Working out Ideas

Staying busy with non-boat items. We're about to start a major bathroom remodel.

I'm trying to work out a nice, simple way to put the side panels up in the interior, the area around the port lights (windows).

The area the is causing some difficulty is the forward facing area in the vee berth. This area is curved side to side, and top to bottom, like a bowl. So....

After reading about cold molding, I was thinking I could laminate a few thin sheets together. This still leaves a finishing issue. How to finish the edges.

So I was thinking, I can make up the trim pieces in a cold molded fashion, and leave a dado, or groove joint that a 1/4 piece of material can sit it. By laminating the top and bottom trim pieces in place, I'll get a spot on fit and the trim will hold the sheet material in the correct shape. This way I also don't need to worry about the trim trying to spring flat and pulling away from the hull.


I'm going to test this theory out. I'll report back.

This is an old picture, but just a reminder of what the goal look is.

I wish I were better at updating this site.
Last week my bottom paint came in and so did a cold snap. It's been really cold, low 40's high 30's maybe. Cold enough that during my ride to work in the morning my hands have been either so cold they're burning or just cold enough that they go totally numb. So, I took the easy out and didn't visit the boat much. It's too cold to paint so I've done a bit of work around the house. More on that later.

Last Sunday I went to my parent’s house and spent most of the day there in the work shop. Todd spent a fair amount of time showing me some of the behind the scenes workings of a cabinet shop. Setting up the machines, the proper way to sharpen tools. Planners 101. We also took a big 'ol slab of wood and ran it through his new sander. I'm sure it has a special name, but I’m not sure what it is. One big drum above, moves back and forth and a lower belt is like a conveyor that moves the material through. It's painfully slow moving, but it makes the job much easier. It was pretty awesome watching the grains slowly come out. The raw edge is not a style I've ever go out of my way to put in my home (or yacht) but it does have a special beauty to it.

While I was over at Todd's we talked about tools a lot. He had an article in a magazine that shows how to make a combo table saw/ router cabinet. So, that's what I've been working on. I cut the rails for the face frame a few nights ago. Today I spent most of the day and got the cabinet about 80% done. I had a mishap and during the assembly, and the cabinet fell off the table I was building on. I cracked a frame. Damn. This is why I need a nice big cabinet saw. The whole process was difficult. Using a small contractors saw to cut tongue and grooves into a 70x28 sheet of 1/2" mdf is no fun. But, the end is near. Yesterday I also picked up a very lightly used Delta T2 table saw fence rail system. I made the cabinet specifically to fit this rail. So, from here on out, if I have come out with sloppy joints cuts, I can't blame my tools.


I've sent out a few letters to local companies looking to talk to with marine joiners. Minimal luck. But one person I heard from said I might want to check with a John Guzzwell. In all honesty I can't say his name rung a bell. Trusty Google supplied a mailing address and plenty of sites about him and his epic voyage with Trekka his 21 foot yawl he built himself and sailed around the world. Turns out he lives a couple miles away from my parents. I sent a letter and promptly checked out a book he wrote from the library. One paragraph really stuck. To summarize, fine woodworking is not what it was 50 years ago. In today’s market it's all about the bottom line. Fine craftsmanship has moved wayside for production and units sold.
I was surprised to find a response right away in my inbox. Not much came of it, but here I am a (sudo)nurse who wants to be a yacht builder and Mr. Guzzwell has a son who is a yacht builders making the transition to a nurse. Sometimes I wish it was as easy as trading baseball cards.

Alia and I came up with a final plan for the bathroom remodel. She wants a spa. So lots of tile, heated floor, custom teak vanity, it's going to be really nice when we're all done. We started to stockpile our supplies and should knock down a wall by Thanksgiving.

I think that's about it.

