Finishing up some projects!

The Last Mile, The Last Yard, the Final Details.  Always seem the hardest.  Am closing in on several projects and thought would share an update.   The way I approach projects is largely driven by priority, and then availability.  Example:  I cannot Varnish until the Bung are trimmed, they cannot be trimmed until the glue dries. Cannot install the sink until I purchase a drain.  Obvious, right?  But due to this sequencing, several projects are in-flight at once.  A typical day I will go to the boat, work for about 4 hours all the while making up a purchase list.  Then an hour (or 4, arg) out for Lunch and picking up supplies / materials.  Then back to the boat.

 

Past couple of days several of the in-flight projects started closing.  Thursday, Friday and Saturday I accomplished:

• Counter tops all on, caulked the edges. 
• Fiddle rails installed in fore and aft cabins - varnished same
• Installed new faucets in heads and kitchen.
• Installed sinks in heads and kitchen – part broke on aft sink drain (pot metal  flange nut).  Here is where progress tends to stop:  We spent 3 hours trying to find a new flange nut, seems this one is unique in size.  Did find one as part of a $20 kit for another drain at a local surplus shop, but even through the clock is ticking I find it hard to pay $20 for a cheap pot-metal nut.
• Trim on aft cabinets installed, 1^st coat!
• Remounted aft fire extinguisher
• Installed new aft smoke/Co detector
• Medicine Cabinet installed over aft sink
• Last coat Varnish on bed pillar (water tank) decorative skirts.
• Reinstalled and powered on new computer
• Located place for AIS
• Installed SSB control head
• Both the boat and the new-to-us UAB received their Vessel Safety Inspection.  (Thank your Rick R. of Beaverton Sail and Power Squadron)
• Some more work on hydronic heating system (Finished mounting clips for mid-ship pipe runs)
• Kristi and I looked at the finish plate for the stove pipe, talked about tiling options for it.
• Cut the riser blocks for the aft cleats – located them on the aft deck .  Will given them a few days to see how we like it before I actually drill holes
• Cut about 75% of the beveled covering blocks to be placed over the devil seams – 2^nd photo.  (I can fit them after we ‘cut the cord’, but need the table saw to mill the wood.)
• Cut about ½ the wood for the anchor platform
• More cleanup around bow in preparation for new anchor platform

Next few days?

• Finish varnishing aft cabinet trim.
• Purchase, cut, paint, and install drawer faces for aft cabin drawers.
• Start on ‘night stands’
• Start on door frame to aft head.
• Start on sole (floor) prep – Cork material should be here in a couple of weeks
• Mount SSB Antenna
• Finish up some of the last efforts on the prior projects:  Aft sink drain, trim around galley sink, install aft cleats, cut up and remove that plastic part that got ‘built into’ the aft cabinet J

Big Focus in the coming week will be:  Install the drawers, floor prep, anchor platform, night stands.  But am sure will fill in around that with several smaller projects, like finish the Propane locker, make a small covering board for behind the new propane cook top, oh – bring power to the propane cook top, paint and install the kitchen cabinet door.  I am sure will find stuff to keep busy. . .

$3,500 we hope is a TOTAL waste of money..

Here is a photo of our bootie from the Seattle Boat Show. Namely: two survival suits, and an offshore life raft. Combined with the EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) we got during last Thanksgiving Specials we are up to about $3,500 for equipment we hope NEVER to have to use. However, given that we will be heading to isolated areas with rather cold waters we felt it was just prudent to get some good survival gear.

For those who might not know, the Lift Raft is well a Life Raft. The Survival Suits are like rubber 'Gumby' suits that will give us several hours of life in the cold water, as opposed to perhaps 30 minutes without them. And the EPIRB will send a signal to a global network of satellites which will then inform a global network of emergency responders (ala the Coast Guard) to come and get us. This EPIRB has a built in GPS to guide help directly to it, and to us, assuming we keep 'it' near 'us'.

