She's Oranger (is that a word?)...

"There is no blue without yellow and without orange."

~Vincent Van Gogh

Hey there! 

I just wanted to make a quick post to give a color update....

...I like it much better today!  

It is a race with weather to get enough coats to cover the green--but I like it much better after a second coat!  A few pics of an oranger orange!

There will be some white stripes between the orange, but right now it is covered with tape and painted over.

I am very excited to see it after a third coat tomorrow!  

After all, what color is there...without orange!?

~Tracy Cole

She's Orange!...and lots of other progress.

"Orange is the happiest color."

~Frank Sinatra

Lots of progress since the last post!

I now have walls for the galley, the head, the pantry and the closet.  The floor is almost complete (just a few areas near the engine compartment left) and I have hatches all over the place.  My new stairs between the salon and the galley are almost finished.  And the stairs going through the stateroom to the back deck are actually mahogany!  When Jerry sanded the old, painted, beat up stairs...he discovered that they were mahogany.  We are going to refinish them.  And...we have the first coat of orange paint on the outside!

First, let's look at the walls!  Here they are with just the boards nailed to the floor:

And here it is all framed in (but you're looking at it from the other angle--the closet and pantry are closest to you in this pic):

It's all painted white.  We used Fiberlock IAQ 6000 and KILZ Original primer/sealer/stainblocker.  In this pic, look at all of my hatches:

We painted the the bottom of each floor board with the Fiberlock IAQ 6000 (mold and water resistant), and the tops with KILZ--just to help seal the boards.  This is the KILZ we used:

Here are the stairs between the salon and the galley the first time we walked through the boat:

Here they are with the carpet removed:

And here are the new ones:

These are built so that the treads have hinges, and each step is now a handy storage compartment.  I haven't actually seen these yet--they are at my contractor's home.  Can't wait!

Now let's look at the steps going from the stateroom to the back deck...Here is a shot of the steps as we found them (painted, scratched, and looking sorry):

This pic also reminds me how much work has been done.  Wow!

 And here is a pic of the wood after it was sanded.  What a surprise to find mahogany! I'll take more pics of the stairs soon.

And finally...the orange paint!  This week the weather is supposed to be beautiful, and I was afraid that if we didn't paint now, we would have to wait until next year.

We started by sanding the green stripes.  We used these Very Fine sanding pads:

And we lightly sanded each stripe:

Then we used this to clean away all the paint debris:

This part of the process was not fun.  Very tedious work.

Also tedious, was taping all of the stripes:

In this pic, you can see how we are extending the width of the orange stripe on the bridge so that the stripes are parallel with all of the other stripes:

We used Amershield paint:

This stuff is pretty heavy duty.  It is used on water towers, windmills, stadiums, naval ships, etc. (and my boat).

It is a two-part process--you have to mix the resin and the cure in a 5-1 part ratio:

And the first paint was applied:

The paint is relatively thin, and will require lots of coats.  Im not completely sure how much I like it...I need to see it with more coats.  You can see the green stripes (we have only applied one coat so far).  Also, the white stripes are coveres with tape, and painted over--so there will be white stripes btween the orange ones again when we remove the tape.

I do know that I like that you can spot my boat easily from a distance.  :)

Can you spot my boat?

I am excited to see how it looks with a couple more coats.  I do love the color orange--it makes me happy!

Building Progress

I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.

~Marie Curie 

Suddenly, lots of progress is being made!  I have floors!  Insulation is going in.  We have a new water system.  She is starting to look like a boat again.

Floor boards have been installed.  We replaced all of the floor boards throughout the boat.  Rather than searching for marine grade plywood, we chose to get regular plywood, then paint it with waterproof, mold resistant paint.

In this pic you can see the new floor, the hatch for access to the plumbing in the head, insulation and some of the water lines.  The stairs are the old ones and will be replaced.

In this pic, you can see an employee of twin hills construction working on my boat.  You an also see some sheets of the plywood with the paint applied to make it waterproof and mold resistant.

The mold resistant paint we used is called Fiberlock IAQ 6000.  You can read about it here: http://www.fiberlock.com/mold/8360.html.  

My contractor, Jerry, noticed some spaces in the boat that could be used as storage.  There are a few places between stringers in the galley area that have no tanks, wires, or tubes running through them.  He decided to build a box down into these areas, and put a hatch on top.  Instant storage!  having these extra storage areas on the boat will definitely come in handy!

In the pic, you can see the twp boxes built of plywood (the one of the left is not down in the space yet--there was a bolt that needed to be moved so that it would fit.

In this pic, you can see that the storage compartments were painted with the Fiberlock paint mentioned above.

