Rebedding, Refinishing, and Joinery

Rebedding was a priority due to leaks. This was completed in 2020. The exterior brightwork need some attention to protect from cracking. This was address in 2020 but needs attention at least every few years. See the Completed Rebedding, Refinishing, and Joinery web page.

The various refinishing and rennovations are less important. The interior work is mostly cosmetic and therefore a lower priority.

Repair and Refinish Exterior Teak

Sanding the exterior teak was done in 2020 (see the Completed Rebedding, Refinishing, and Joinery web page). It now needs to be sanded again. A repair is needed where the toerail split on the starboard forward quarter. Another repair is needed where Belmont Boatworks put a gouge in the teak upper rub rail on the starboard side while moving the boat within their storage area.

Oiling needs to be done at least annually if the boat is in the sun, every year or two if not exposed to sunlight. Some the exterior wood may be removed and sanded elsewhere. This can be done with at least the cockpit gratings. Most of the wood will require drilling out and later replacing too many bungs to make it practical to remove and sand however some bungs have come out in the stern and a few screws need to be backed out and sunk deeper with new bungs epoxied in.

Refinish Interior Teak

The interior wood is in very good condition with the exception of the cabin sole which is in good condition. The teak and holly cabin sole shows signs of decades of use and will need to be course sanded, then fine sanded and then oiled. The teak cabinets and other joinery could simply be light sanded and oiled or to restore the wood to like new condition. Very few knicks have been found, which is surprising given the age of the cabin.

Interior Rennovation

Some repair and modification will be done to the cabin sole. Where otherwise untouched the sole will have to be course sanded, then fine sanded and oiled.

The sink in the galley and the sink in the forward cabin vanity are both corroded. This seems to be strictly a cosmetic issue as neither currently leak. The shower fixture is cheap and looks cheap. These will be upgraded to better quality plumbing fixtures.

The countertops in the galley and forward cabin are laminated (likely formica) with the scratches and fading that comes with a soft material and age. These will be replaced if possible. Countertops are normally screwed in place from below. Access below may be adequate except the counter over the ice box.

Cabin sole repair and changes

Some of the cabin sole near the companionway is spongy and needs to be replaced. The cabin sole near the navigation station and in the galley has a section that slopes up due to the hull rising. The same is true in the forward cabin near the v-berth. Rather than keep the 6’6" headroom everywhere the cabin sole will be removed in these areas and raised about 2" to reduce or eliminate the sloped cabin sole. The access hole in the cabin sole under the companionway will be made larger. The access openning in the cabin sole just outside the shower enclosure is too small and will not allow a gray water tank to be installed. That cabin sole will also be removed and replaced and might be raised by 2" to match the v-berth sole. Rather than a step the sole will slope up from the saloon area to the shower enclosure and up from the saloon area to the companionway area.

Ice box replacement

The original ice box was enormous, some 16-18 cubic feet including the well for ice and melt water. A previous owner had added two very well cut 1" sheets of foam insulation effectively cutting the ice box almost in half. This left a large useful portion of the ice box with what seemed like an exceptionally deep space for ice and melt water for no apparent reason for the depth.

The ice box will have to be removed and made smaller or replaced. The ice box is a fiberglass structure inside a plywood box. No foam was poured into the plywood box. It is possible that foam sheets were used and these where glassed over. It's construction won't be known until a saw is taken to it to make it smaller. It will be difficult to remove the existing ice box without destroying it due to the large size and limited access.

The ice box is rectangular with a sloped bottom, sloping from aft and getting deeper forward. The box width can be kept the same. If the existing box is modified, the box will be made less deep and shorter fore and aft by cutting out sections in proportion to the slope of the bottom. If not, then the box can be made shorter and less deep and a new bottom made by reusing bottom peices but changing the slope. An alternate is making a two part mold and building a new box. Making a mold and creating a new box is the most work but may produce the best result.

Removing and reinstalling the ice box would be a good time to fix the top openning so that it is less prone to leaking air. The original lids had about 1" of insulation and prior owner duct taped a few sheets of foam insulation. This provides better insulation but look bad and the lids provide a poor seal. It would be a good time to remove and replace the countertop over the icebox.

Galley

The current galley stove is CNG. The tank regulator is in very poor condition and should not be trusted. In the interest of not risking a boat explosion the galley stove will not be used until replaced. The selection of a new cooktop and oven is covered in the Induction Cooktop and Electric Oven web page. This will require a large inverter which is covered in the Inverter Selection and Wiring web page. Any extra room beneath the stove will be used for cabinets for trays or flat pans such as frying pans, cookie sheets, and shallow baking pans.

The countertop above the ice box and across the companionway enterance will very likely be difficult to remove. The bungs used to hide screws will have to be drilled out to remove the fiddles before removing this countertop. This can be done at the same time that the ice box is replaced. Removal of the countertop supporting the galley sink will very likely require drilling out the bungs and removal of the fiddles in addition to getting at screws underneath.

