just some wood work

5/7/12

we did this project same day as the bow rails. it was a very clear and hot monday with no wind for sailing so we decided to get busy with projects.

these are the two pieces of wood holding the electrical circuit panel to the wall on the inside of the cabin. the one on the left is the original from when i bought it. it was cracked and spilt plywood with 2 rusty screws. very ugly and decrepit. we're replacing them with what is on the right.

i find wood over by the dumpster all the time. i am a proud dumpster diver. i keep a stash of useable stuff in my dock box. for this project i used a solid piece of wood, i dont know what kind, my guess would be walnut or maple? no clue. 

i cut them to fit exactly as the old ones did. sanded them really well and rounded the edges so no one gets hurt. taped it off and painted a teal stripe on it with my tractor paint. lacquered it with helmsman to keep it from rotting in the sun.

let all the paint and lacquer dry for a day. removed the old supports and put the new ones on. pretty simple and quick project. practically free too. scrap dumpster wood, four stainless steel washers and screws, plus utilizing my blue paint for some appeal. i think it looks way better, and at least its not rotting away anymore. it feels good to replace all the decaying and neglected parts of the boat. as i'm going through with it, i can't believe how much was done using screws, bolts, nuts, and washers that were not stainless steel. seems weird to me not to.

thats the old compass on the left. it kind of works but the water has leaked out to just above the center, so the compass is barely floating. i ordered a new one and its in the mail. just wait and see what i have going on, its awesome. and then the knotlog (tells how fast we're moving in knots) it turns on and works, i just need to purchase a new reader which hooks under the boat near the keel. it spins and sends the speed to that little robot screen.

New Bow Rail

5/7/12

it was time to find a new bow rail at minney's yacht surplus. i love this place. its like a cross between a thrift store and a junk yard for boaters. everything is super cheap and you have to dig deep to find what youre looking for. we get more than half our gear from here. http://www.minneysyachtsurplus.com/

so claire and i drove up last week and found a bow rail that we thought might fit our measurements. the old one was missing screws and all smashed up from some kind of accident before i purchased the boat. not safe at all, it would actually pop off completely if you leaned on it. (which is its main purpose in life) the new one was one complete piece unlike the old one which was a few sections screwed together. the new one also had nav. lights wired into it. pretty cool.

heres the old rail. you can see how its bent and how each section is screwed together.

bent the frame and cracked the fiberglass from whenever that crash was. this was whoever's ghetto fixer up job.

no rails

here's the new rail we picked out. notice the nav. lights (little black box at the top) and then the wire was coming through the bottom of that pole about 1 inch. claire soldered about 2 foot of new wire onto it so we could pull it through a little hole i drilled in the deck. we'll hook that up to our circuit board eventually, and then have 2 full sets of nav. lights (the other set is on the side of the actual boat). not necessary, but i've always thought having two of something is better, especially tiny little lights that keep bigger boats from running into you at night. no need for a double take with 2 sets.

heres what it looked like under the two mounts that were on the dented side. cracked fiberglass. not good. we filled these with all weather caulk.

we bolted down the new rail super tight with really big washers that won't pull through. all stainless steel. the previous rail had tiny washers that were pulling through the fiberglass. not good either. this is inside our anchor locker in the very forward of the bow. the paint is cracked and chipped bad, we plan on sanding and painting that soon.

 the new rail is firmly attached!! its slightly taller than the last one. i love that its all one solid piece compared to the last one which wasnt and had screws popping off everytime you touched it. again, notice the nav. lights! they are going to look awesome once theyre electrified.

topside view of the new set up. notice the location of the old mounts versus the new. we measured out and left room for a big anchor pulpit to replace that tiny chain roller on the tip there. we havent taken her out for a sail yet with the new rails on, hopefully theres not much sail chaffing going on, but there shouldnt be, its a pretty similar set up as the last. one more upgrade done, all on a day off, good for cosmetics and for safety!

New Tiller

So here's the old tiller. The one i learned to sail on. Kind of hard to let it go but it's split lengthwise, really loose, gives a lot of play, has splinters, and pretty much just falling apart.

I really like the black twine rap on the handle. i'm not sure if taylor did this or not. i might do something similar on the new tiller some day.

the new tiller is glossy and quite pretty. its about 2 inches longer than the old one too. it was the perfect fit.

connected the swivel attachment for the forespar. i moved it back a couple inches, more hand grip before it.

woo! i love it. but at the same time miss my original. it's almost TOO nice. i spray painted the forespar with teal tractor rustoleum pant!

I enjoy projects like this. they're quick, easy, and cheap. it's nice to do this kind of stuff between bigger expensive projects like the bottom work that was just done, or upcoming gimbaling propane stove, solar set-up, anchor set-up. it keeps me busy and motivated on making the boat perform and look better. 

the other night claire and i spontaneously started re-doing our foreward hatch. sometimes if it rains hard enough it would drip. so we got new weather strips for it. went to put them on and realized it was just shitty chipped white fiberglass and paint. so we sanded it down and repainted it with leftover sunflower yellow paint just like the rest of the boat. we have plans for that project coming up.

got quite a few projects piling up right now. i'm ready to rush back to the boat everyday after work and crank these things out. spring has sprung and i have plenty of sunlight after work. just bought a new compass, bow rails, anchor needs to be set up (bow and stern), i've got LED mast and anchor lights on the way also.