A bit of a slow week

Last weekend the Northwest was consumed by a monsoon. Good thing I got some cover on over the boat now. Saturday I just knocked around the house, polished some deck hardware and did some house chores and maintenance on the Jeep. I now have heat in the Jeep so this winter will be much more comfortable. Not a bad way to kill a rainy day.
Sunday I got down to the boat and spent a fair bit of time cleaning up and organizing.
I started to prep the cove stripe and waterline for paint. I tried using the profile sander on the cove stripe. It works ok, but hand sanding turned out to be easier. Also, this way I didn’t risk the profile sanded walking out of the groove, which it really wanted to do.

I hope to finish up the sanding on the cove stripe this evening. I’m not heading into work until noon tomorrow so I might be able to get a coat of paint on in the morning.
I bought most of the supplies for the bottom. The West 410 filler, Pettit 4700 barrier coat, and placed an order for the Vivid bottom paint.

I’ve spent a lot of time this week reading about this boat work idea. I’ve had a couple field trips. The Seattle Public Library is a great resource they have a good selection of boat building/ woodworking books. I also went into NW Fine Woodworking. This place blurs the lines between an art gallery and a furniture store. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend stopping in. I walked away with so many new project ideas. This weekend some of thier craftsmen will be in talking about thier work. I'll make time to attend. Tomorrow morning I hope to chat with the yard owner and get some advice/ opinions on working out of his yard.

Not much to show, so no pictures this week.

A nagging idea

I’m trying to work out this idea I’ve been kicking around for awhile; working for myself, on boats full time (and not starving). Something like Lackey Sailing.

I have to say that my fine wood working skills are lacking. I want to talk and visit with people who do interior joinery for a living. I’m fortunate that my step-father is a fine woodworker/ cabinet maker, so I have someone I can learn the skills from, but I’d like to talk with a few people who are working on boats specifically.

Right now I’m thinking it’s feasible to have a shed/ work shop in the boat yard where I can turn out 2-3 smaller boats a year while working part time, some evenings and weekends. The yard space is cheap and the boat mover is reasonable so my upfront costs are fairly minimal seeing that I own the most of the tools I need. Also, South Park has an abundance of neglected boats that could be had for next to nothing. Keeping the boats to smaller, 25 feet and under, helps insure quicker turnovers. After some time the project should prove whether it can be self sustaining. This can also be a showcase for my interior refits, which I’d like to do as well.

So far I’m just in the information gathering stage. Delta declined my request to tour their facility due to confidentiality reasons. I’m persistent however, and I’ll find a way. In the meantime, the chance to tour and chat with smaller operations would be very grateful.

If anyone has any connections, please send them my way. I’d be more than happy to lend a hand in the shop while I chat with you.

A long week

Last week seemed extra long.

Last weekend Alai and I went over to Leavenworth for the Octoberfest marathon. We each did the ½ marathon and we both did very well. At some point after the race, my left foot started hurting and by the next morning was barely able to stand on it. I stopped by my office when we got back in town and got a walking cast which, with a cane I used all week.
Thus, little happened on the boat until this weekend.

I started by sanding the black down with 220 grit on the random orbital. The streaks left by the tipping were very noticeable so it was easy to see when you had a smooth surface. This took a couple hours spaced over Thursday and Friday evenings. On Saturday I finished the last of the sanding. When I was done the boat looked super smooth and had the sort of chalkboard black look going on. I forgot the camera so no pictures.
After a good wash and scrub with a soft boat brush, I let the hull dry. (note, I’ve got the oil heater on in the boat now to keep the hull a bit warmer) Once the hull was dry, I used the Ultra Smooth High density Foam Roller and went to work on the finish coat.
I’d start by loading up the 6” roller. Then roll out the area until the roller was pretty much dry, then very lightly roll over the area again and again to flatten out the bubbles. I would vary the direction of the roller and again, use a very light touch, only the weight of the roller itself. I did find the rolling fast killed the bubbles better than rolling slow. Even still, this was not a fast operation. The roll and tip with two guys took an hour, the roll/ roll working solo took 5.
However, in the end I’m quite happy with the return, I'm also happy to be done with that section. Time for some pictures! From 10 feet the hull is super shinny:













From 5 feet you can see a orange peel effect, but I'm of with this. Its better then average.














