New additional Electric Panel and Air Conditioner

A few months ago we purchased a new combination unit for the salon that is an air conditioner, reverse cycle heater and dehumidifier.  We had been waiting until the salon was a little further along and any leaks were resolved and we were not filling the salon with saw dust before we put the expensive unit in place.

We were able to resolve the leaks that we had from the ports as well as the chain plates and the building, cutting, sanding in the salon was finally wrapping up, so we loaded the Webasto FCF 16,000 BTU unit into the dock cart and hauled it on board.

It fit well into a spot right under the settee in the salon and is accessed by removing the slide out bunk in the salon and dropping it into the storage area from above.  When adding this unit to the boats total Electric supply it was just pushing the limit of our 30amp service.  The existing panel in the boat has separate breakers for both a forward and rear air conditioner, but given that this size air conditioner runs at about 9 amps (with a startup of about 15), and the rear air conditioner (as old as it is) runs at about 12 amps with a very high startup of about 18amps.  So if both units were running and the microwave was used or a hair dryer, this would likely pop the 30amp main in the boat or at the shore power supply panel.

We decided the best approach was to add a second electric panel and 30amp service into the boat and leave the rear air conditioner on the existing original panel and the new air conditioner on the new panel.  We decided to go ahead and add plenty of room for expansion and selected the Blue Sea 8074 Electric Panel.  It comes with a volt and amp meter built in to monitor usage through the panel.


It will notify you of reverse polarity from your dock power service so you can know that information before you start turning on breakers. We love this feature since we plan on visiting marina's and you just never know the quality of the power or wiring that may be in place.

I normally like to do most of the work on the boat myself, but was nervous about doing this job for 2 reasons.  First it requires drilling a hole in the outer hull of the boat and also it required wiring in the main electric feed to this breaker box.  Because of that we hired someone do to this and he was able to complete the whole job in about 4 hours or so.

He started by drilling a hole in the outside of the boat right above the existing 30amp service line.  The boat side connector was installed and matches the other style of waterproof connectors as the other 30amp power service, telephone and cable inputs.

The wire from that service line runs through the existing wiring channels across the engine room and toward the existing electrical box where it is routed just about a foot forward of the existing one to the new panel.  The bulkhead between the engine room and walkthrough had to be cut to attach the flush mounted panel  (See photo on right).  This went just below the Xantrex remote panel for monitoring battery bank charging and battery levels when not charging.

From the panel, the one and only used breaker, runs to the new air conditioner.  So we have 7 more available breakers that can be used in the future.  After the electric was run to the new unit, I plumbed in the sea strainer, sea water circulation pump and it was also connected to the unit.  The thermostat wire was run to a forward bulkhead wall.  So the moment of truth was here and we tested out the unit.  It ran but we were not getting water circulation.  I took the lines apart and luckily it didn't take too long but the culprit was a bit of a clog in the exit through-hull.  I suspect dirt dobbers or something had tried to nest in there but after a quick clean out, all was circulating and working great.  The good news is that we now have enough air conditioning to keep the boat cool even in the heat of southern summers.  When it gets cold, we also have the heat capability and if we are going to be off the boat for some amount of time, we can set the unit to auto dehumidify as well.   Making progress, slowly but surely.

Stateroom Coming Together

About 3 months ago we started the Salon refit.  Early into the demolition we found that the Chain Plates were leaking and started to worry about their strength given they are 35 years old.  As you can read in an earlier post, we replaced them.  Once complete we slowed down through the holidays while traveling and are back at the work again.  

So far, we have removed the salon cabinets (behind the settee), Built new seat backs in the Salon, Built new countertops behind the settee's.  We removed the Atkins & Hoyle hatch that was leaking around the glass and sent it back to the manufacturer for rebuilding.  (I would recommend this to anyone that has Atkins and Hoyle hatches.  They are still in business and family owned.  A complete rebuild with new glass, gasket and overall tune up was 1/2 the price of a new hatch and matches all the others on the boat).  We build new Teak walls behind the Settee's as well as along the coachroof.  We painted all of the inner settee storage with a nice new coat of white paint.

