Time has flown since I last updated the blog, but a lot has been completed. The interior is very nearly complete, except for the breaker panels for AC and DC electrical circuits, the teak doors and drawers are finished and back in, and the teak interior trim is installed. At this point I'm installing the detail parts. We put down the light blue laminate countertops late last Fall and then I fitted the access hatches in the countertops with teak edging. The dark blue cushions which Barb washed at least six times to get rid of the oily smells are finally fresh smelling and wrapped up in plastic until the job it finished.

The reading lights and fans have been installed, as well as the brass signage that my children gave me (very humorous). The AC outlets are in and wired, as are the DC jacks. The door jambs are back in, the teak trim has all been finished, and we're getting down to the final details.







When we were in Marquette MI this past summer I saw some "burned copper" AC outlets that I thought would look interesting in the boat. I found some copper plates on the Web and did my own "burning" with a propane torch and then coated them with clear lacquer. Each is unique, since the flame brings out the colors differently each time. The plates seemed to be shallower than the more conventional ones and I had to make plastic spacer plates to give enough clearance to properly mount the plates over the outlets. I think it gives a little touch of color to the overall wood finish surrounding them.







We were stationed in Bermuda with the Navy back in the early 70's and it was our favorite place to live, so I couldn't resist laminating an old nautical chart of the islands onto the dinette table top. We poured on two coats of clear epoxy "bar-top" finish and we're delighted with the results. The leg is actually the original teak leg but I added ash pieces to the outer edges to give it more stability. The small portion of exposed hull is problematic, but for the time being we're going to go with a small piece of off-white carpeting to cover it.


The medicine cabinet in the head is finished with twin teak doors. I originally made it about 12 inches deep, but it was too much for practical use and I shortened it to 7 inches. It's removable to expose the void behind it for access to the toilet plumbing. The plumbing was a huge challenge for me and now the marine toilet will discharge either to the sea or into an 18 gallon holding tank beneath the V-berth (directly behind the bulkhead to the right of the photo). The sink fixture is a hand pump for fresh water. We felt that hand-pumping would promote water conservation.

The head doors have been test fitted and the one shown here is the aft door which is normally latched closed to create a stub wall. The forward door swings out to close off the V-berth as well.
The toilet is located directly below the bottom edge of the photo. This door is normally kept latched. It's important to have it hinged to give access to the toilet for servicing (sooner or later it will give us trouble, either from a child using too much paper or a technical malfunction).




The oars for the dinghy are stored on hooks suspended from the overhead in the main cabin. I found the bronze hardware on-line and fashioned blocks out of SeaBoard, a thick plastic material that works like wood, to mount onto the coachroof beams. A simple pin holds the hooks in position and allows for easy retrieval of the oars. The screw head in the light blue overhead panel will be concealed by teak edging.





The swing arm mounting for the Garmin GPS/Chartplotter/Depthsounder is now installed. The swing arm allows the navigator (me) to read it either from the nav station or from the cockpit just by swinging it to the right of the photo. I need to come up with some sort of simple latch to hold it in either position. The wires above are for the dome light, which for the nav station, is switchable from red to white. The lower horizontal trim strip is off while I run the power and depthsounder leads.



The V-berth is done, with dome lights, reading lights, fans, DC jack, etc. all installed and functional. The overhead panel above one's pillow is upholstered in a polka-dot pale yellow fabric with two layers of batting. It adds a touch of home and color and the two long overhead panels on the sides of the main salon are similarly upholstered. Now Barb needs to make up some interesting and colorful throw pillows and pillow slip covers for the bunks.





Finally, I've started fitting the cabin top fittings. Shown here is the dinghy in it's test position. It's rather high, and it obstructs the forward view a bit, but keep in mind that for inshore sailing or when anchored, the dinghy will be towed and it will be stowed in it's chocks only when we're on an off-shore passage.

In the next update I'll show the progress on the engine room, more on the topside fittings, and the electrical panels.

The engine has arrived and goes in during the week of May 24th! We can hardly wait!