Fixing up the boat

Winter in the Midwest means no sailing. So I huddle next to the fire and think up boat improvement projects. Cooper the dog shakes his head and wonders why I am interested in that stupid boat anyway. His idea of fun involves squirrels or tennis balls, not floating around in a plastic tub.



Here he is in the cockpit with his "I hate this" look on his face.

 Last year, as you recall, I made the two cupboards shown above and added wooden countertops in the galley. This year I decided to cover up the ugly, worn out fake-teak bulkhead with new wood.

 It always bugged me that the previous owner cut a 6 x 9 hole for a speaker  right at the top of the bulkhead. Then they varnished the wall (why? It's plastic) and let the varnish run down in big drips. Nice.

When I dismantle something that was built in the past I always think, wow, somebody put these screws in the wood in 1971 and now in 2011 I am removing them. Hello 1971 stainless screws, nice to meet you. I imagine the builders in their Henley shirts, long hair and hip-huggers. And maybe in the background James Taylor and Janis Joplin are on the radio in the shop in Costa Mesa California where Sloopy was built. Even the zip-lock bag the screws are sitting in wasn't invented in 1971.

 So I skinned the whole thing over in thin red oak. Yes, I know white oak or teak would be better....but budget wins out in this case (this whole bulkhead cost about $75)—besides, it's all sealed in polyurethane anyway. I used poly adhesive and held it in place with finish brads from my nail gun. Were they stainless steel brads.....no. The result is quite impressive. It makes Sloopy look like a much nicer boat than it is.

The takeaway is that when you have a compressor, chop saw, jigsaw, nail gun, shop vac and two boxes of hand tools on a small boat you feel like you are remodeling a closet and you brought everything in the closet with you. Everything is in the way of everything else and every time you need to move you need to move something first.

Meanwhile I also discovered that the emergency manual bilge pump wasn't actually connected to anything so it was apparently just for show.

Well, as these sorts of projects go, one thing leads to another so there is replaced wiring and that one seat cushion that was always too big was redone—now the double berth should work the way it was supposed to when you drop the table. I am still not sure if that was my mistake or Homestyle Upholstery's, but they do beautiful work I must say.  I highly recommend them. See Larry at www.homestylecustom.com

Oh yeah, I also decided to rebuild the galley table to match the bulkhead and counter tops.

I used the 1/2" plywood that was leftover from the countertop project and laminated it with 1/4" oak boards. With everything clamped and glued and the beefier mounding around the edges, it is just as rigid as the original at about half the weight. It looks like each side is bowed so that the corners are higher than the middle but it's just an optical illusion. Weird.

 Then it occurred to me that for a couple of extra dollars I could epoxy a nice wood strip over the ugly aluminum strip inside the cabin that covers the "connect the hull to the deck" bolts. I hope no one ever wants to get that off because it will take a hammer and chisel.

Total materials estimate for new cupboards, counters, galley table and bulkhead.....probably about $250.00.

Now to address that manual bilge pump. The pump itself works fine (I tried it in the kitchen sink at home) so I just have to connect it to the drain pipe. That means disassembling the storage compartment I built under the stove, but that's how this stuff goes.



In the search for more storage space I realized that pump was hogging about 4 cubic feet of space. With a little rearranging there will be enough room to add 2 batteries to the house bank. That means more hours with navigation and tiller pilot without a charge.

Next up, solar panel?