Insulated the entire ceiling with 3/4" insulation and installed the Pine Slat ceiling like in the rest of the boat.  This went on the ceiling, including the angled section that goes on to the Galley.  We installed the new duct work and new register boots in the Salon in preparation for the new Reverse Cycle A/C Heating unit that we will install.  

The salon was wired first for LED accent lighting, fans, reading lights as well as surround sound speaker wires.  I know that I won't likely remember the locations of each of the wires so made a quick video to outline where they are run.

One of the challenges we had was that when we made the new counter tops, we had a need to get creative on how we wanted to protect and decorate the raw edge of it.  We wanted to install a fiddle rail, much like what is in the galley.  The down side is that I couldn't find any place where I could buy fiddle or bunk rail that was over 5' long and I didn't want to have a joint in the middle of the counter.  So, like we have found ourselves doing many times in the past, we had to figure out another way.  We purchased raw teak wood at 1/2" thickness.  After ripping it to 2 and a half inches wide, we routed a groove in the bottom, used a round-over bit to ensure that the top of the rail is round.  I think they look pretty good and will be installed shortly.  We ended up making 2 8 foot lengths of this fiddle rail and another 5 8 foot lengths of thin trim molding to go around the cabinet facing that we are building for the salon.

LED Multi-Use Lighting for the Owners Stateroom

We have been considering putting accent lighting in the Owners Stateroom since we completed the refit there last year.  I ended up purchasing some LED light strips that were single color and waterproof at a local electronic component store to install in the boats breaker box.  I never did install them but it started the expansion of our ideas for the stateroom.

LED lighting is available at West Marine but it is very expensive and not as versatile as what you can order online.  I reviewed the specs for the LED strips from West, and the ones I can find on Amazon seemed to be fairly similar in that they were the bright LED style strips and waterproof, but the ones from Amazon were also able to be cut to any length and could be set to change colors if desired.

Link to Amazon RGB LED Lights

Thin Cedar Strips mounted

We chose Cedar as the mounting surface for the pleasant smell, resistance to moisture and lastly it was an inexpensive but good way to accomplish the task.  I bought a single 8 foot cedar fence picket and 3 8 foot lengths of scalloped moulding to put the LED's behind.  We got these from home depot.

We cut thin strips of the cedar wood and drilled thin pilot holes through it every 18 inches or so.  We then drilled a small countersink hole at each one so that when mounted to the walls, the screws would be flush.

These particular LED lights came with a 120V AC to 12V DC adapter included in the kit which allowed me to toss that and wire these directly into the boat's 12v DC system.  When we did the refit in the stateroom, we planned to add lights later so already had wiring into each of the 4 corners of the room.

LED's mounted to cedar strips

When installing these lights, we installed the small electronic component, and Infra Red Remote receiver into the corner of the stateroom (where later we will install a small shelving unit with power in it to charge cell phones and Ipad's and store eyeglasses when sleeping).

Once the wiring was connected to the connector for the LED's we mounted the LED strips to the cedar strips facing down.  These particular LED's come with a 3M adhesive backing but I don't suspect that will hold up in the varied temperatures on the boat.  We are adding some epoxy glue to the back side as well to ensure they stay put.

The scalloped molding was also cut to the proper length, had pilot holes drilled, as well as counter sinks allowing us to install and fill the screw holes with bungs after the fact.    Every time in the past we had installed anything that was wood on the boat, we have used a good hardwood (either Teak or Mahogany) but in this case we chose to use a simple pine molding and stain it to the color we wanted.

All my wiring tools
(meter, shrink wrap, marine crimps), etc

After staining the pieces, we applied multiple coats of varnish like the rest of our interior projects.  Once dry we installed these pieces of molding to the cedar strips with the top of the molding flush with the top of the cedar strip so that it creates a void aiming downward for the lights to shine down without being able to see them directly.

We are happy with the way the LED's have turned out and will also be doing something similar in the Salon as we wrap up that part of the refit as well.   The good news is that the entire strip of LED's in the stateroom (about 16 feet of them) still draws minimal amps and are better than the 2 double filament fixtures that were back there before we started the refit.  It is a pleasant surprise to turn on all of the boats LED lighting throughout and watching the DC Ammeter barely move.

