Oven, Table, and Shopping

Tuesday, I was able to place the faceframe on the sink and temporary set in the oven just to get a feel.  I then made a mock-up of the table.  The interior took on a whole new feel as to how it might look finished.  So things are slowly progressing.  Today, I took a drove to RVDoctorGeorge and canvassed the place for parts.  I found good hardware for affixing the table to the hull, also, burner pads and other hardware for the oven to gimble it.  I scored big on a propane alarm and solenoid.  One more item was a water pump for the sink.  This one is a 12 volt "on-demand" which is not my first choice as they will end up using the water too fast.  Maybe I can rig some type of timer that makes it automatically shut off after a few seconds.
I invited Dee up into the boat so that she could get a feel of how it will look and also to discuss "finish" ideas.  I was worried about whether she was going to want a bright light finish, or go with the darker teak finish.  I guess the darker teak finish is what she wants.  Some people do not like too much teak down below as they feel it can become "gloomy".  Dee and I are not that way I guess.

Galley Buklheads

Yesterday I couldn't work on the boat like I wanted since I was feeling pretty good.  Dee's Uncle had passed away and yesterday we had a memorial at the cemetary.  Afterwards, I had promised to take Tessa to the carnival that swings into town every year.  She and her friend Nina closed the carnival down at 11:30pm.  I was tired.
Today was Mother's day.  Tessa and I cooked breakfast for Dee.  The plate I set down next to the stove with paper towels to drain the hashbrowns and sausage caught on fire,  my bad!  I had it too close to the stove.
Today, I got the bulkheads in for the Galley.
Tomorrow dialysis, so I don't know how much more I can get done for the day.

More of the Same

Tuesday, I finished bolting in the Bulkheads.  I find I have to do a lot of resourcing in order to figure out how I am going to do things.  Today, I went down to a local R/V shop to see how they have been finishing out the interiors, not that I can do the same on a boat because of the moisture, but still, just to get ideas.
I had an appointment with the retinal specialists today which kind of screwed up productivity for the day.
I bought an old sailboat, a Venture 25 that I am going to strip of all valuable hardware and rigging to put on the 'Isabel'.  Tessa helped me tonight un-bolt the bow/stern pulpits and the stanchions off the Venture 25.  I was worried that the stern pulpit may not fit the Santana, but once I got it sitting up there, it looked fine.  Just a few minor adjustments.  The bow pulpit is going to work fine too, so I am happy. 

Bulkheads, Electrical Panel, Temporary Steps

Yesterday, I finished tearing out the port bulkhead.

Interior without bulkheads

Spending most of the day still tearing the boat apart, I did actually re-install the first items being the pop-up supports.  I had to buy new stainless bolts,  they didn't have the diameter I wanted so I had to size up a notch.
The bolts holding the two halves that sandwich the port bulkhead forming the mast step were practically all gone.  Here is a photo of the bolts I took out compared to one of the new ones I will be putting back in.

Old versus New

I also started pulling out old computer parts from the garage to see what I could salvage in making a nice electrical panel.  I was thinking about adding one of my ham radios, but decided against it as things would probably start looking cluttered. 
Today I trimmed the starboard bulkhead to allow a little more passage room.  I added an arc overhead of the passage way to give it a little more design.  I think boats should have more curves than angles.  I epoxied the edges of the bulkheads and laid some fiberglass along the edged that will be where the chainplate attaches just in case it leaks.
Pulled out a few more computer cases as I develop my electrical panel further.
I read in this months "Crusing World" how I-phones have quite a few applications now for the sailor,  like one app that is an actual chartplotter (using government raster charts) and GPS.  So you can track yourself just like the big chartplotters.   Except for the smaller screen of course.
It is amazing how technology continues to advance.
Well...  off to BBQ some steaks tonight.

Bulkhead

After dialysis today, I climbed into the sailboat to look at the bulkheads.  the past owner had pretty well gutted the inside with the intent of just leaving her pretty open, not replacing the galley, etc.  He mentioned something about the mast post, but I can't remember exactly what it was.  But by all appearance, the bulkheads have to be replaced.  Where the chainstays bolt into the bulkhead on both sides, there is considerable decay.  Tonight I wanted to see how hard it was going to be to tear out the bulkheads as I didn't know how well they would be attached to the hull.  They should be tabbed into the hull and deck about 3 inches with fiberglass tabbing and epoxy.   To my amazement, only two screws held the starboard bulkhead into the liner at the top, and the bulkhead was flimsly stapeled into a cleat at the bottom.  Where the bulkhead did not follow the hull exactly, the space was filled up with resin but was not attached to the wood.   The bulkhead also appeared not have the endgrain sealed with a coat of epoxy like it should have.  Not doing this preventatively, only allowed moisture to soak into the endgrain, ruining the wood.  This was very shoddy manufacturing that looked in all appearence that they had built the boat with the intent to cut as many corners as possible.  So I am ever thankful I am going to be able to rebuild this boat from the ground up!  Tomorrow I will see about the port side. 
On days of dialysis, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I am just not very productive at all...  I just finished my first week of #16 needles and next week I should get scheduled to get the cathetor removed from my neck.  I can't resist saying how much of a "pain-in-the-neck" it is...

Bottom Paint / Electrical Panel

Yesterday I went shopping.  I scored on a gallon of bottom paint at West Marine.  It was a damaged can of their store brand in blue.  Although the can was dented up, the lid was still sealed, so I got $30 off.  I am going to have to be a bargain hunter to finish this boat.  Price was $69.99 instead of $99.99

I also resourced how I was going to construct the electrical panel.  West Marine wants too much money for their electrical panels, and I can probably make up a custom panel myself that would look and be better.  So off to Fry's I went to buy parts.  First thing I wanted was a DC Volt meter and rocker LED switches.  I have quite a bit of spare parts from all the computers I have built in the past decade that I think I could also make use of.  We will see how it comes along.

I also met my wife for lunch (upon her invitation).  We went to our favourite little restaurant (Thai).  Then I had to take my daughter to the dentist.  Guess what....   she has her first cavity!
I was exhausted...  not enough stamina.

List of tings to do....

1. Clean Boat inside and out
2. Clean various found parts
3. Figure out where those parts go
4. Trip to DMV
5. Replace Bulkheads
6. Re-attach Hinges and pop-up supports
7. Replace Seacocks from gate-valve to ball-valve
8. Fill-in navigation holes between cockpit and cabin.  I will probably just have a depth sounder and a compass (maybe a Contest 140 see-thru bulkhead mount, if I can come up with the money)
9. Fabricate new steps going down into cabin, old one was stripped out
10. Strip out wiring, formulate ideas for new wiring plan
11. Repair teak (port side split) that hold in washboards
12. Mill new grab rails
13. Repair deck, mostly filling in bolt holes where stanchions and pulpits used to bolt through
14. Remove running rigging and stanchions/pulpits off  the Venture 24 to see what can be used on 'Isabel'
15. Replace the sole
16. Repair the wood holding the locker covers under the cusions
17. Epoxy/fill/fair deck
18. Paint deck
19. Paint topside
20. Epoxy bottom
21. Bottom paint
22. Paint bootstripe
23. Paint filigree design on upper topside
24. Take count of what I have in standing rigging
25. See about the sails