The galley sink and faucets will be replaced. The salt water foot pump and faucet has been removed and will not be replaced. A single bar style faucet may be added for drinking water with a foot pump plumbed to the tank hoses. A glass of drinking water won't require turning on the pressure pump and access to fresh water will be available even if pumps fail or the entire electrical system fails.

Forward cabin vanity and shower

The forward cabin vanity has a corroded faucet, lightly corroded sink, and laminated counter top. The shower is functional but cheap plastic. Fresh water plumbing is described in the Domestic Water aka Fresh Water System web page.

Replacing the vanity sink and countertop may be much easier than replacing either of the galley countertop areas. The vanity counter top only has a straight fiddle on the front.

The shower fixture will be easy to remove. The replacement will have to fit the hole pattern or a plate can be made to cover the old holes and look decorative. This could be either teak or if corean countertops are used a piece of corian to match. The same corian could be used under the head (see the Head and Black Water web page). The shower head is detachable but currently hung well to the back of the head compartment. It might be possible to move this forward, using a narrow horizontal teak board or piece of corian to hide the prior holes and provide towel hooks as long as the hooks are wooden or sufficiently rounded that they could not possibly cause injury.

Countertop material, sinks, and fixtures

Granite, silica, or marble countertops are beautiful. These materials are hard to cut and making many curved cuts could prove difficult and therefore expensive. In addition these materials add weight. They will be considered with granite most likely among these.

Another material that will be considered for countertops is corean. Corean is not as attractive as the stone products but is lighter, much easier to work with, and less costly. It is also quite easy to make little extras with with spare pieces since the material can be cut on a table saw, edges made with an ordinary router, and it can be easily sanded. Corean is definitely a contendor for countertops.

The galley sinks normally sold as marine sinks are expensive and generally small. Good quality household stainless steel sinks provide better quality at comperable or lower cost. If corean countertops are used, then molded corean sinks or bottom mount stainless steel sinks can be used.

As with sinks, household plumbing fixtures offer a wider variety and better quality for the cost. Materials will have to be resistant to a salt air environment. Stainless steel or polished nickel could be used as these are not prone to corrosion. Plated finishes have to be avoided. Quality fixtures will be used rather than low cost fixtures.

Selection of countertops, sinks, and fixtures have not been made at this time.

Galley and cabin electrical outlets

The cabin had a small number of electrical outlets with no inverter. These outlets seem to be only connected to the shore power connector via circuit panel. One cabin outlet was removed as it was too low and would be too prone to spills. There was no galley outlet. One outlet was in the vanity area. The AC wiring ran through the bilge and has been removed.

A few outlets will be provided, each with a nearby small inverter to eliminate all but very short AC wiring. Nothing except a battery charger will be connected to shore power to provide a high degree of isolation from shore power. This is covered in greater detail on the Planned Electrical Work web page and the Inverter Selection and Wiring web page.

Berth storage and ventillation hoses

The v-berth and pilot berth are both very wide, following the curve of the hull and narrowing at the feet. Near the shoulders these berths are wider than they need to be. The width can be reduced providing space for shallow cabinets or cubbies, perhaps 9-12" deep, though 15" might be possible in the v-berth.

There are plans to add air conditioning and heat (see the Air Conditioning and Heat web page) in the forward cabin. When storage is added space can be provided for ventillation ducts to carry the cooled or heated air and distribute it in the forward cabin.

Navigation station

Navigation has changed since the navigation station was constructed. Today there is a greater reliance on electronics and GPS. The USCG is no longer updating paper charts. Paper charts do provide better means of route planning due to the small viewable area of chartplotters or laptop computer screens relative to chart sizes, however laptops will now have to be used.

To improve electronic navigation from the nav station, a Garmin Axiom 7 or Axiom 9 multifunction display may be installed to provide the same visibility as the Axiom 9 at the helm and to provide control from within the cabin. More on this can be found on the Navigation Instruments web page. Another possibility is to use an SBC running OpenCPN. This is discussed in the Navigation Instruments web page.

Monitoring battery health will be important. Small displays will most likely driven by small single board computers (SBC) or microcontrollers. These draw little power and will be always on to archive summaries of battery state, charging, load, and summaries of information of gathered from instruments using a NMEA interface such as navigation track. More on this can be found in the DIY Electrical, Navigation and Instrument Monitoring web page.

Archived summary information will be accessible so that it can be displayed on the larger display of a laptop computer and examined in greater detail. Audible or visual alarms may be used for such things as AIS, radar, low battery conditions and driven directly from the SBC or SBCs.

The Axion display and any small displays will likely be in the nav station area. Some small displays but may be mounted above the pilot berth, behind the nav station chair or on nearby cabinetry to avoid crowding the nav station itself.