On Sunday I decided, being that we’re into October now, I’m going to need some shelter. I bought one of those Costco car shelters. It’s not tall enough so I built two 25’ saw horses that stand just about 4’ tall and built the shelter on top of them. Being in a industrial area is great for gathering scrap wood. I found two pallets that were 14’ long. The runners were built out of 4x4 hardwood, oak I think, and weight a ton! I used 2x6’s for the legs and lots of framing nails. The thing is plenty strong, and pretty heavy. Even still I’ll add some concrete blocks or something to keep my shelter from becoming a kite.

Now I can get the final coat on the decks, and paint the bottom even if there is a threat of rain.



















PS, I want to visit Delta Marine’s cabinet shop. I’ve stopped in and left a nice letter/ request for the manager. If anyone reads this and has a contact, I’d just love the chance to get to see how they create such amazing interiors.

I've been making some visual progress over the last few weeks. This weekend was not exception. I put on the "last" coat of paint mid week. For this coat I tested my Dry Roll method and it really worked out well, except for a couple dry spots. I was getting close to done and in my haste missed a few spots on the starboard side.
No worries, I just gave it a little rub down with the 220 grit and rolled on the real final coat. I had one small dry spot on the port side too. I taped off around it, rolled on a light coat and let the dry for a few minutes. When I removed the tape you could see the patch a little bit. A few minutes later the paint was only lighty tacky so I was able to tamp down the edge and it blended right in. An hour later and you couldn't see any evidence.


While that was drying I started installing the windows on the port side. I picked up some butyl tape from Poulsbo RV. This stuff is great! After bedding deck hardware with goo-in-a-tube I swear by this stuff. It's sort of like silly putty. It comes in a 30 foot roll and Poulsbo RV sells 1/8" or 1/4" thick by 1' wide for just under $10.
I used the thicker tape for the 1st layer, but needed a little more goo so I ended up splitting some in half and putting a second layer on. This worked out well. Once I started tightening the screws inside plenty of butyl oozed out. Then I used a handy little tool the guy at the RV store gave me to scrape off the excess. Each window went really quick.





I was able to get all 8 port lights in, in a few hours.

I'm really happy with the progress this weekend; the boat is really looking nice. Now that I've really got the hang of rolling and Not tipping I'm going to go ahead and roll on a finish coat of black too. That might take a while, we're out of town next weekend.















Oh yeah, made some progress on the buffing too. Here's a before and after.

one more coat

Over the last few days I’ve put what was to be the final coat of paint on the cabin area where the port lights go. The plan is to get them in before the rains return. So far the weather looks great this weekend.
However, I’m knocking the last coat down, I’m not happy with it.

I’ve been using the roll and tip method and while it is nice and shinny from 10 feet away, up close, say 5 feet, you can see the streaks left by the tipping. Even when I used thinner. However, I experimented with strictly rolling on the cabin top and it turned out much better. I’d rather have a slight orange peel than streaks. What I did to roll is work in small areas, say 2 sqft at most. Load up the roller with paint and roll it out until you need to reload with paint, but then go back over everything you just rolled, lightly once or twice to smooth out any of the little bubbles that were left. I don’t find that this takes off any of the paint you applied. Oh, and I’m using a ultra smooth surface foam nap.
So, the area around the ports has been sanded with 220 and depending on how busy I am at work, I’ll roll on the final, final coat in the next evening or two. On Saturday morning I’m going to run down to a RV store and pick up some of the grey butyl tape to seal the ports. Ya! No more rain in the boat!
At the same time I’ve been focusing on the area around the ports, I’ve also been working on the deck so I can mount the genoa tracks and stop water from coming in there too.

Now since I’m having good results with the rolling on the decks and cabin, I’m strongly considering sanding the last coat on the hull with 220 and applying a finish coat with the roller only there too. I’m about 60% sure that will happen. I’ll know for sure after I roll the cabin sides.
I’ll try to snap some pictures in the next day or so. I’ve forgotten the camera the last couple days.

most people's opinions are not based on reality...