And we did get killer deals on all of it. In fact, the Life Raft was about ½ of the going rate due to a blow-out special the manufacturer was having at the Seattle boat show. (Going further to show how really lame the Portland boat show is..) And this life raft even comes with a 15 year warranty. Plus if we use the life raft within those 15 years they will give us a new one for free! Providing we let them publish our story, and ummm I have to assume we actually manage to SURVIVE . . .

Here is to money down the drain!

Arg, Stuff…

OK.  Stuff has been a common topic for the past year or so.  Even when one tries to reduce the amount of Stuff they have, there is still some Stuff that is rather useful..  Wallet, Clothing are useful.  Viking Star is a bit useful for where we are heading.  Anchors, Wife, Batteries-- all this Stuff is useful and appreciated (some more than others).  So, it always amazes me when that Just Oh I Need It Now stuff cannot be found.

We have a 45’ boat and a small apartment with a one car garage.  And yet, Stuff…

The Stuff of Focus this morning are the parts needed to refresh the Windlass.  Mostly the Seals, but also the chain stripper that I removed when changing the wildcat two years ago.  It has been carefully placed in a box to keep it all together.  It lived on top of the Alaska Yellow cedar planks in the garage at the house, and in the V-Berth after the house was not ours.

Now I could really use it, and it is nowhere to be found.

Arg…

Well, know what a good part of this afternoon will be about J

Here is a short list of what is being focused on at this time:

Anchor platform

Stainless Steel is at the welder

Need to cut the boards to complete the platform

Need to finish stripping the bow, and fit the base for the anchor platform

Need to reassemble the Windlass and paint it.

Counters

Strip and clean the galley sink

Reinstall galley sink

Set and install aft sink and counter

Cut fiddles, install and vanish

Pull forward sink, install new Formica, and reinstall sink

Propane

                Finish the galley stove install

                Install regulator and cut-off valves with switches

Drawers

Purchase, cut, then paint drawer faces

Purchase and install drawer pulls.

Cut, install, and varnish trim around drawer openings.

Steering Ram

                Parts on order for physical connection of new Ram

                Need to size and procure hoses for new Ram

Next up?

Doors and framing of same in aft cabin

Drill and install door locks on side sliding doors, aft cabin hatch as well

Cut Devil Seam filler blocks

Cut platform for aft cleats

Cut overhead panels, install later

Cut wood trim and prep sole (floor) for cork

Aft head?

Drawers A-drying

This photo is of the 14 drawers I built for the aft cabin cabinets.  Polyurethane paint is great stuff.  Tuff, thick and shiny coating.  I use Rodda Fast Dry Floor and Deck Poly paint by the gallons.  Over the years I tried ‘Boat’ Poly paint, and a few other Poly paints.  I find the Rodda paint to work well, wear long, and be economical at under $35 a gal.  I am sure there is something magic in the Boat Poly paint, but at $150+ a gallon, I just have not found out what it is…

There is a downside.  Poly paint takes a few days to dry, and in the winter like this, about a week.  And even after drying, it takes several weeks to harden up.  So, we are babysitting the drawers in the apartment while they cure.

They do not make the best of roommates. 

They smell.

Even after a week of drying in the garage, they still smell.  So, we have cracked the windows some and will tuff it out.

Someone ask how ‘The List' was coming.  Having been around Engineers most my life, I am somewhat used to this.  Guess those with a stong accounting background also like lists, and to bring them up every once and a while to Just Check.  Well, we are heavy into prioritizing.  We have about 2 months left, leaving a little wiggle room.  Drivers are (in priority order):

•        Must Do to Live/ Use:  Must have the water back on, Must have the propane stove back in, Must have storage completed.  Must have the anchor back installed.
•       Must be off boat to do:  new cork flooring is the obvious one here, Varnishing and Painting MIGHT fall into this, though I am sure folks Varnish and sleep on the deck..
•       Would be great to have:  trim and new Formica done, or large parts of it.
•        Need table saw for:  Cutting the overheads, cutting the new doors for the aft cabin, aft head…

These have been driving my actions for the past few weeks.  As we get closer, will decide what is in the Short Stokes vs. what will Just Not Get Done Before We Leave…  (ala:  Water maker)

Those who might be reading, there is lots to do.  Fridays are good days to drive a few loose ends to close ;-)