Continuing to complete the little tasks...

It seems that the major tasks that needed to be done before moving onto the boat are done.  There are a lot of little ones and today was one of those days filled with little tasks.  Deb was taking care of some final prep on storage areas before putting pots, pans, food, and storage bins in all of the little hidey holes that will become our the equivalent to a house "pantry"
Here is some video of Deb doing the work on this task.  She actually does a LOT of the work on the boat and helps with most projects but sadly she is usually the one filming so you rarely see her 'doing' the work.

In addition to this today, we were also able to get a third coat of varnish on all of the new teak cabinets
in the Salon.  In the picture to the right, you can see that we still have all of the cushions out of the salon so we don't get any varnish on them.

Salon starting to come together

With those missing, it seems so disheveled.  Today, I was also doing some work under the companion way steps, so you see those leaned up against the mast in this photo.  The cabinet doors are all inside getting varnished as well and I am hoping by early next week they will all be installed.

Things Deb completed today.

• Loaded pots and pans for the boat
• Organized several air tight containers (Lock & Lock are the brand we really like) in the pantry behind the stove. 
• Started to put some condiments into the refrigerator (Ketchup, mayo, salad dressings, etc)
• Finished organizing all of the screws from our projects (which we had in about 40 small plastic cups)  She sorted and tossed any flat head screws, and kept all bronze and stainless screws.  We threw away all zinc ones due to the possibility of corroding on the boat in the salt air.  

Things I was able to complete today.

• Installed House Battery (Big ass 8D battery) into the new battery box with tie downs in the engine room (With a stroke of genius, I was able to use the companion way stairs and a couple of dowels to roll the battery from the walkthrough up onto the new shelves in the engine room without having to lift the 75lb battery while contorting my body in the engine room)
• Rerouted the large battery cables for the starting battery, house battery and both charging banks
• Cleaned and services both batteries
• Installed molding under rear stateroom door frame and around shower
• Put engine room door back on as well as forward engine access panel that has been out for months
• Another coat of varnish on the cabinet doors (insides this time)

90% complete on the Owners Stateroom

Work has continued on the Owners Stateroom, and we are thrilled with the way that the ceiling planks are starting to look.  We started with a plank running up the center of the boat on the ceiling and then started to fit each plank from the center to the outer edge.  Because of the angles, it was necesaarry to install the rear ceiling trim to hold the planks in place and screw them to the ceiling joists (fancy way of describing the small wooden cross beams attached to the fiberglass).

Once we made it to the corner (in the picture above and right) it was required that every piece be cut with an angle and then fit into the tongue and groove.  A few mistakes were made when I would cut them at the wrong angle.

Once the ceiling was in place, the trim was all screwed back into place. When we disasembled the stateroom, we drew diagrams and traced the screws and then stored the legend and screws in a zip log bag so when we were assembling, we could ensure the right screws went back in the correct location (didn't want any to go all the way through and poke through the cabin top.)

After the trim was all in place and secured, the bungs were installed.  I have a cheap set of bung cutters (under $10) that I picked up from Harbor Freight and using an old scrap of teak trim, I cut 160 or so plugs/bungs.  After removing all of those bungs, we found that the best way to assemble is to NOT glue them in place but rather hold them in place with varnish so that if they ever have to be removed again, a drill bit run into the center of the plug will break the varnish free and it will pop right out.   

After a 24 hours drying period the bungs can be popped one time gently with a sharpened chisel and then sanded flat and flush with the trim.    We were in the home stretch at this point so we cleaned up the mess we had made in the stateroom and vacuumed and cleaned up all of the saw dust.  We used tack clothes to wipe everything down really good so that it was ready for a first coat of varnish.  You can see in the picture to the right just what a difference that first coat of varnish makes on what looks like a rather bland wall or piece of teak trim.  This was the excitement shot we needed because at this point we wanted to see some victories after all this work.  Seeing that shine was it.

With 3 coats of Varnish on now, it is really staring to come together.  Here are some photos in it's current state.

We couldn't be happier with the knotty pine ceiling planks.  I hope they do last and don't cause an issue over time.  We were able to install the solar vent through them and there is enough gaps in a couple of small locations to allow a little bit of air flow in there as well.


The next Blog update that we post will be photos that have the new bulkhead for the vanity seat installed and the bedding back in place.  We do still need to install lighting and have held off right now because we just haven't found the ones that we both decided are the ones we really like.

Knotty Pine Ceiling