09/06/2006
Before Michael went to work, we HAD to see if the epoxy worked. We hoped the parchment paper worked and the epoxy didn't soak through and glue the plywood to our salon seat. That would be a problem.
We removed all the weights and lifted off the paper. TADA! it worked! We carried it to the table and put it teak side down. Michael cut the excess off and we turned it over. It looked great. It had some sanding to be done, but we now had our first piece of teak plywood. It is a good day.
| The refit |
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09/05/2006
We epoxied for the first time tonight. We choose the long side of the salon seat to start with, since if it messed up too badly it would be hidden by the table. We figured it would work, but never hurts to do it where it won't be noticeable.
Michael and I got dressed up in our organic vapor respirators (I am your father Luke!), chemical resistant gloves and opened the garage door. We banned the kids from the garage upon threat of death and popped the can.
We had previously laid out the teak veneer dry. We used the epoxy you had to count the drops of hardner into, Michael dropped, I counted. The veneer had gone on fine, although we did have some leakage between the sheets which I tried to wipe up as best as I could. We laid parchment paper on the floor, then moved the piece on top of it. Another piece of parchment and a piece of 3/4" plywood. On top of the plywood we placed 4 cinder blocks, and since Michael stuck to his 'always be (over) prepared' motto, he put on every heavy tool he could find: clamps, ratchets, etc. We waited to see if it would work. I am sure he neighbors would be asking what we were up to.
| The refit |
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09/04/2006
Now that the garage is nice and clean its time to fill it up again, this time with projects for the boat. This was the day the boat work began in earnest - finally!
We started on the salon seat. I explained to Michael what I wanted when it was done. I wanted as much usuable space as possible. Easy to access with baffles to keep everything from rolling around out of control. I don't like large drawers, they are just too heavy to open when they are full. I could happily have all the large ones removed, but Michael wanted them. We compromised and I got 3 lift up hatches, rather then 1. The first and second hatches open over the split up storage compartment that used to be one large one. The third hatch lifts up over the drawer. I can access the space around it and Michael still gets his drawer, although it has been cut down.
Michael cut out the seat top sanded and painted it. While he was working on the seat I stripped and sanded the cabin trim pieces we removed from the wall. I also worked some stripper on the companionway hatches. I need to do that again. There is still some paint in the hard to reach areas. Another day.
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09/03/2006
Yup, today was a repeat of yesterday, but we got almost all of it organized and the floor has appeared. It was great, I had visions of wide expances of cement open enough for me to park a car into. Michael told me to snap out of it... sigh.
If that wasn't bad enough THEN Michael decided his work bench area wasn't organized well enough. So what does he do? He took EVERYTHING off his bench and peg board and put it into the middle of my serene garage floor. And for fun he pulls out all of the 12 totes underneath the bench and lays them open in a row. I knew it was too good to last.
He did most of the rest on his own. I was too ovewhelmed by totes and loose tools to even attempt it. But I have to admit, when he was done it looked great. He emptied about half the totes and his peg board now looks like a hardware store. It will be nice to actually find a tape measure when we need one - we have over 2 dozen!
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09/02/2006
We decided to stay here and get the garage cleaned out and create a real workspace. The last time I was able to park my car in the garage was 2 years ago. That was because I had done what I could (I needed his input on everything else), and piled all the remaining stuff on the other side of the garage. There was a big hailstorm and I was able to wiggle the car in there, although I thought I may have to stay inside the car unwanting to squish myself through the door.
Anyway, we had totes full of stuff from our trip to the pacific northwest, from Michael's Dad that we hadn't had time to sort, and the miscellaneous garage junk that seems to pile itself in the middle of the floor - oh wait, that was me.
We attacked the garage early and kept at it most of the day. We got lots of stuff moved under the house. Actually, we stacked it at the door and Paisley moved it under the house. We are old and feable afterall and she is young. We moved it into a pile of stuff to keep and another to be sold in a garage sale - a prospect for next spring. We have been lightening the load for a year or two now, I never mind getting rid of stuff - I hate junk.
By the time we went to bed, we had the big stuff (band saw, planer, etc) all organized and the floor was starting to appear as our garbage pile was starting to grow. wheee!
| The refit |
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09/01/2006
Since I was in the neighborhood, I went to JoAnn's Fabrics to see if they had suitable vinyl. Nope. But they did recommend Denver Fabrics. I will try and remember to call them. I didn't leave empty handed though, I did get some denim needles to sew my sunbrella with. Of course I forgot to measure stuff last time we were on the boat. Gotta put it on my TO DO list.