Below is a short video we did showing what the lights look like in operation.  We filmed them with the lights changing colors but I don't see us using it that way, I suspect that we will just have a single color when they are on.

Rigging upgrades

As Deb and I got mid way through our Salon refit we noticed that the chain plates were leaking.  The research we did speaking to other Gulfstar owners as well as others that had boats of this vintage was that the chain plates likely need to be replaced.  If we were going to be trying to repair the leaks by rebedding them, we may as well have them replaced when we do.

I was a bit suprised at the cost for Chain plates to be made, but it is not like you can just call up your local store and order them, so you end up having a fabricator make you new ones using the old ones as patterns.

With all the travel I have been doing, Deb stayed here and worked with the Rigger to have these replaced.    He started by removing the port side lower shrouds and unbolting the chainplates from the hull.  Over time they had been sealed, caulked and who knows what else had been done in the last 30 years to try to keep water from running down the stainless steel chain plates and into the boat.  To get them out, he would connect the halyard to them and then use the winch to apply some upward pressure.  Here you can see the port side coming out.  Remember they go through the toe rail (about 3 and half inches of wood), then through the hull to deck joint which is a layer of the hull sides that is folded over and also a flange on the deck of similar thickness.  On our Gulfstar the hull is solid fiberglass lay-up and when we measured where the bolts went through it was 15/16" thick.  Just a tad shy of an inch.  

As of this posting, there are 3 of the 6 replaced, Monday he is coming back to install the 4th and removing the final 2 that are holding the upper mast supports.  He will take them to the fabricator and I expect we will have them back Tuesday or Wednesday.

As he has been removing them, Deb has been epoxying any small hairline cracks in the toe rail.  In one case the toe rail was split about 1-2 inches on both the fore and aft side of the chain plate opening.  I was so impressed with her first epoxy job.  She mixed it up, injected it down into the crack with a syringe and then clamped the toe rail tight.

After a good rain, we noticed that they were still leaking a bit (horrible disappointment after spending all of that money).  When we asked the rigger about it, he suggested we try pouring water on the deck to see if they are leaking from where the chain plate comes up through the toe rail or if water is seeping under the toe rail and then finding an exit in the chainplate hole.  Well based on our test we think it was the later and had nothing to do with the quality of work by the rigger.

So back to the boat today with heat gun in hand.  We cleaned all of the silicone that was there from a previous attempt to stop the leak, and ensured it was all gone.  We then mixed epoxy in a small syringe and injected it in the tiny crack between the toe rail and deck.  It was kind of like calking with a tip the size of a needle.  It seemed like it was working very well as it was being laid down and even seeped a little more generously into the areas that had a noticeably bigger gap.

Our Mast Head
(Anemometer, anchor light, vhf antenna and windex)

Since the rigger was going to be here, we opted to take care of several other things that were on our list to get done.  So the list is.

• Rear Backstay replaced (had a small crimp in 1 of the 19 strands of stainless steel)
• New VHF antenna mounted on mast head (not sure what happened to the old one, I noticed a couple of months ago that just the base was there, the antenna itself was gone)
• New Deck light bulb installed (heck if he was going to be up there, lets get it all done)
• Had him add an additional block at the top of the mast for a 3rd halyard (it will be nice to have a backup halyard in the event of a failure, rigging issues or even a backup line for a bosuns chair.)
• Deb was cool and surprised me with new Halyards for the Main and Jib while he was here.  The old ones were losing their "flexibility"
• 2 new flag halyards on each spreader for proper quarantine flag flyings, burgees, etc.
• Lastly a complete rigging inspection (all looked good)

New Main Halyard (New England Spectra Line)

It has certainly been a productive week and will be a productive next month or so.  We will be going back in with all of the salon rebuild as soon as the chainplates are back in and the hatch is installed.  (We have to know all the leaks are taken care of before we put the wooden walls back in place).  We have also got smart about ensuring that we are building access panels to all of these as well through cabinets, walls, etc.

In the last week we have also been getting everything lined up to finalize the salon and galley refit.    We have placed our order for a new 16K BTU reverse cycle air conditioner and heater for the salon.  This in addition to the 12K BTU unit for the rear stateroom should be more than enough for our warm days when living aboard.  The great news is that as long as we don't sail in sub 40 degree water, we can use the same units to heat the boat.   It was out of stock so hoping we have it in the next few weeks.

