A Boat, a Bar and a Bed. (And time for fun)

"The trouble is, you think you have time."

~Buddha

Time.  It was almost a year ago that I signed the contract to purchase my boat.  I remember the timeline I had in mind then.  I planned to be finished in 3-4 months.  [insert amused giggle here]

This timeline created quite a bit of stress.  I also remember when I decided to do away with the timeline.  It was liberating.

Even without the timeline, I still spent most of my spare time working on her.  This also took its toll.  One defining philosophy that I hold is that fun is one of the most important things in life.  If you allow yourself to get so caught up in your goals and results (almost dogmatic about progress) that you forget that life is right now, you enter dangerous territory.  And I was in too deep to even recognize it.  But life (the universe, Ganesh, god...) has a way of bringing you back to you--reminding you of the life lessons you might occasionally forget.

So much has happened in the past year, and now, she is starting to look like a cozy boat home.  And I am making preparations to move aboard.

The bar is in place and ready for friends, food, drink, laughter, good times and memories:

It was Glenn Tepe's idea to put the mahogany colored wood trim all around the edge.  This ties in the color scheme of the ceiling while also providing the ridge typical of boat counters (to keep things from sliding right off).  I think it was the perfect finishing touch!  I can't wait to put the bar stools in place!

The bed is ready for a mattress:

This bed is a Malm bed, made by Ikea (and changed quite a bit).

The Malm bed is originally made to sit low to ground, like this:

I needed the foot board to sit up on my engine box, so I needed to lift the bed.  This would also allow me to add storage underneath, as well.  

To do that, we had to drill new holes for the hardware.  The diagram below shows the head board and foot board of the bed.  The blue arrows show where the hardware was originally meant to be placed, and the orange arrows show where we needed it:

When we did this, we realized that the head board is mostly hollow and it is reinforced where the hardware is attached.

We ended up just putting a piece of 3/4 inch plywood about 4 inches wide on the head board right under where the hardware was relocated (between the two red arrows):

In the picture above, you can also see how I will be able to add storage underneath the bed.  Ikea has two-drawer chests that fit just perfectly under the bed at its new height.  I will be able to get 4 of them under there!

Some more progress pics:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next on the list is to finish the bathroom and the settee.

For now, I am enjoying each moment I spend on the boat--because there are no guarantees of any time in the future!

Continual Progress!

"Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success have no meaning."

~Benjamin Franklin

There has been so much progress lately.  Exactly 2 weeks ago today someone visited my boat and said (in reference to my April move-aboard goal): "it's not going to be ready."  I asked why, and he pointed out how much work needed done.

Then, in walked Gregg and Glenn Tepe.  I am so grateful for their contributions in the progress of my project!

Let's just look at some before & after pics:

Before...

Before (another angle)...

And now!

Oh...and let's not forget how she looked between then and now.

Before.

After.

Before

And now...

Soon I will share pics of the bathroom and some other areas of the boat.  The progress is continual, and I am so thrilled by our achievement so far!

Almost finished...maybe? Trim (choosing & staining, etc.).

"To finish a work?...What nonsense!  To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul, to give it its final blow the coup de grace for the painter as well as the picture."

~Pablo Picasso

An interesting piece of information for you:  they make birch paneling...but not birch trim.  So, this creates a bit of a challenge when you are ready to trim the area where you installed birch panel.  Thus began my search for trim.

Being new to wood and its properties, this was quite a learning experience for me.  I like to claim that I am a carpenter now (though I realize I am VERY far from it).  I do enjoy understanding a little about the grain of different woods, how they take stain and polyurethane differently, etc.  Who knew that woods were so varied and dramatically different from each other?!

So, I started my trim experiment with some pine.  In my ignorance, I thought: "it's light-colored, the grain is minimal...if I polyurethane it, it may turn the same golden color as the birch walls":

 The pine is clearly too light.

Next, I tried oak:

I didn't like this at all!  Way too grainy.

So, when it's difficult to match something, go for a contrasting color, right?  I wondered what it would look like if my trim followed the same theme as the ceiling - birch with mahogany:

This isn't horrible...kind of nice, actually.  But I was worried about how it would look if every corner and seam was mahogany.  I thought it would be too busy.

I wondered how poplar would look.  It's light.  Maybe it would deepen in color with polyurethane:

 Still, too light.  And, though you can't tell in this pic, it was also too green (in color).  Poplar has green tones (see, I told you I was a carpenter now).

I decided to go to Home Depot and ask for help.  I visited the Home Depot in Pleasant Ridge.  Lauren Byrd works in the paint department and she offered to help.  I explained what I was looking for, and she showed me a piece of wood that had sections stained in many different shades.  If you need some help with stains and matching colors, grab a sample and visit Lauren at Home Depot (tell her I said hi)!

I was very surprised to find that cherry was the closest shade.  When I think of cherry, I picture tones of red or maroon.  So, (being one of little faith), I bought the smallest container available to test it:

A great match!  I was very relieved to find something that would work--pine trim with Minwax cherry stain:

Now to stain and polyurethane trim for the boat!  Gregg Tepe helped me measure all of the inside and outside corners of the walls (where I would use pine with cherry stain), and the ceiling (where I would use mahogany to match he coffers on the salon ceiling).

