Grease, Oil & Sweat.

"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work."  ~Colin Powell

May 29, 2012

After work today, I went to the boat--more from habit than anything else.  This is what I do now; I visit the boat each evening after work.  

I was there alone tonight, walking around and looking at the work that has been done...looking at the work that has yet to be done.  Though I wasn't planning to do much, I suddenly wanted to see some progress.  

I decided to tackle the dirty job of cleaning the engine compartment.  40 years' accumulation resulted in more than an inch of grease, oil and gunk.  Tools: a scraper, a scrub brush, rag, pail of water and Simple Green.  Simple Green is pretty amazing, and it's biodegradable.  

I used it full strength: thoroughly spraying an area and letting it soak in.  Then I scraped it (scooping up chunks and throwing them away).  I scrubbed the area with a scrub brush, then wiped it clean with the rag.  Here are some pics:

A close-up of the gunk:

More gunk:

Before scrubbing:

 After scrubbing:

Before scrubbing:

And, after scrubbing:

Somehow, this was an enjoyable task.  I was hunching down in the engine compartment, kneeling on an aluminum stringer with the edge digging into my knee, and stretching around a hose, reaching under the engine, scraping 40-year-old, disgusting, stinking, greasy filth from the hull.  As I scooped a handful of black sludge to toss it into the garbage bag, a stray piece of hair fell free of my pony tail.  I watched drops of sweat fall from the loose stands of hair onto her hull.  And it felt nice.  In a moment of personification, I wondered if she felt the dedication, determination and magic in those drops of sweat.  I wondered if she felt cleaner, freed from the years of accumulated gunk and closer to the dream of her new reality.  

I felt it.        

Preparing for Extraordinary

"In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary." ~Aaron Rose

May 24, 2012

A little bit of bad news, and some good news.

Bad News first:  In the continuing saga of the fuel tank replacement decision, we tried the magnet test to see if the fuel tanks were aluminum (magnets are not attracted to aluminum, and aluminum tanks are pretty resilient so I would not have to replace them).  Unfortunately, the magnets stuck to the tanks, showing that they are steel.  I still don't think they are the original tanks, but I was hoping they weren't steel.  I'm going to do more research on options...

Now on to the Good News...The light fixtures arrived today!  This reminds me that at some point we will start building and designing.  Someday I will have lights that come on when you flip a switch!  This is exciting!  I guess the beauty of stripping to aluminum is that everything you add is appreciated.

These are the sconces that will be installed in the salon and the stateroom:

The sconces will be next to each porthole.  They will replace the ones in the this pic (but I am moving them over a bit):

And we are adding two in the stateroom--one on each side of the back window:

These are the lights that will be installed in the ceiling:

And this light will be on the ceiling of the front deck:

 

If you are in the market for light fixtures for a boat, try Imtra (http://www.imtra.com/).

We've also had someone out to give us a quote on insulation.  We are getting closer to walls.  Closer to lights.  Closer to extraordinary.

Looking Inside...

"Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." ~Carl Jung

May 21, 2012

So far, the work continues to be done primarily on parts of the boat that no one will see once the renovations are complete--it will all be behind walls.  But, it is very important work! 

• New water heater,
• Restoration and repair of the 120 VAC electrical system,
• Determining if fuel tanks need to be replaced,
• Cleaning the inside of the hull of the boat...

Here is the old water heater we removed (notice the rust on the bottom):

And a few days ago, my friend, Gregg Tepe, surprised me with this delivery:

And here it is in place:

Equally exciting is the electrical work being done.  Anyone who has ever had an aluminum boat knows how important it is to have the electricity run correctly, by someone who knows about electrolysis (a topic I am learning more and more about).  All the old 120 volt wire was taken out of the boat and replaced with marine grade cable, connectors and fittings.  I have been impressed with the work that Bruce (the previous owner, and an electrician) has done.

Old wire on its way to the dumpster:

In the pic, you can see the new spools of cable on the left, and on the right, you can see where the old 110 fuse box was (under the helm):

  

Here is a close-up of the fuse box.  Wires were melted, broken, and disconnected--what a mess:

Here is a pic of the new fuse box (in place, but we don't have all the wires connected yet).  We will paint the door to match the wood in which it's mounted.  Very happy with how this will look:

 We labeled all the wires as we ran them so that it will be easy to label the fuses once they are all connected:

 

This wall is starboard, near the middle of the boat.  When she's finished, there will be a bar here, with the galley to the right, and the salon to the left.  To the left of the porthole is a wire for a sconce.  To the right of the porthole is a box for an outlet.  You can see another outlet that will be in the galley.  Notice that Bruce laced the wire through some sections of garden hose to protect it from the somewhat sharp edge of the aluminum.  In some places, he used PVC pipe for this same purpose.  Now, when the boat is underway, the movement will not wear on the wires.  

 This is the starboard side also, further back.  This is where the split between the galley and the stateroom will be:

In this pic, notice how all of the wires are neatly bundled and zip-stripped to the aluminum beam:

The next series of pics shows how the wire is fed up through some of the aluminum beams.  Since the wire we removed was thinner (not marine-grade), the existing holes were not large enough to accommodate the thicker marine cables.  He widened the holes, and replaced the fittings that protect the wire from the aluminum's edge: 

These pics show the wire in the larger holes.  I also included a pic of the pieces he cut.  Here you can see how much larger those holes needed to be.

This is under the salon.  The helm and the fuse box is above the right side of this pic, all the way to the back.  You can see the bundle of white cable wire heading up through the floor.  We also put an outlet under here so that we could plug in a light or a shop vac, etc.

This is the where that bundle of wires ends, at the helm to the new fuse box, which you saw installed in a pic above (this is before the box was in place):

The wires are almost finished--enough to put some insulation up, then walls.  Not sure what the best type of insulation is though, so more research needs to be done.