She looks small from 50 feet up
(You can see our welcome aboard matt on the dock)

The hatch that was leaking was sent back to the manufacturer (nice to see they are still family owned and in business) and being rebuilt and having new glass installed.  Our Gulfstar has all heavy duty Atkins & Hoyle opening/reversing hatches and I spoke to Brian Atkins about doing the work.  It is currently curing and will be coming back next week.

We are also really excited about our new refrigerator/freezer unit.  When we were at a boat show last year we looked at, and really liked, the Cool Blue 12v low draw units with large holding plates.  It was pricy and our unit worked so we just made a mental note and loved the idea of only drawing 24 amps of power in a day.  When I dripped water into our cold machine circuit board, she decided not to run again.  Instead of fixing it (which would have been about 20% of the cost of new unit) we decided to just go ahead and get the best unit for living aboard.    When installed it will give us a complete freezer compartment and a separate refrigerator.  It comes with a 13" X 21" holding plate that is 2 1/2" thick.  The holding plate allows the unit to cool the fluid in that stainless still plate and hold that cold temperature much longer reducing the number of times the compressor has to cycle on and off.  We will end up modifying the opening to our top opening unit to allow better access to the side that we will make the freezer but more on that project when we install it.

Below are a few pictures from atop the mast.  I just through the view was cool so figured I would post them here on the blog as well.

Atop the mast facing North
Watergate Marina starts at the boat house

Atop the mast facing South
Legend Point Marina/Condos in view

NOT what you want to find in the middle of the job

The work on the Salon continues and we have removed the rest of all cabinetry.  2 opening ports have been removed as has one of the hatches in the roof that was leaking.

Removing the hatch took several hours to break the aluminum frame from the rise as well as breaking the riser loose from the actual deck.  Both had to be removed to inspect the core where the leak was.  We do have softened core in a small section along the opening, it is being removed and filled with a thickened epoxy.

The deck around the openings have all been cleaned and all silicone and adhesive removed.  Acetone worked well along with some 3M pads and razor blades for removing the material.

All of that was going according to plan, what was not going according to plan was noticing down below that water was slowly coming in along the forward port chainplate.  (The Chainplates are what attach to the hull and then the Standing Rigging, the wire that holds up the mast, is attached to).

After further inspection, I can see that at some point in time, this chain plate had some type of service done to it.  The wooden toe rail that the chainplate goes through, has been cut and then patched back in.  (Below in the image, the blue arrows point to the spot where the toe rail had been cut to gain access to the chainplate.  The red arrows point to the spot that the water is getting into.  I noticed when pouring just a couple of ounces of water on the deck in front of that patched part of the toe rail, some of it is running in.)   I could likely just run a bead of silicone along the joint between the toe rail and the deck, but I suspect that if this has been leaking for a while, I really want to see what is going on in there where that patch is.  This is one of the benefits of having the boat down to bear hull.  I would have never seen this otherwise and in the end, it is not a lot of water coming in, but a little bit every day would cause serious damage.  Now I know why I am having to replace the wooden countertop in the Salon, I suspected a leaking port, but I don't think that is the bigger problem here.

The strange thing is that it was not raining, this leak became evident just from the dew that was on the deck and starting to pool along the edge of the patched part of the toe rail.  Needless to say, I will be removing the patch and inspecting this closer.  This is a delay I certainly did not anticipate.

I am starting to see why I have heard that when starting a boat project, estimate the time line and the cost accurately and realistically, then double the cost and triple the time and you will be about right for the job.  That has certainly proven to be the case in most of our ventures so far.  :)  Ahhh boat ownership.    I joke, but really wouldn't trade it for the world.

The Salon Remodel begins

This is an old post from September of 2012, I just noticed that it remained in draft mode and was not published according to it's schedule

Now that we have wrapped up the Navigation Station, Galley and Walkthrough, we had friends in town and did some nice sailing, now it is back to the next bit of work on the boat.

So yesterday it started, cushions removed, everything removed from the storage below the settee, cupboards emptied and the demolition begins.