Eric and I were chatting about boats on Sunday. Eric is working on re-rigging his boat and it sounds like he’s strongly considering using synthetic rigging like Dynex or Spectra.
http://www.dynexdux.com/
http://www.precourt.ca/
Since I’m still so far away from rigging, I’ll just watch what he does and go from there. But this looks intriguing.
We also spoke about thru-hulls and proper installation.
He tossed out the idea of Marelon,

I’ve been reading on line about it. Lots of opinions to say the least. And as Eric would say, most people's opinions are not based on reality...
It is ABYC certified. I’m going to call my insurance co and ask if they have any issues with it. If it’s good enough to be ABYC compliant and my insurance company won’t have any issues, well then I’d say it is a viable option.
Seeing as there are a lot of low quality “bronze” out there it might be nice to use Marelon. At least you know what you’re getting. I read (on the internet, so it must be true) that Hinckley uses Marelon.

Looking sharp

Well the boat finally has some paint on the hull, and I have to say, its looking pretty nice!
On Friday night I used the random orbital to sand the Easypoxy undercoat (primer) with 220 grit. If I were doing this again, I’d roll and tip the primer. I just rolled it and spent a little more time sanding to get the primer nice and smooth. But oh well, now I know.

The next morning I pick Thomas up and we went about doing a little bit of finish sanding along the cove strip and the edges at the bow and stern. We washed the hull real good wit plain old water and let that dry, then taped off the waterline. We put some paint in the tray and started painting. Thomas was armed with the 6” roller with a smooth surface foam nap. I had a 3” china bristle brush. We both had short saw horses to stand on, and used one of the taller ones to keep the paint tray within reach. Then it was just the basic roll and tip painting, however I did come up with a few tips. Have more than one brush available. By the time we finished one side of the boat the brush was starting to leave some light streaks from the paint that was setting up on the brush itself. Also, don’t let the roller get too far ahead of the tipper, if you can tip immediately after rolling the paint is still really wet. In the 80 degree sun the paint starts to get tacky really quick.


This is how the boat looked when Thomas and I were finished with the 1st coat. The actual painting went pretty quick, and hour tops.

The next morning I got down to the yard early and started lightly sanding the cured paint with 220 again. There were some vertical lines from the tipping that were visible from 5 feet or so. I used the orbital to hit the whole boat, and then used 220 on a backing pad to hand sand a few more spots. Then more washing with the hose and a quick trip to the head before Eric was to arrive. Eric owns a Big 32 foot gaff rig cutter and had painted above his waterline last October. We spent some time catching up, and then went to work. I picked up a second brush for today, but I accidently grabbed a synthetic one rather than the china bristle, but this turned out to be a good thing. This brush just felt a lot lighter than the china bristle. So we started on the starboard side because it was in the shade. I figured we’d add thinner as we went and moved into the sun. I had the thinner, but did not use any on Saturday, in hindsight I think the thinner would have helped the paint lay down smoother. Anyways, back to Sunday. Eric rolled and I again tipped. I really liked the synthetic brush, it floated a lot better than the China and felt smooth in my hand. However, there was no visual benefit, I could not see a difference. We added a cap full of thinner half way through the shaded side. By the time we got to the bow we had come up with a system, rather than the roller rolling out a 12-24” section and me tipping, Eric would roll out 6-8” and I’d tip immediately, then he’d roll out another 6-8 inches. This system kept the wet edge much better, but again, I can’t say that it laid the paint any smoother. Again the painting went really quick. I’m happy with how it turned out. I have one small dry spot and a couple finger prints to touch up, but luckily they are pretty close together and I can just blend in the whole area.


