Thursday, March 26, 2015

Here are more pictures today of interior progress.  Richard is having a lot of fun designing and creating the interior, but not so much fun sanding and preparing some of the small pieces.  They are coming together, though.  We decided to varnish the V-berth area instead of painting it all white.  We will paint the walls white, but the rest will be natural.  The last order of plywood was much nicer looking than the first order, so that influenced our decision.  The first picture shows the V-berth area.  All the boards will have storage under them, and one (the front one with the finished board) houses the porta-potti. The board lifts out to access the potti.
The second picture shows the fuel vent and hose.  This is in the stern where the bench will be.  We have created access to all the components of the fuel system.  The US Coast Guard requires this of all newly constructed boats now.  They created this rule about 2 years ago.
The last picture shows where the porta-potti will be used.  It will be lifted out of its storage area and set where it is in the picture.  The good thing is that the forward hatch is right above it, so while you are sitting on the potti, you can look around at the scenery.  The position is a little short for tall people, so you can also stick your head out of the hatch if you want.  We raised the porta-potti position for comfort while using. 
So, things are moving right along, but it sometimes seems pretty slow with all the little parts and pieces to be made. 



Tuesday, March 24, 2015

After spending two weeks away from the boat project,  we are back to work.  It is fun to see the boat changing every day, especially as we work on the interior.  Today we have been doing more fillets, and more fitting of parts in the the bow area.  We have made the stern bench and storage, and are working on the v-berth and bow area.  We are trying to get as much done in the bow area as possible, before enclosing it , as it is much easier to work in the open.  We will post more pictures of these areas as they are completed.  As you can see, the sand buckets are in use again, weighting things down.



Tuesday, March 3, 2015

This week we decided to do a few fun things along with the continual sanding.  We really didn't realize how much sanding is involved with this project!  It seems never-ending, and it might be!  Anyway, we built the deck frames at the bow, which came out very nice.  We also built the porta-potti storage cabinet, and the transom boxes.  The transom boxes will have PVC tubes in them for the movement of the steering rod.  They will also house other items such as steering cables and electric wiring.
We have decided that the best way to get all that sanding done is to alternate sanding and creative building. However, it does take a lot of personal discipline to go back to sanding after the fun of designing and building.  We did discover a product which makes sanding a little easier, though.  It is West System 410 Microlite fairing filler, for all you boat builders.  It is much easier to use than our other fillers and much easier to sand after it hardens.  Too bad we didn't discover it sooner!  Okay, back to sanding, oh boy!