Salon - Port Side - Before

In the "Before" picture you can see both Red and Blue arrows.  The blue arrows point to places where we have noticed water coming in when it rains hard.  The odd thing about a boat is where you see it dripping from is typically nowhere near where it is actually leaking.  In this case most of the dripping was coming out of the florescent light fixture mounted on the ceiling behind the settee.  

The leak actually appears to be coming from 2 places.  One is from a poorly bedded opening hatch about 6 feet from that location.  The other culprit appears to be the opening port just above the light itself.  

The red arrows point to all of the areas where the wood will need to be replaced.  This falls into 2 categories.  The peeling veneer on the back wall is rather easy, typically it is just a thin 1/8" thick piece of veneered plywood as a decorative piece.  The flat top of that counter behind the cushion is a little bit more complex and is 3/4 inch teak veneered plywood and helps to provide structure and strength to the boat by locking the galley and Vbert bulkheads together.  

That is the countertop that the cupboards are mounted to, it is also the top of the storage area behind the seat back and houses the air conditioning vents for the Salon area.  

Salon - Port Side - Wood removed

We removed the cupboards, removed the decorative veneer wall from behind it.  Removed the face of the storage area (Also the back of the salon seats) and then removed the horizontal piece that was rotting. 

As we typically do, we have taken these wooden pieces to our storage unit where we will sand the moulding and all of the good pieces of wood down to fresh wood with 220 grit sandpaper.  For the pieces that are rotted, we will use the old ones as patterns and make new ones.  

The big decision now is if we will put it back the way it was, or try to improve upon the storage that the boat has, and we will likely need when living aboard.  I think we will be doing the later and likely will make new cabinets that are deeper than the previous ones.  We will also work to create dividers and doors across the entire countertop so that we have storage all the way across.  By doing these 2 things, we should more than triple the amount of storage that was above the counter on the Port side of the boat.

The hole in the bottom of the seat is the access panel to the 16,500 BTU air conditioning unit that will be installed as soon as the leaking ports have been repaired.  

The realization hit both of us today, it is amazing that in just 2 day of working  (about 7 hours total) we have gutted this section of the boat again down to bare hull and fibreglass in areas.   It will take us 3 months to build all the new stuff and install it again.  And as we all know Murphy's law (I am convinced he was a sailor) kicked in and it started to rain today and will for the next 3 days when I really need to remove and rebed 2 opening ports and 2 opening hatches in the roof.

We did a small video showing what it looks like in more detail now that we have removed the old "stuff"

Sailing Galveston Bay in a Thunder Storm

This Labor Day weekend some of our friends came down to visit and we decided to celebrate the progress made on our refit work down below with a nice sail out on Galveston Bay.  We picked up some sandwiches from Subway and packed some drinks.  (The boat still doesn't have our galley stocked from all the work we were doing just before this trip)

We left the dock in Clear Lake TX and headed east out into Galveston Bay.  The wind was 12-18 knots or so and we had a really nice sail under full main and reefed head sail.  We were nicely making 5-7 knots or so and the sun was shining and it was great visiting and hanging with friends.  As we reached about 4 miles out into Galveston Bay and approached the Houston Shipping Channel, we could see the storm building pretty good to the west behind us.

Checking the radar showed that the storm approaching wasn't that bad, but there was another building that had stronger cells and lightning so we decided to turn back and head back toward it and toward our home port.

As we approached the start of the Channel Markers near Kemah, I saw a power boat trucking out toward the bay at a pretty good clip.  Deciding that I would prefer to ride it out just outside the channel where it was still deep enough was a pretty easy decision.  We just circled a quarter mile area or so watching for other boats that may be doing the same thing.  I did see another sail boat also hunkered down doing the same thing not too far away.

As the rain let up, and visibility started to improve we were able to easily see the channel and head on back.

In the end, we had a great sail.  Everyone got wet, but we were able to confirm that nobody melted.  The return to the slip and subsequent backing into our slip was near perfection if I do say so myself.

The best part of all of this is that one of our friends was taking video's on her iPhone to send to her daughter.  I used those clips to put together this quick summary of the day.

Now, for Deb and I, it is going to be back to tearing up the Salon as that is the next portion of the boat to be refit.