Still having a lot of day left I stopped by Home Depot and picked up a 6” bench grinder and some buffing wheels. I’m buffing out all the hardware before it goes back on. So far I’m only having so-so results with the aluminum, but the stainless is coming out like a mirror!
I went back down to the Yard last night after work and put another coat on the cabin sides. I want to get the windows in soon so I don’t have to keep tarping the boat every time it rains. I’m going to get one more coat on tonight, and then I can work on cleaning up the aluminum window frames on the buffer. I’ve read some good things about 3m’s aluminum marine restorer. I might pick some up and see what happens.

So far I’m very happy with the outcomes. I can’t wait to get the waterline and cove strip finished. I’m really digging the black and white. I find it really classy, Ace does too!

Primed

Last night Ace and I went down to the yard and I was able to roll on a coat of primer to the hull above the water line. Working solo it only took 3 hours, not bad. Even though the primer is white, the hull is looking smooth. So far I think all those hours with the long board paid off.

Ace isn’t much help down at the yard. He’s learning the word yuk, he found all sorts of stuff to put in his mouth, used sanding discs are a favorite!

Tonight we’ll head down and use the random orbital with 220 grit on the primer and then wash the hull in preparation for painting tomorrow.

The weather this weekend is looking great. It’ll be nice to put this task behind me.

This has little to do with boats.

We need a name for the dog and want to use something nautical.

Much to my surprise, there is a good list of names online,
http://www.better-living-ideas.com/nautical-pet-names.html

We like Ketch, Pilot, Clipper, Bear, Echo and Ace. We came up with Ace in the car, it had more to do with his one descended testicle but don’t tell anyone, he might get upset.

Any thoughts?

Paint prep

This weekend was pretty crumby weather wise and so we bagged our camping trip and adopted a dog instead. This little guy comes home tomorrow. I hope he doesn’t get seasick.

There was a small break in the rain yesterday so I got down to the boat and faired in the filler at the bow. So, now I’m done!
I’m gathering materials tomorrow, I’m going to go with a primer coat. The Pettit Easypoxy http://www.pettitpaint.com/ can be applied without a primer, but I still have some fine scratches from the long board. I could just sand again with a finer grit, but I don’t want to. Also I think I’m getting too worried about these little marks. I spent some time inspecting other boats in the yard and even the ones that look great from 5 feet still have blemishes once you get real close. Either way, a coat of primer, and then some love with the 220 grit either on the orbital or long board and I’ll be ready to roll and tip the paint, This Weekend!!!
I’ll be sure to take pictures along the way. It’s really optimistic to be done by Sunday night but I’m trying. Alai is heading out of town Thursday morning, so the dog and I are going to pull a couple of long nights and try to prime the boat Thursday and block it Friday.

I thought I was done

Last night I got down to the boat to fair in the last couple nicks in the hull. I thought I was done and was getting ready to celebrate when I remembered I still needed to address the point of the bow.

There was a superficial crack in the gel coat that ran vertical along the bow that needed some attention. I used the dremel to widen the crack, used the unthickend West epoxy to wet out the gouge, then mixed in some 407 filler and spread that into the gouge.

So, as of last night I'm almost done.

I should be able to fair in last nights epoxy tonight and then I can celebrate! It's been a long sore couple of weeks.

Over the weekend I was able to make some good progress on the sanding, as well as get a coat of paint on the cabin house and decks. I'm hoping to get another couple of coats on the cabin house this week so I can install the windows to keep rain out. Every few days I have to run down to the boat and put the tarps on. It'll be nice not stressing over tarping for weather and messing up fresh paint.

Almost there!

Slow Week

Starting off slow this week.
Almost done on the hull sanding. Should be done on Sunday. Yeah!

Then I'll start the painting. Might need a helper when it comes to rolling and tipping the hull.
Any takers?

It’s all in the hips

It's been a while since I posted any updates.
The short story is we spent some time working on the house before we jetted off to Michigan for 10 days.


Once we got home I got to work on the exterior. Over the last two weekends and many weeknights I've been sanding and filling the decks and cabin top.