Buying trim is a time-consuming task.  I had to inspect each piece to determine if was straight, free of nicks, the color I wanted, etc.  It took hours.

Once I purchased it, I had to get it home.  I tried to keep the pieces as long as I could (forgetting about getting them into my Jeep Wrangler).  Well, if they won't fit inside, carry them on the outside (this was Gregg's idea, and it saved the day):

I imagined this would be a tedious job--staining and polyurethaning (is that a verb?) lots of pieces of trim.  But actually, I loved it!  I took a day off work and set up my work area on the boat.  It was a dreary, rainy day.  But, spending the day in the warmth of my boat with music playing and rain dancing on the metal rooftop while I sanded and brushed and wiped each piece of trim--watching it magically change to a golden hue--was very relaxing and satisfying.

One handy tip: Mirka scuff pads make it easy to hold and get every detailed cut of the trim when sanding:

And the polyurethane:

The trim for the ceiling in the back of the boat was easier.  Since the coffers in the salon were made of poplar wood with mahogany stain, I just had to choose a trim made of poplar and use the same stain.

I chose this trim (found it at Hyde Park Lumber):

Once again, I set up my work station on the boat and thoroughly enjoyed the task:

Staining...

And finished (in the middle of the night):

Oh!  Remember that I mentioned the green color of poplar?  Look at this:

And, this is how birch changes with just polyurethane:

The section on the left has one coat of polyurethane, and the one on the right has none.

I had lots of things to polyurethane, so I was so thankful my friends, Gregg Tepe and Mary Hodge, came to help:

Well, they did occasionally fill my wine glass...

Tomorrow Glenn will install the trim.  I can't wait to see what a difference it will make--the "finishing touch."  OK, I don't think this project will ever be finished, and I'm ok with that.  I'm more than ok with that.  I hope it is always a project...always progressing and changing...always a passion.  I hope to never be through with it.

Getting to the details: cabinets, walls...and changes.

"Success is the sum of details."

~Harvey S. Firestone

So much progress has been made in the last few weeks.  Cabinets are in the galley. Sub walls are in the head.  Trim has been stained, polyurethaned, and is ready to go up.  

As with life, the renovation of my boat has been sprinkled with good times, challenging times, successes, failures, happiness, disappointment, dreams, realizations and lots of changes.  This entire process has been exciting, frustrating, stimulating and fulfilling.  It is very fun to watch it all start to come together.

During a difficult time in my life (and her renovation) when my motivation was at its lowest, a contractor called me out of blue--inspired to help and be a part of her rebirth.  I can't express how much I appreciate his entering the scene just when he did--taking charge and pushing the work forward.  I appreciate his fine craftsmanship, his dedication, his skill and his art, his patience and most of all, his friendship.  Changes in his life have required him to take a step back and take care of himself a little.  His new role is one of consultant and coach (and I appreciate him just as much in this role).

Jerry Williams of twin hills construction

And, as in life, I am lucky in boat renovation too.

In this most recent time of need, in walked another contractor.  Glenn Tepe of Tepe Construction has been putting the finishing touches on the boat.

He installed cabinets in the galley:

Glenn Tepe of Tepe Construction

The cabinets are from Ikea.  The variety of colors and sizes made it very easy to choose cabinets that fit my space perfectly.  OK, actually nothing fits the curved hull of the boat perfectly.  Glenn had to cut each of the bottom cabinets to fit the hull:

And, he had to cut 2 inches off the cabinets above the window.  We had only 10 inches from the ceiling to the top of the window, but the length was almost 80 inches--too much potential storage space to ignore!

We found a horizontal cabinet that was 15 inches high, but trimming 5 inches was almost impossible.  Then we found a 12 x 39 inch vertical cabinet.  Glenn said that he could trim it down 2 inches and hang it horizontally--so I bought 2 (10 x 78).  This required quite a bit of altering, but I am VERY happy with the result and with the added storage:

If you look closely near the bottom right corner, you can see the light color of the bottom cabinets.

The cabinet doors on the bottom will be light in color to match the birch theme, and the cabinets on the top are a mahogany color to match the coffers and ceiling trim.

The cabinets fit like a glove, and I am very happy with the detailed work that Glenn Tepe is doing on my boat.  He has an eye for design, and is very precise in his work.  I definitely recommend him for any job you have that requires an artful, meticulous touch (513.615.7817).

He finished the birch walls:

And installed sub-walls in the head:

We chose Hardiebacker Backer board, since I plan to tile.  This material resists water and mold.

I also painted the helm.  The helm was woodgrain Formica.  It was faded from the sun, and did not match the color or look of the new interior:

I started by sanding and cleaning the helm.  Then I taped newspaper everywhere to protect things from the spray paint:

I used Rust-Oleum Hammered paint in black.

And I'm very happy with the final product!  The Old Ship's Wheel will look amazing when placed at the new, shiny black helm:

In the next few days, we will add trim and counters.  We are getting down to details...and success!