Trip 61/62 - Saturday/Sunday - Jan 31st / Feb 1st 2009

The weather dictated I spend time on Island Sunset. Time to fit the water tank, and do some other things as time and energy permitted.

Progress made includes making room for the new 25 gallon tank, starting the process of relocating two instrument sending units and two seacocks. Remove the compression post, replace some nuts and bolts with ones that will not tear my skin, and a struggle to remove the old 12 gallon water tank.

By the way, most folk who actually read my ramblings, find it best to set their laptop on the nightstand and retire. By the time they have gotten this far in their struggle to read this stuff, they are sound asleep.

 

Another load.

 

The blue cover sure makes colors inside a bit bizarre. Fluorescent DayGlo Post-It Notes are the best. They really, really glow.

 

We have not discussed the day's Instruments Of Torture for a while. Well, here they are. The lower one, a "SawzAll", indeed, does, saw it all. I do not use it often, but when I do, "Priceless"!

 

Before and After. This pan is not useful for much and I will not miss it. Plus, alot of the panels that make it up are flat and will make excellent covers for some of the interior holes I will not get patched right away.

 

Yes, it fits.

 

Now to get rid of some junk in the compartment.

 

The coil of wire covers the knotmeter and depthmeter sending units. They and the seacock will be relocated. Then, I can use this entire compartment for storage thru a door in the compartment.

 

All this has to go.

 

Gone.

 

I set up a vacuum cleaner to clean up the air from all the fine dust the grinder kicked up. Yes, I wore a dust mask, eye protection and hearing protection while grinding.

 

From time to time I find some weird stuff. When Tom and Gene and I pulled the mast the first time, what appeared like "excelsior", a shaved wood product used for packing years ago, fell out by the handful. This time, alot of what looked like shredded paper went from where my lamp is, all the way forward. Where it came from? I do not know.

 

All happy now.

 

The green dot is where the seacock will go. The blue, the new depth and knot meter sending units. The red stripe is the center of the hull.

The red box above, will be a compartment door so when we leave Island Sunset, it will be alot less hassle to shut things down thru a door rather than lifting and going down thru a hatch.

To both sides, compartment doors will be added to use the storage space just freed up.

 

The bulkhead is held in with screws at the bottom. I thought why not take the time right now, today, to replace the screws with shorter ones and cap the ends with acorn nuts. To prevent me from reaching down in there in a hurry, springing a leak and prevent needing 47 stitches to close things back up.

The Compression Post is on the left of the Bulkhead.

 

There are the screws.

 

Inside the compartment. This area is really hard to get to.

These are the screws that hold the Post to the pedestal.

 

And, after the task is done. No more worries.

 

On the upper picture, the arch that goes from one side to the other along the ceiling can be seen. This needs to be very strong to distribute loads from the mast while sailing. Vertically and horizontally. Inside the arch is layers of plywood, bonded together for filler and strength. A very common problem is the mast step, is not routinely sealed to the deck and water gets inside and turns the ply to mush. This has happened and I need to determine how much repair is necessary.

I also wanted to remove the Compression Post to check the ends for rot. Altho teak is very durable, after thirty years, the base can get soft.

Looking carefully, one can see the indentation from the top of the post. This is not normal and I will have to see what I can do to fix it.

Also, I am going to drill a hole for a pipe to go up thru the arch/deck and into the mast. Then, just drop the wires down inside without making any connections at the deck. Much better, it will be.

 

This area under the galley will become drawers and a small hatch to open/close the seacock for the sink and cooler. I will relocate the seacock next to the bulkhead and cut open a small opening for the hatch to the right of the small hole. Again, much easier to get to rather than digging through and under the galley to get to it.

 

This has got to go. Because the fibreglas was bonded to paint, it pulled off quite easily.

 

 

 

The little wedge in the lower left corner prevented getting the old water tank outa there. At least, by myself. Maybe Tom will join me one day and we might be able to brute force it out of there and list it on eBay.

 

The evidence ...

 

More stuff to bring home. Marcia is right. There is more of Island Sunset at home than in the boat.

 

Peaceful ...

 

The Signature Image ...

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Well, I located all the parts I need for the engine in England. Latches for the new cabinets in Sweden. A VHF Ship/Shore radio in California. A AM/FM radio in Connecticut. Speakers in my son Tim's garage. A rebuilt injector from England. Spare parts from Sacramento. Mahogany from NE Minneapolis. Something from Canada. A cooktop burner from somewhere. Depthmeter, Knotmeter, Windmeter and Compass from New Hampshire. Parts for the starter from eBay-England. And instead of a 23amp alternator, a 55amp unit from Napa-Woodbury.

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I am also pasting in an image of the new cabinet layout. Do the best you can to figure out what is what.

The Dinette from the Front

The main components from left to right.

- Head
- Left Pedestal where we set
- Table Area
- Right Pedestal - where we set
- Near End of the Quarter Berth
- Far End of the Quarter Berth

- Two Compartments and a Cubby Hole above the Head
- Two Compartments and a Cubby Hole above the Dinette itself
- A Compartment within each Pedestal
- A Drawer on the Floor of the Dinette
- Slide By's above the Near End - Qtr Berth
- The Dotted, Boxed In Areas, for Flip-Out In-Wall storage

 

Galley, Locker and V Berth

The main components from left to right.

- Settee
- Left Galley
- Center Galley - Cooler
- Right Galley - Sink and Cooktop
- Locker
- V Berth

- Five Drawers and a Small Door for the Seacock along the Bottom
- Cubby Holes above the Settee
- Microwave above Galley
- Two Compartments and a Cubby above the Galley
- Pullout Breadboard, Utensil Drawer and Two Drawers -Left Galley
- Cooler and Two Doors with Hanging Storage - Center Galley
- Sink, Cooktop and Vertical Storage plus Four Drawers- Right Galley
- Hanging Clothes Area plus Shelves and Three Drawers - Locker
- 4" Face on the V Berth Shelf

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These images are from the interior of a Hallberg-Rassy 31' sailboat. This is the "Wow Factor" I am trying to provide in Island Sunset. Of course, it will not be this magnificent, but like Ansel Adams stated when asked about making good photographs "At least, the photographer can try ... ".

I will be even busier - soon ...

Later ...