All in all they were in fair shape. I've decided to fill as many holes a possible. All of the hand rails are now filled and faired as are the toe rails. I figure it's going to be a while until I can make or buy toe rails, and who knows if the hand rails will be the same bolt patterns as the old ones. So filled and faired. The overall idea is to get the boat in the water and watertight ASAP. There are some changes brewing and it sounds like the county is going to build a new bridge right where the boat is sitting. Last word was eviction noticed will come out in November. I hope to be sailing before then.

I took the 1st half of this week off work to work on the boat. 5 days of work yielded some finish sanding on the cabin top, a little bit of painting up there and a crap ton of long board sanding on the hull. For real, every muscle in my body is sore. For the last three days, a good 6 out of 11 hours have been working the long board in a figure 8 over and over hundreds of thousands of 8's. But, it's paying off. The starboard side and transom are f-ing smooth. I applied some paint on a small area to check the fairness. If there were any ripples, they'd show since I'm painting it black. The test showed that all the labor has paid off. When I left today I'm a bit over half way done on the port side. Which means I’m 3/4 done with the sanding? I'll be glad when it's done. I've got a picture of what I don't want. Someone went to town with a sander on this thing. You can see ripples from 50 yards away. On the flip side, one light coat of black on Winterhawk and you can see your reflection.

All in this entire project is taking longer, but that's fine. The results will be worth it. There was only one tricky part. That was fixing an old repair. Winterhawk took a bad hit at one time. I was working the fore deck of a 26 footer when we t-boned a 44 footer in 30+ knots of wind. That was exciting. We gouged the other boat, full thickens gouge, right into the interior. Winterhawk had a hull to deck hit that went inboard 9 inches or so, destroyed everything. There was a crush above the port light too. I figure the bulk of the other boat crashed into the hull/deck and the point of the bow came up onto and crushed the cabin. I saved this repair until the end of the topsides prep. By then I was feeling pretty good calculating how much epoxy and filler various tasks need. Then I got to it. The old repair was half assed and weak. No core, they just packed and bunch of filler in and faired it. It was weak. The whole area was cracked and crumbling. I ground out all this crap and did a proper repair. You can download, for free! some good info on everything epoxy related from the West Systems site. I templated for new core, and then made up a bunch of cloth pieces and fixed this up right. Even the cabin top repair needed some cloth.

So, more of the same for the next few days. Buy this weekend I should have all the sanding done. I've still got nicks and cracks to fill on port, then its another 8 hours on the long board to fair the repairs. Then, it's time to paint.

I'll try to add specifics on what and how soon. But for now, here are some pictures.

001 before any sanding, duct tape still there from the boat being sealed up. Note! Use a heat gun to get the tape residue off. This leave only a little bit to wipe off with the de-waxer.

003 topside holes. lots of them.


















005 lots of duct tape.

006 ground out the crappy repair

















009 note the damage on the cabin top. Must have been exciting!

















010 new core














012 a bit of weight while it core cures overnight
















019 starting the cloth















022 more cloth










027 I couldn't wait I rolled some paint to see how it looked. Turns out I could see a bunch of scratches. Oops, more sanding. So much of what I read said to use 80 grit. I think 120 is fine, and this route didn't leave more sanding with 120 anyways.

















032 no more Winterhawk













033 testing to see if the hull is fair















035 filled scratches and nicks

039, the prior owner went to town on the bottom with a grinder. Ouch. This extended up to the waterline and a little bit above. This took a lot of time to sand out.

040 this is what I don't want. When you sand, angles are better than up and down.













042 1st coat on the topsides and cabin top.

043, a bit of paint on the fore deck

046 more paint, and the old bridge soon to be replaced by a new bridge, right where Winterhawk is sitting.













053 hours of sanding on the plank

061 where I left off today. A fair port side. Well half of it.....

