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.
