The Re-assembly Begins

Today was a good productive day for the re-assembly of the owners stateroom.  We made a lot of trips between the storage unit (where we have our wood working tools and room to spread out and work).  We had someone come by and give us a quote on replacing the headliner.  I was a bit surprised at the cost.  The guys were great and do really good work, however for just the owners stateroom (about 5 yards of material) was going to be$1200-$1400.  We really wanted to do a wooden ceiling and thought that would be a problem because it wouldn't breathe, but these guys confirmed that is not an issue if we want to use hard board or wood.  We were going to put "Bead Board" on the ceiling but we really struggled to get each panel so that the slat lines line up, it didn't look good, so we scrapped that idea  We will end up still doing wood, but likely going to do knotty pine varnished 4" wide planks instead.  We can do a tongue and groove on each one to help hold them together and if we start in the middle, we are hoping that it will look better since we can get the planks to run the full length in single sheets with trim to hide the fastening screws that will hold it up against the ceiling beams.

Curved wall on Port Side of bunk

Today we really got quite a bit complete.

• Ran wire for 2 wall lights and 2 reading lights

• Installed port and starboard curved hull walls from the bunk to the deck

• Installed the rear curved wooden wall around the 2 fixed ports

• Installed the port coach roof panel along the opening port

Curved wall around the 2 fixed ports

• Installed the starboard coach room panel along the 2 opening ports

• Installed / replaced some rotted plywood

• Installed the bead board above the bunks

• Installed 1/2" insulation across the whole ceiling 

Adding Insulation to the roof before re-assembly

We still have to dry fit the ceiling planks, and we are deciding if we will remove them and varnish them out of the boat or attempt to varnish overhead on the ceiling.  We will install all of the teak trim everywhere except the ceiling trim until the planks are all mounted so that the trim covers up any small gaps between the bulkheads and the ends of the ceiling planks.  After that is complete, we will install the rest of the ceiling trim, install bungs and sand them all smooth.  Then it is Varnish, Varnish, Varnish.  We always think we will do 10-12 coats and usually quit after about 6 because we are satisfied with the look.
After all the varnish is complete, we will re-install the refurbished/cleaned/polished Beckson opening ports, but are waiting so we don't have to tape around them when varnishing.

Owners Stateroom Refit update

The work that started as a simple replacement of a few flooring panels continues to grow.  It is not turning out to be too very hard to do this work so it just makes sense to get it all done while we are taking teak trim and bungs out to access parts of the boat where we will be replacing panels.
In the last couple weeks we started with removing a small bulkhead wall that forms the front of the owners bunk and vanity seat (it had a little rot at the bottom).  We were also replacing the plywood panels that go up the slight curve of the hull on the outside of the Teak and Holly sole.

We knew we wanted to refinish the wood and stain and varnish it to a high gloss for the look that we both really like.  We removed all the drawers and doors in the owners stateroom and took them to our storage shed to do the sanding, staining and varnish.  Turns out 6 coats of varnish really gave them a very good looking finish and we will stick to that number of coats for our interior woodwork.

Curved wall panels removed

Before reinstalling them we decided to bite the bullet and get it all done at one time.  We removed all of the bungs in the teak trim, removed and labeled all trim (including storing screws and small diagrams of where they came from in separate baggies to stay organized.  We removed the 3 opening ports in the owners stateroom.  (See the "The Projects" tab for video on restoring visibility to your port lenses).  We removed the curved mahogany plywood that went up the curve of the hull from the bunk to the deck.  We removed the side wood panels from the deck to the top of the cabin roof.  may be replacing the headliner as well (at least the lower headliner over the sides of the bunks.

Cabin top port panels removed

 
We measured and drew out all replacement parts, but more importantly tried our best to retain some of the original shape of the panels to use as patterns for the new ones to be cut.  These are unique shapes given the curves involved.  3 of the pieces have serious curves in the wood to give it a rounded shape to either align with the hull or the rear part of the coach roof.

Port Curved Wall panel dry fit

The panels were cut, and brought back to the boat to be dry fit.   There were several minor adjustment cuts to be made after the dry fit, and the once the port light panels were in place, we were able to trace through the port openings from the outside of the boat to be sure the holes lined up.  Most of the pieces are now stained and we will varnish everything in place given the need to install teak bungs and sand them flush with all the trim.