In this pic, you can see that the storage compartments do not sit on the bottom of the boat. This will help ensure that they stay nice and dry.

In this pic, you can see the storage compartments have been all framed.  Now we just need the hatch doors, hinges and pulls.

In this pic, you can see the hatch doors have been installed! 

Just as I was typing this blog, my contractor sent me this pic:

In case you can't tell what you are looking at........I HAVE A WALL!!!!  If you look to the left of the refrigerator, you will see that a wall has been built.  The framing has begun!  I am so excited! 

I want to emphasize once again how happy I am with my new contractor.  His work is high quality, steady, and he keeps me informed all along the way.  I highly, highly recommend him!  His name is Jerry Williams and his company is twin hills construction, LLC (513.293.7744) or jwilliams209@cinci.rr.com.  

A fun side-note...remember the dinghy we found in the warehouse? I finally got the engine for it!  Now I just have to clean it up and see if it starts.

While it has taken much longer than I thought it would--progress is neither swift or easy--progress is being made, and it is exciting!  I am actually glad that I was naive about how long it would take.  Who knows if I would have taken this project on if I had known??  And I have no regrets!

Hope and laughter...

Never let go of hope.  One day you will see that it has all finally come together.  What you have always wished for has finally come to be.  You will look back and laugh at what has passed, and you will ask yourself, "How did I get through all of that?"

~author unknown

The past month has been a tough one.  Lots going on in my personal life that drew my attention away from the boat (the quote above is meaningful to my work on the boat, as well as my personal life).

Then one day, while driving along with the top down and the music on, my phone rang.  I did not recognize the number, but I answered.  It was someone who has a boat at the marina where my boat is.  To sum up the conversation, one near-quote, "I kept talking about your boat and the work you were doing, and finally my wife asked, 'so are you going to help her with this boat, or what?'  So, I'm calling to see if you would like me to work for you on your boat."  He is a contractor (I have seen pics of his work, and it is amazing), he used to build boats (he lived in Seattle for a while), and his passions are his work and boats.  Could there be a better scenario?

I spoke with my other contractor (who had some things come up that took him away from working on my boat), and he agreed it would be a good move.

So, I have a new contractor, who is really taking initiative and pushing things forward at a time when I lost energy.  It has been amazing, and I am so thankful.  This contractor calls me to remind me of the things I need to do.  

Speaking of my new contractor, I HIGHLY recommend him if you are in the Cincinnati area and have need of a carpenter that does finish work (and pretty much everything else).  His name is Jerry Williams and his company is twin hills construction, LLC (513.293.7744) or jwilliams209@cinci.rr.com.  Here he is making plans with Bruce, the previous owner of the boat (also the electrician):

Bruce is on the left, and Jerry is on the right.

Now on with updates on the boat...

The fuel tanks and holding tank have been installed!  

In this pic, you can see the USCG approved fuel grade hose rather the old galvanized steel pipes.

And the new through-hull vents have been installed (and double-clamped)

The fuel tanks fit like a glove, but the holding tank was about 1/2 inch too long.

To make up for the extra length, we cut pieces of plastic deck lumber to cradle the tank.  We actually did this for the fuel tanks as well, to add to the stability:

You can see the plastic deck lumber to the right of the yellow tape. 

 

The boat has her first holding tank.  Kind of sad that she has never had a holding tank--but she does now:

The company that made the tanks for me were wonderful with which to work!  They were very helpful in walking us through the installation, as well.  If you need anything built of metal, give them a call:  http://www.speedytanks.com/.  

The stringers have also all been welded back into place.  Gould Metal Works was able to come in VERY quickly and bring a transportable welder right onto the boat in the slip.  It was very helpful that we didn't have to move the boat (http://www.gouldmetalworks.com/):

The keel had some leaks when we pulled her out of the water (in King's Craft boats, the keel serves as a fresh water tank), so I decided to purchase a plastic water tank.  We found one that will sit very near the center of the boat.  It is 100 gallons (8.33 pounds per gallon, so around 830 pounds).   Here is the tank I ordered: http://www.plastic-mart.com/product/6344/100-gallon-marine-water-tank-w2100-5

A fun surprise!  My neighbor, Irv, across the dock also owns a 1971 King's Craft, which he bought new.  He photocopied the original manual for a 1971 King's Craft and brought it over to me.  It has a diagram of the interior, all the measurements, a list of options and prices.  Very fun...and very sweet of him!

We are officially ready to build, and I couldn't be more excited.  In a few months, I might have an interior and working light switches!  Later, I will look back on this adventure and wonder what made me take the leap.  I'll laugh at all the pain, time and hard work--just like so many other areas in life.  Then I'll go sit on the deck of my finished boat and watch the sunset.