Portholes and More

The portholes are slowly being replaced,-(finished yesterday!) the system I'm using/used is to replace the aluminium framed units with pieces of 6mm dark grey acrylic cut to shape and glued and bolted to the outside of the deck using Sika 259Uv adhesive. - it gets everywhere, with the added bonus of the black primer melting my gloves - I now have a couple of very attractive black fingers...

It's a bit fiddly doing without help, one large porthole means at least 20 trips down below to move the nut clamps - a compulsory step aerobic class.
The end result looks ok- I think almost as good as the original and the boat now has sunglasses.

The inside is moving along, with the first coating of varnish, now applied, the next section of the refit is the upper bulkhead (ceiling), we are covering it with wood (tongue and grove), this will cover the fittings, wiring and hold the insulation and LED lights in place.

The next challenge will to be to sort out the wiring, although the switchboard was completely demolished in the fire, all the wiring which was below chest level is ok, if a bit messy in parts, being sprinkled with sticky melted vinyl.

Woodworker

I was trying to decide how I was going to cut the new curved sections that go on the ends of the bulkheads and doors (hatches) and had decided to ask the local joiner if they would be able to cut them out of the timber that I would supply.
No problem, in fact they let me do it myself using the equipment in the factory - it's nice living in a small village.
The boss said come back anytime if I needed to use any of the equipment.

P118 Progress

That's the number of the hull, I just found it and now see them everywhere, transom, stern...
I had a call from the 'nice man' at Volvo Marine to tell me our engine was very sick and the best think we could do was to sell it or use it for a paper weight.
Oh well it's not that I hadn't expected something like this, the poor old thing was quite old.

We have now completely cleared the insides, the new galley has been fitted.
The engine bay has been re-lined and now looks new and shiny, with it's new soundproofing.
The hull has been fully insulated and re-lined and the internal furniture is starting to be fitted.

All the plywood seat covers are sanded and varnished.

Last weekend the weather was perfect and we were able to take all the usable swab foam out of the container together with the newly varnished covers out in the sun, the newly painted covers were dry within an hour, role-on summer.

To date my biggest mistake has been the repair of the portholes - I should have followed my instincts and done them the same way as our last yacht (Farr 1020), which was to seal and bolt them through the glass hull.
So it's do it again
An expensive mistake, lets hope this is the only one!

Just had a good news phone call, the motor has been sold to someone who wants the gearbox, so from a complete loss I have now have a $1000.00 to put towards the new engine, only another 11K to go!.

Galley

The galley is almost ready to be installed, only some final sanding and varnishing.
The bench tiles have been removed as we both have a aversion to 'brown' the new black ones are ready to be fixed, Note: the glue/adhesive made it a difficult job to get them off, I'm still finding bits everywhere.
Most of the remaining Teak ply that has not been replaced with the Maple has now been painted, this is making the inside of the boat a lot lighter and 'modern'.
Mrs DIY is discussing the new upholstery fabrics with my interior designer sister, I'm sure it will look great when we get to that part of the fix.

Gallery/Workshop/Chandlers

The gallery has been converted into the storage for boat bits and workshop for the cutting out of ply. polystyrene and fabric.
A great place to work when the weather is wet and windy as it is today with a major storm covering the most of NZ.

Earthquake Proofing

Saturday and the big earthquake in Christchurch today has prompted me to go around the house to secure things that may take off in a earthquake, something I have been meaning to do since we moved into the house.
They are still saying that we are still to get the big one!
So armed with angle brackets, all move-able items are now screwed to the walls and/or fixed to the floor.
I think I will put an extra edge on the shelves in the pantry (fiddle) to help if we have a quake, it may stop the glass and crockery from hitting the floor.
The house should be OK as I added extra bracing in all the walls when I built it.
I did the calculations and it gives us double the current earthquake requirements.

Bulkheads

The new bulkheads have now been completed replacing the ones that were damage by the fire.
The biggest mess/damage maker in the fire was the smoke.
The toxic smoke produced by the vinyl, coated everything with a thick black stinky sticky mess.
Being a production boat the woodwork in most cases was only screwed so by clearing this, it was a fairly simple job of ripping out the linings, exposing the glass hull, which was only dirty and cleaned up well with detergent and water.
The transformation from black to nice clean new timber and glass has been quite dramatic.
All the bulkheads are now Maple which will make it look a bit lighter, I will be fitting insulation throughout which will help extend our cruising, so together with the heating system (Wallas 2400) that was in the boat we should be able to use it all year round.
I was surprised that the hull was solid glass and not a cored foam and glass, when working at night with the light showing through the hull it look quite spooky.

Spring - It's Official

Winter ended yesterday and today it's officially 'spring' so I thought I would show you a picture of our blossom lined drive.

Quick Update

A short post to let my many 'followers' of the boats journey.
It's starting to look a little less like a coal-mine with the new bulkheads being installed.
The next big thing will be to get the engine out of the boat, which is sitting in the companionway taking the place of the steps inside, the crane should be here this week so it can be serviced - I hope there are no nasty expensive surprises!

Fibreglass Itch

The boat stripping still seems to be an endless task, now with the added enjoyment of having bits of fibreglass finding ways into ones underclothing making life a little itchy!

Although I wear a full disposable coverall, still enough of the fibres get to places... already a number of clothing items have been consigned to the rubbish as being too uncomfortable to wear.

This week the engine will be removed for a full service/overhaul as the aged Volvo probably hasn't had anything done to it for 24 years..

As I go through the boat deciding what needs doing, I have come to the conclusion that the past owners were very lucky people making it from Trinidad through Panama and across the Pacific to NZ.

The front hatch was only a simple day sale type with 2 small catches not suitable for ocean sailing in it's new home of the Wellington Cook Strait area.
Glass boats can flex quite a bit in heavy weather and it's easy to pop the wrong sort of hatch, plus the boat had only one very small electric bilge pump which in test moved a cup of water every 2 seconds!, which could make entertaining sailing.

These of course are going to be fixed as I tend to be a bit of a belt and braces person.

Although the boat has been built to Lloyd's specs I will be glassing in some extra beams under the deck as we can get some big seas around this part of the island.

The new panelling for the bulkheads has arrived, so fitting of that should start by early next week.

I will post some pics as soon as this stage is reached, maybe next week.