Dry Fit panel with ports tested for fit before staining

While everything is out, we have planned where we will install replacement lighting.  The ones that are on the boat are the old late 70's square lights and there is no way I want to put those back up on the walls after we spend the time to upgrade all the wood and finish back there.  Right now we are thinking of accent lighting, 2 small lights for the cabin (brass with shades) and potentially 2 goose neck reading lamps over the bunk.

It has been a fun project and is not over.  This weekend I really felt like we made serious progress.  All new wooden pieces have been cut, adjusted, dry fit and are ready for staining and installation.  We still have to sand down all of the teak trim pieces but that will be something I can take back to the garage to do once the stain work is done and brought back to the boat.

Before we can complete the work, we will run some wiring and pain the hull with white bilge paint while we have easy access through all of the bunk hatches.  While down there I visually inspected the steering cables, the auto pilot hydralics and the new steering quadrant.  Everything looks good back there. 

Starting to replace some wood panels

It is still hot out (and in the boat) but I want to get something started with replacing some of the wood.  I figured I would start with 2 spots out of the way a bit and go for the angled flooring pieces that go between the sole and the bulkhead under the owners bunk.
I noticed that to get the panel out I had to remove the decorative Teak transition from the sole to the panel as well a the small bulkhead wall that forms the front base of the seat in the stateroom.  It was a bit rotted on the bottom so I will replace that as well as the flooring panel.

I scraped some of the rotten floor panel into a pile behind the sole. 

They are removed, I will rough make new ones and dry fit them and then clean, sanitize and paint the bilge behind the bulkhead wall before putting the floor panel back in. 

Look at the oxidized coins I found under the teak flooring trip !

It feels good to start something and in order to track what I am doing I found a pretty cool Yacht Maintenance software package that lets you track the parts, cost and projects/maintenance done to the vessel.  Check out Yacht Management by OSO Software.  It does a lot more than what I posted here but you can get a free trial from their webiste that gives you 44 days of full usage and the cost of it is only about $50 if you like your trial.
I have now loaded it on the boat and also use it for keeping inventory of my spare parts, as well as locations of all supplies, tools, equiptment, etc.  For anyone that has been franticly looking for that "thing" whatever that thing is, this lets you name every storage location on your boat and document each item you have and where it is located.  It already saved me some time the other day when looking for heat shrink that I keep in a small baggy.  I was able to just pull up heat shrink in my inventory and see that I have it in the starboard settee back aft compartment.  Wire wrapped and sealed in about 10 minutes instead of taking an extra 20 minutes to find what I was looking for.

In the home stretch

We made a lot of mileage today and stayed at the Stingaree Marina in Crystal Beach TX.  We were able to slide in at low tide skimming the bottom to get into the slip.  We got electricity and filled up all water tanks which was nice.  Best of all was a restaurant and bar right on property. 
We had a nice dinner and went to sleep at a decent hour.  I feel asleep before Deb and she was dozing when she heard voices.  When she peeked out, there were a few people standing next to the boat on the finger peer checking it out after the bar closed.


We realized we didn't have a long trip the next day so we slept late (7am) and were out by 7:30am.  We passed one of the coolest Tugs we had seen on the whole trip.

OLD GLORY - Liked the logos and name of this one

We were in Galveston in just a few hours and then up the very busy Houston Ship Channel.  We encountered the largest ships we had on the whole trip here where the ships come out of Houston and down the Houston Ship Channel out to the Gulf of Mexico.  One cool thing is that the dolphins love to jump in the bow wake as they push all this water along.

Dolphin in Bow wake of a ship

Dolphin in Bow wake of a ship

We tried to stay just to the outside of the ship channel and decided to take a pit stop at RedFish island to check it out.  This will be one of our more common anchor out locations for a nice overnight or 3 day stay.  It is only a few hours away from our home port.

A couple of boats anchored at Red Fish island which has been rebuilt after being blown away in a hurricane

We sailed a bit, but there was very little wind to do so.  We always see the "BoardWalk Beast" which is a custom built speed boat that seats about 50 people.  It hauls but around the bay and gets everyone soaking wet.  It is always a bit of a cool site when she is pounding into the waves and those teeth are painted on the hull to look like a "bone in her teeth".

Bone in her Teeth - Boardwalk Beast

We motored past Kemah Boardwalk and into Clear Lake.  We skimmed along Watergate Marina realizing that it was recently dredged and pulled into our isle at Legend Point Marina.  We decided to back in to the slip and while we didn't do it quickly, we again made it look like we knew what we were doing with our new vessel (always a good feeling at the helm when people come up to the edge of the dock to help but then realize there is not much that they need to do).