Its friday night and we haven't even decided if we are going to go to the boat this weekend. I think we are going to get what we need to do here and then take it next weekend. We still have to get the last of the garage cleaned up and turn it into a full fledged boat shop. We just have to condense some totes together and put some under the house. I also need to paint the deck with redwood stain this weekend, it needs it bad. Fun.
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08/31/2006
We knew we had to get it so went to West Marine and picked up the epoxy. $88.00 a can is a bit high but still cheaper by the gallon rather than buying quarts. Yup, we got the whole system too, a couple hardeners and fillers and even the pumps. We left with much lighter wallets after that excursion.
We also stopped by the Container Store. I love that store. I get these great ideas for storage spots and ways. Of course, I don't have anything measured, so I don't even know if I can fit a standard cutlery organizer in the drawer. Probably not. I can't wait to tackle the cabinets and place a tupperware order. Probably cost more than west marine. I will have to warm Michael up to that one slowly.
Since it was rush hour we decided to visit Rockler since we were in that area of town (south Denver). We got a nice piece of oak for the stringers. We thought we had some in the garage, but halfway through cutting it on the tablesaw, we realized it was pine. The smoke and gummy blade gave it away. Now we just have to clean the blade before cutting this nice white oak.
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08/29/2006
I have been calling all over the place trying to track down marine plywood. I found one place, $190.00 a sheet! Call me crazy, but they are NUTS! I called a marine place here who repairs boats and they said they use regular plywood but coat it with resin. I think we may end up doing that. Not fun.
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08/27/2006
Michael wanted to see how the tarp would last through the night, so we didn't head home for church last night. The tarp did great, if yesterday wasn't enough of a test. We packed up and headed home to take the day and relax. Once we got home we found our hinges and teak veneer had arrived. Very nice veneer, can't wait to use it!
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08/26/2006
It was nice, we were able to be lazy this morning. I made home fries for breakfast, then we worked on adjusting the aft tarp. We moved it back one set of PVC ribs. We got it nice and tight and did the best we could around the aft end. Looks like a butchered diaper job.
We then went to Lowes - it was the only place we could get the heavier silver tarps. We needed to get another tarp for the forward part.
When we got back, we finished putting up the last PVC rib and front connection. A storm started blowing in and we raced to get it the tarp up. We got it over and tied down somewhat, when it started to rain. We told Mikey to get Hunter and put him into the boat. Hunter is scared of thunder and was crying. Michael and I finished tying the tarp down as it lightly rained.
We went into the house to grab some tea. As we were inside it started raining and blowing much harder. We raced to get us and our tea onto the boat. Under the tarps was like being in a drum as the sides were belted with tiny pellets. This was the strongest wind we have been in here and were worried about her windage, especially with the new tarp enclosure above the deck. Michael was worried about the boat tipping over. He told all of us to get off her NOW. I asked about Hunter and he yelled to leave him. We ran through creeks of water that had popped up below the boat and got inside the house. It then dumped on us! It started hailing and the wind kept changing direction. Michael even mentioned it could be a microburst. Our eyes were all pasted to the boat. I was sure Hunter was absolutely panicking inside there alone, but no matter how much we love our animals human safety comes first.
Michael ran out to check the straps but he only stayed out briefly, he ran back and was soaked through. I didn't think we needed foul weather gear during a refit. It lightened up and we went back into the boat. She did just fine. Other than leaking into the open hatch from the seam where the 2 tarps meet. Hunter was running back and forth and was very happy to have us there.
We put in a movie and Michael went to lay down, but that didn't last long. We went up and started sanding in the cockpit. Michael started sanding the hatch. Paisley soon came to help and Mikey joined us and worked on the starboard aft handrail. I worked on the port aft handrail.
Paisley went to make dinner and we went to work inside. We had talked about the portlights and Michael thought we should take one out to work on. The middle on on the starboard side had rot beneath it, so that was the one we chose. The portlight, the trip, the wallpaper, and the vinyl underneath the overhang all came off. Now we have a boat with half a dinette and the other side of the salon is missing a portlight and has nasty exposed rotted wood. Lovely. Nothing like tearing things up to motivate you to put them back together. While Michel was ripping our boat apart and I was finding out if there was anything salvageable underneath the varnish. It was so black Michael thought they were painted - but there was beautiful shiny under all that. Michael got the dremel going and its beautiful under it all - we have bronze portlights - all it will take is tons of elbow grease to get them beautiful again.
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