Lets all do the Organization Shuffle ...

Even after paring down a lot of our belongings that we had in our apartment and separating into "things to take to the boat" and the "get rid of" piles, we still had a LOT of things we were thinking we would be taking to the boat.  We started to get nervous, but each load we took to the boat found a home and we were starting to feel pretty good about the amount of storage the boat really has.  We still have behind the settee's we can fill up, but I still have a slight leak where the Chain Plate comes trough the deck.  It is never a lot of water and if I put a wash cloth there, it tends to dry before the next bit comes on board, but if we were taking green water over the deck for days at a time, it would e an issue.  So…  I need to mix up some epoxy with a bit of filler and will fillet it along that seam.  The moral of that story is that I think we still have another bunch of storage area that we will be able to use there as well when I fix that leak.

We certainly want to be comfortable where we sleep and installed a memory foam mattress (12" thick) in the owners stateroom.  It is almost too thick.  I have raised up and bumped my head before on the ceiling under the aft deck :)

Given this is an older boat (1978), it was before all the manufacturers started looking at putting center line queen berths in the boat.  So this one is the traditional U shape, wider forward than aft with a removable section to convert it all to bed.  We decided to set this up so it will be our permanent bunk and wanted it comfortable.  The problem was that the bunk fore to aft is about 4" inches shorter than a king sized bed.  At the aft end of the bed, it is about 8" narrower than a king sized bed, and at the forward section, where our feet would go, it is actually about 9" wider than a king sized mattress.  Knowing that we could sleep comfortably with something narrower than the king, we cut our memory foam mattress (all 4 layers of it) to fit tightly in the aft end of the bed (where our heads go) and then we sleep at an angle with our feet toward the Starboard forward part of the bunk.

This opened up 26 inches of available space on the port forward side of the bunk which in the long run we will likely build storage and drawers for a nice permanent solution for storing clothes, etc.  Before building it, we bought some cheap plastic drawers and a frame to sit in that spot so we can see how well it works for keeping things there.  The 24" of height of the drawers makes it perfect to keep the satellite/cable receiver on and just below where the TV is mounted in the rear stateroom.

You can see from the pictures a bit of the open and available space on one side of the bunk.  Right now, it just drops down off the side of the mattress, but we will get creative on what we build here.   Whatever it is we will have to make sure it still allows access to all of the openings below to access the steering quadrant, steering cable and pulleys and air conditioning duct work.

We also started to bring the clothes we will need on a regular basis.  We gave SO much away, I am still shocked how much we still have.   Really, I gave over 20 shirts, 12 pants, 9 pair of shoes, boots, etc.  It is crazy how much stuff we acquire through our lifetime.  I had 2 pair of cowboy boots that I just don't see being worn and used on the boat…Gone.

We converted the hanging locker in the rear stateroom to a series of shelves to store folded clothes on.  We will still have the hanging locker in the walkthrough and across from the forward head.  I suspect that we will be replacing the rear air conditioner unit that was mounted right in the middle of a hanging locker rendering it completely useless for any storage, so I am fairly certain we will install that somewhere else and will get that locker back as well.

My biggest clothing challenge that I still haven't come up with a great solution for yet, is my suitcase.  I travel for work a lot, and normally at home, I would pack my suitcase the day before a business trip and off I would go.  Even a small carry-on roller bag is pretty big to have on board, so right now I am keeping it in my car and taking my clothes to it in a bag that I then transfer in the car as I leave for my trip.  There may be a better way, but so far, I haven't figured it out .

Lastly, we decided to move the fan in the rear stateroom to a location that may get a bit more circulation.  I tapped into the 12volt power at my light fixture and mounted the fan right near the ceiling aiming at the bed.   One of these days I will write a blog on how you can take a fixture you like from the hardware store designed for 110v household wiring, add a switch and convert it to a DC fixture to run on the boats 12v system.  I have also converted some of these fixtures to LED lights as well to reduce the amperage they use.  The one in the picture below is not LED but is 12v DC.  Being Texans we really like the single star on these lights.

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.

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

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.