Time out

I've been spending lots of time working on Alia's house. The floor has been refinished, new gutters are almost done. I've also been putting in some hours on the Westerly. She's nearly "done". Just need to finish up the companion way doors. But, she's officaially for sale.
Call now for the Friends and Family discount!
http://westerlypageant.blogspot.com/
Check it out, spread the word.
Now things are sorta less crazy with the house I'll plan on getting back to Winterhawk. I'm planning to finish up the settee and galley and then start the bottom paint. If she is not in the water soon, she won't be this year. I'm not going to be one of those folks who spends years in the yard. Boats are for sailing!

Ballard Cup

Short and Sweet,

Worked on the Westerly all weekend to get her ready to sell.
Was out for the Ballard Cup on Monday, this was #5 of 5 in the 1st series.
Pics are here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/44299992@N00/
The pic above is Moonshine, a MKI. Hull number somehting like 48.

This weekend was pretty productive. I had done the 1st few coats of varnish in the main cabin with a satin finish. It was looking nice, but well satin. I wanted a little more shine. Since I was low on varnish and needed more I picked up a semi gloss. I like this much better. It really brings out a lot of the grain in the wood that was not shown with the satin. Alia came by this weekend and put a top coat of the semi gloss on the wood in the forward cabin too. You have to be extra careful as runs show up better but the extra depth is worth the labor.
I made a new engine box/cover. The old one was pretty tight. Someone at some point had to grind out some wood on the underside of the table top because a few pieces of the engine hit the underside. This is not ideal, but it does keep the box as low profile as possible. I kept as much of the old box intact as I could and planned to use the old box as a template but it turned out to be more work. Building a box should be pretty simple right? Well this one ended up being a little more difficult that I had planned. All in all I’m happy with it, but where the lower and upper sections come together is at an angle. It’s not the end of the world, I can “fix” it with trim but I would have liked it to be nice and straight. Oh well.
One thing I did like about the old box was that the upper piece comes off easily, leaving the lower piece in place. I can’t tell you how many tools are on the bottom of Lake Union under the other boat. This design should keep from dropping stuff into the bilge but still let you do 90% of what you need to. For the last 10% the lower section comes out with just a few screws.
















I started working on the galley area too. I used the chemical stripper and took off the old varnish and then lightly sanded. It was around this time I decided I should replace the counter top surface too. The off white Formica was in ok shape but was not going to go with the new design of the interior. I’m still undecided as for colors for the inside, but I’ll figure that out later. After the trim came off, I had easy access to the Formica. It came off fine, but took a bit of wood with it. I thought it would be no big deal just to remove the old substrate and replace it. It would also make a great template for the new Formica. But, in true Yankee form even the counter top is over built. There were more screws than needed, but also some wood glue. Getting the old wood off was a lot hard work with a crow bar and warm beer but in the end I won.
The top would not come out in one piece so I used a back saw to take it out in three pieces. The galley counter top must have been installed before the forward knee that makes up the stove area. When I re-install it I’ll do it in two pieces. I’m pretty sure I’ll use Formica again, but tile would be pretty nice. We’ll see.

Lastly, I got two new neighbors. A friend brought these two R-boats up from California. I’m not positive on the plan but I believe they’re going to be taken but to Vancouver, B.C. These things are beautiful! I’d love to sail one someday. Speaking of sailing, things were going well on Rev. Notice I said were. We had a bit of a collision on Monday night. The wind was up, NOAA shows 32knots gusting to 38 during our race. Just before the start with maybe two minutes to go, we had a collision with another boat. It was a hard hit but Rev took it well. She took it right on the nose, I was worried about the forestay but surprisingly her damage was only cosmetic and the rig stayed up. Apparently the other boat was not so lucky. Until the details and insurance is all sorted out I should leave it at that. But it was an experience for sure. Only one boat in our division finished the race. 38 knots on the foredeck, in choppy seas, no lifelines. Good times!

This weekend I’m planning on working on the Westerly. I need to finish a few little things and install the new companionway hatch before I sell her. If anyone is looking for a sweet little sailboat let me know, I’ll be asking around 7K. I should have a little website up by the end of the weekend as well as a listing in 48degrees.