But before any building takes place, we are taking some steps to waterproof her.  More on this later.

We are also trying to decide if the fuel tanks need to be replaced.  My surveyor used to work for King's Craft, and he recommended that the fuel tanks be replaced, if they are the originals.  I do not believe they are the original tanks, though.  I have been told that the original tanks were steel, and they eventually fail.  If this is the case, I would rather replace them now while the boat is torn apart.  However, it is not easy to find fuel tanks that will fit in the space (the old ones are 55" x 44" x 9"), they are expensive, and we will have to cut some of the aluminum stringers and re-weld them....so...I really don't want to do this if I don't need to.  As a new friend recommended, I am going to do the "magnet test" to see the tanks are aluminum or steel.

Here are some pics of the fuel tanks.  In this pic, the far left is the floor board, and the fuel tank can be seen to the right of it (center of the pic, the wires are laying on the tank):

 

 

There are a couple of aluminum brackets that have been cut.  This is why I do not think these are the original fuel tanks.  I can't imagine what other purpose these brackets would serve.  In these pics. you can see the two aluminum pieces.  They are about 6 inches long, and serve no apparent purpose.  Looks like they were cut off to accommodate two new fuel tanks.  What do you think?

 Well, with all that inside work, let's look at a little outside work (facilitate the dreaming):

Installed the teak on the steps!  They look awesome!

Each step is still fun and exciting, and I love learning all about marina life and getting to know my dock neighbors.

I am looking inside, which is enlightening, but I am also looking outside and dreaming.  This vessel will be beautiful once again...

The Importance of a Vent...

(May 11, 2012)
Last night I finally re-installed some hardware onto the boat.  So far it seems we have just been demolishing, removing, cleaning and researching.  It was nice to "build" for once.

The vents that I cleaned and polished are almost all back in place (7 out of 11).  This is the ceiling of the front deck.  Notice the hole?  This is where a vent should be.  There should be 5 vents and a light on the ceiling.  Why are vents important?

I was removing the tape that covered most of the vent holes, the sun had gone down, and there was not much light.  When I removed a piece of tape, I felt something kind of prickly and moist.  I poked it a couple times and decided that I needed a flashlight.  Shining the light up at the spot revealed a nest.  A very big bird nest.  I'm not sure how old this was, but it was old...it was damp and musty and not the funnest part of the renovation so far.  There's nothing like sticking your hand in a hole of a boat ceiling to pull out nest remains...enough to fill this plastic bag:

I also found several wasp nests which I sprayed and removed.  This is why vents are important.  And now they are back in place:

Two of the vents were missing the screen backing, so I repaired those today and will install them tonight:

 This weekend we plan to:

• Replace the window tracks (they arrived yesterday!).  I purchased aluminum tracks to replace the old, broken plastic tracks.  The tracks came from Marinette; they are GREAT to work with.
• Install 2 new air conditioners,
• Bolt down the bridge and attach the railing,
• Continue on the electrical work.

I'm sure we will do some other odd jobs as well (I am going to finish installing the vents, replace a broken through-hull connection and a D-Ring from the front deck hatch).  Here I am removing the broken through-hull connection:

I'm also in the process of searching for new fuel tanks.  They are not easy to find, because it seems this is one area where there is absolutely no standard size or shape.  I currently have two 90 gallon tanks that are 55" x 44" x 9".  So far the best option seems to be a fuel tank made by Moeller Marine Products.  Time to make lots of calls to find an "expert" opinion.

Also, my friend Mary told me that when she is with me on the boat, she can feel the love I have for the boat.  I do love that boat, and I am surprised at just how much I am enjoying this--her ReBirth!

Little Things

Everyone is trying to accomplish something big, not realizing that life is made up of little things.

~Frank Howard Clark

(May 9, 2012)

A boat is made up of little things, too.  So, this week I have been focusing on the little things--the little pieces of things that will eventually go back onto the boat.  I want them to be shiny and pretty so that they will do her proud!

The nice thing about working on these pieces, is that you can get immediate reward for your efforts.  Aluminum vents that have paint around the edges, have grime from who knows what year, and are covered in dust are now clean and shiny!  They are ready to be put back into place!

Here is the vent as I found it (in a cardboard box of random parts):

 These are the chemicals I used to remove the paint and shine the vent!

And here is the vent after.  

Now just 11 more to go:

Today I met someone at Stereo Advantage (Mt. Lookout).  He came out to the boat to give me an estimate on installing a new system.  I am excited about his ideas.  I will have 2 speakers on the back deck, 2 on the bridge, 2 on the front deck, 2 in the salon and 2 in the stateroom.  They will be installed with a switch so that I can adjust the volume on each pair separately.  I will also be able to play the t.v. through the speakers.  Exciting.

The window tinting guy also came out to give me an estimate.  I think I am going to choose Jay's Tinting and Vinyl (http://www.jaystintandvinyl.com/).  He left 4 samples with me so that I can decide how dark I want to go.  This will provide a little bit of privacy, but mainly I am interested in keeping the temperature inside the boat consistent.  I think I'll go with one of the two in the middle--not sure which:

He will be able to put her new name on as well (as soon as I settle on one).  He recommended that I paint the green stripe orange rather than cover it with vinyl.  I can do that.

Back to the little things...today I treated the teak steps for my ladders.  I used  The Star Brite Teak Care Kit. 

 Here are the teak steps before:

  And....here they are after (I am really excited about the results!):

I also decided to throw the timeline out the window.  She'll be done when she's done.  If I don't live on her this year, I will next year.  Either way, I will enjoy the process.  Seriously, this is a lot of fun.  :)