 1/4 prefaced ply with 1X1 and 1X2 framing. Engine box and galley counter will end up 3/8 inch ply. Bought a bunch of corner molding, top molding and such to add decorative features.

[Ex-Calif]

Today (Sunday) was finishing a couple of projects this morning and then out to gut the boat.

This post will focus on the galley removal. George really hated the galley so I let him smash it up. Note the "custom" reducer on the galley drain - awesome!

The bottle opener definitely gets a home in the new galley - It's so retro and cool!

33 year old cabinetry - we got our money's worth, I think...

Knowing one's limitations is important. I know I am not a craftsman. I hope to make a serviceable galley. I will make mistakes and hopefully my handiwork lasts 10 or 15 years before looking ratty again.

Lot's of stuff I'd like to do but I gotta keep it simple so I can get done in a reasonable amount of time.

[Ex-Calif]

Here is the port bulkhead electrical panel removal.

The wiring in back shows what happens in 30 year's of modification. There was twinflex, house wire, amazing assortment of colors and none of it making much sense.

Of course there are some of my kludges in there, ran a couple of circuits for lighting, added the inverter, added circuits for the DVD players. And wired in the HARTS Transponder.

HARTS is a Singapore port requirement if you don't have AIS. It uses VHF transponder technology. Basically the port authority radar interrogates (pings) this box and the box replies with the boat information. That's the grey box above the switch panel.

There was a box labeled "Marine Electronics Micro-5" - It clearly looks like some sort of integrator with inputs for depth, speed, wind etc. - It wasn't wired up to anything. I did a couple of different Google searches and came up zero.

All gone now and so a full rewire is in the cards as well.

[Ex-Calif]

So here is my "blank canvas"

Next week we are going to clean and dry the boat and remove the rest of the headliner on Saturday morning.

I plan to go buy some poster board this week and then spend Saturday afternoon creating a mock up.

You can see there are plenty of molded in rails in which to tie into. The bottom of the companion way is level with the lower rails that extend up both sides. l plan to use this as the main datum for symmetry - I think if I just bodge stuff in willy-nilly it can look quite imbalanced.

The potty is on the side because I am planning to put the potty there and get it out of the v-berth.

The quarter berth is gone to have a door and I am going to make a "trolley" with guide rails inside. The idea is to open the door and roll the trolly out for access. The electrical panel will be above that.

The forward area of the cabin is wide open now. The boat feels like a much bigger space (of course it's empty) I definitely want to be careful not to ruin that effect by putting back any full height bulkheads.

I forgot to add the wire George is holding to the previous post. This is how the coax coming from the mast was connected to the radio loom. The center conductors were twisted together and soldered and the shields were twisted to together and soldered. I am pretty sure that's how it is supposed to be done -

I took a picture so I can make sure to put it back just this way - LOL

So is this one day of disassembly going to equal 4 months? It is in fact a bit daunting...