We tied up and then enjoyed a long, long, long shower at home.

The trip is over, it was quite a bit of fun, and filled with adventure.  We really enjoyed it and are also glad it is over.  In retrospect we tried to compare this to our dream of cruising, and the one thing that was not like what we expect crusing to be is that we would get to enjoy a spot for some time.  We spent some time in some really cool anchorages and locations, and I would have really liked to stay in them for a few days or a week or so.  But that was not our goal on this trip, it was all about ensuring 50 miles per day to get home on time.

Our boat did well, in the end, we had an electrical issue and have some sail repairs to make, but I have been pretty impressed with our 35 year old engine that ran 12-14 hours per day for 13 days straight.  I was afraid to say that at any point during the trip but with the boat safely tied in the slip, I will verbalize how thrilled I am at that fact.
I also have a slight diesel leak to repair, and I think it is coming from the secondary 2 micron fuel filter but just didn't want to dig into that project yet.

Since returning, I have cleaned the bilge and I must say it was a disgusting brew down there.  I found 4 screwdrivers, 2 metal scrapers, an old bronze thru-hull fitting, a bunch of electrical tape and about 20 cut tie wraps.  It is cleaner, but not clean yet.  As soon as I can dig out all that old sludge crap, I will be painting the bilge with a new coat of white paint, but I figure I won't waste the time doing that until the bilge and engine is cleaned.  Sadly, this ole' Perkins leaks oil so I have to get a bit more creative than just a bilge sock down there, so I may make a removable tray that fits under the engine with wire wrapped oil absorbant pad, so the water in the bottom of the bilge is just water.

Way up there

This morning we traveled to Sabin channel this has been one of the deepest ones so far.   We passed through the Port Arthur lot of ship work going on watched a couple of guys climb around a large crane type barge doing some repair work.   

As we went under the bridge that was also have some construction done on it as well.    

Pleasure cove was the next area we came to this is the spot for the RV’ers they have a camp ground that was packed full.  It also has a large Coast guard pressense, we passed 3 boats coming in and parking lot full of boats on trailers.  Time to remove the magazines.

 After going under the Port Arthur Bridge we entered into the 62 mile run through both marsh and pastureland with oil pumps on both sides.  It has been reported that you can see alligators swimming or basking on the shores we did not see any.  They have gator holes and crawls set into the shore and banks.  We passed through Taylor Bayou outfall canal one of the anchorage’s we talked about staying at we have made such good time we reached here earlier morning.  When we came to the East bay canal it was very swallow and narrow, we had to wait behind a barge to let Eastbound empty barges go through.  The current and winds were blowing them around the captain said it was like a large sailboat.  The Sylvia barge which we had been following for many hours called and ahead to a couple barges coming eastbound that he was waiting on to see if it was safe for us to pass.  He told us to go ahead of him; the other barges said it was good to go.  This saved us hours of waiting.  The current was ok we were able to get through it.  There is dredging operations going on throughout this canal.   We arrived at Stingaree Marina at 7:30 got tied up filled the water and got settled for the night, there is a restaurant right at the marina so we went in and grabbed dinner.  Around 8:45 the Sylvia barge finally passed by.  I am so glad he let us go ahead of him!!  We headed back to the boat Gil charted our course for tomorrow looks like we are only about 32 miles from home!!  

Texas Baby!!!

We just crossed into the great state of Texas!!!

Early Sunrise

Woke up this morning at 4:30 to the smell of fire they were welding on one of the large platforms by the ship yard.  At 5:20 we started to untie, a couple was just coming up to set up to fish we talked with them for a few mins while getting things ready to go.  They ask if we had met the “pet” yet, they have a 12 gator that hangs out at the pier and can be seen most days by the fishing cleaning area.  We headed to the lift bridge passing a lot of traffic both small fishing boats as well as large barges.  There were many barges that had run around to spend the night so it was hard to tell with all the light which barge was moving.   I was on bow duty with the spot light until the sun came up just after the lift bridge.  We are pretty sure this is the last bridge we will need open to get home, Texas has all 73 foot bridges.  We ran down a 20 mile stretch of a long narrow waterway dead into the wind.    This is the path that leads out of Louisiana and into Texas we can almost smell the lone star.