and another

sunset today

counter top is nearing completion

Just used contact cement to glue the laminate to the plywood underneath.  We used dowel rods to keep the pieces separated while we positioned them which worked out alright.  Off to get pizza and a few parts to finish this project up.

shade!

After a week of dying in the heat, we made this shade awning.  It cost us 27 dollars in supplies and took Amanda two hours to sew.  We're hoping it will help keep the boat cooler inside during the day.

state of the interior a month ago

I was out of town on business for most of July, and after two extremely busy weeks of working on the boat after I returned, we moved on exactly one week ago.  We're still finishing up a fee projects and have some more planned but it's working out well so far.  Here's a short video from right before I left on business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOaBKpTlTqY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

some motoring pictures

Here are three pictures from our first two outings (both motoring).  We hope to have a calm day soon where we can attempt sailing.

a weekend of (many) failed projects

Well I had the weekend to myself, Amanda was out of town, and I thought I might be able to get a lot done to surprise her with.  The boat had other plans.

I've been trying to clean the foam backing and glue residue from where I ripped out the old headliner in the v berth.  Here is a cool panoramic I took to explain what I mean, the headliner was removed from the walls.

I've tried all sorts of methods to remove it, none are working well.  The original plan was to clean the fiberglass and paint it instead of using more headliner to avoid the nasty mold mess that was on the vinyl I ripped out.  I tried a paint scraper at first which did next to nothing.  Then I got a wire brush which did a little bit of good.  After the wire brush I tried acetone which also did some good but left the fiberglass looking "white" - some kind of chemical burn I think.  Then I tried a circular wire brush in a drill.  The drill was battery powered and the battery died very quickly.  I also tried the handle of the wire brush which was a one inch wide plastic scraper which did better than the metal scraper but still left a lot to be desired.  Finally I went back to Lowe's and got a new drill (with a wire - no batteries) and a different type of brush to use with it.  That worked the best but left me itchy all over...  This took many, many hours and left me basically where I started.  Here's a picture of the mess I'm dealing with close up and my 'workshop.'

I switched gears at some point and tried started on the galley.  I told Amanda I'm approaching this like all the Survivorman type shows where we need food, water, and shelter.  At this point the water is fine (although I haven't tasted it yet) but the v berth and galley need work

So anyways, I figured I'd remove everything from the galley so that I have a clean counter to work with.  The stove came out just fine.  Then I tried to remove the cabinet which appeared to only ahve two screws holding it in.  After some effort, I got the screws out but the cabinet wouldn't budge.  After more hours with a chisel and hammer going around every edge over and over I was able to wiggle it.  I gave up and went home for the night.  The next morning didn't fare any better and I admitted defeat for the first time and decided to leave it in.  I'm pretty sure it's being held by a combination of the fiberglass above pushing down extremely hard and small lips of old stain/paint/caulk around all the edges.  

galley

the stove (with the top hinged open)

sans stove

some of the mess I made chiseling

an example of the headliner edges curling and moldy

It also rained once while I was on the boat this weekend and I was able to look for leaks.  We've been pretty fortunate so far in that it's a very dry boat.  The only leaks we can find are the cleats that the previous owner installed (they are a collapsible type and they appear to leak through the tubes the cleat collapses into) and one of the lifeline stanchions.  I'm waiting on a new vent to install over the v berth and I figure I'll re-bed the stanchion when I install that.

About the only thing that went well this weekend was just enjoying sitting on the boat - it's very relaxing and has an awesome view.