GAH!!!!!

Last night the wind kicked up pretty good. Apparently, from watching the news today, there were gusts up to 50mph. Kathy and I were awoken by the flapping of the shed door. I looked out the window to see the boat house and about 4 feet of the bow of the boat sticking out the front.

We quickly threw on our shoes and ran outside. The tent shed had transformed itself into a giant sail. The front end, with each gust was pulling itself out of the ground by about 4 feet, and inching the whole thing backwards each time.

As I was looking around for cinder blocks and bungee cords, a big gust came and flipped the entire structure on it's side. Luckily , none of it even touched the boat. Kathy and I flipped it back over and started straightening it out. The two rear legs were bent a little, but I was able to bend them back into shape for the most part. We wound up having to open up the front and back doors in order to let the wind pass through the tent rather than pushing against it.

The stakes that came with the tent were utterly useless, so we had to tie the tent down to the heaviest thing we could find - the boat. With several bungie cords and an old broken 100 foot extention cord we tied the frame of the tent to the trailer under the boat.

Now the boat is filled with dirt and leaves. But all the sawdust and paint chips are gone.

Happy Thanksgiving

After going to Poppy's house to load up on Turkey and taters, I decided rather than sleeping off the tryptophans on the couch all afternoon, that I would put in a few hours on the boat.

I started out working on the interior panels, concentrating on the front cockpit area under the dash. I put in all of the panels that only needed straight cuts. All of the scribed pieces have not been done yet. I brought the small workbench out to the boathouse, but I didn't get around to working on them. Maybe later on this weekend. I also screwed the dashboard onto the frame. It will need some more bracing behind it to keep it from getting wobbly.

Next I trimmed the piece of mahogany that I made for the gunwale. It is temporarily held in place by some finish nails. I still have to sand it and round the edges.

After that, it was getting cold, so I went inside and worked on the table. I may not have mentioned that I am building a foldout table that will attach to the underside of the gunwale by hinges so that it can be stowed away while underway. I made it out of the mahogany from the old center console. Right now I am on the second coat of varnish.

Windows are in...

Tonight I reattached all of the hardware to the freshly refinished window frames and reinstalled them in the boat. In the picture, it looks like the colors don't match, but that's just because the windows and window frames are actually clean. The surrounding parts of the boat - not so much. There is a nice layer of dust on everything from when I sanded down the transom.

Next I finished installing the hinges for the aft bench seat and seat back. I used a 3 foot piano hinge. About halfway through, my screw gun died. Not the battery, the motor. I'll have to pick up a new one.

Not pictured: I did the last coat of varnish on the last of the interior panels.

Transom work...

Today, I worked on the transom. I sanded off all of the old varnish and paint. First I did the rough sanding just to get all the layers off. Then I started the medium grit sanding. The wood below the water line is a little darker than the wood above, probably because it was hidden from the sun under the paint. I am going to have to do some creative staining in order to even out the tone somewhat. I also cleaned out the spashwell. It was very dirty. I may have to take the steel wool to the finish in there and put a coat or two of varnish on it to shine it up.

There are some holes I will need to fill from the old dual engine brackets that I took off. They were bolted all the way through the transom. This is what they looked like before...

Second Seat - IN!

I finished assembling and installing the second rear facing seat. As with the first one there is one remaining piece of blocking that I need to cut and install to help support the seat back. I figured I would do them both at the same time. I'm pretty happy with the way they are turning out.

Next I put the third coat of hunter green on the sheer strake (new nautical term I learned), on the port side and put the first coat on the starboard.

Then I went inside and worked on the engine, cleaning and polishing. I also fixed the bent chrome piece that got caught on my coat while I was humorously removing the motor from the boat by myself. There are a few chips and scratches in the paint from it's age, and I haven't the foggiest idea where to find touch up paint for something this old.

Lastly, I put the final coat of varnish on the bench seat back and the second coat on the window frame.

Engine off...

I took the engine off of the boat and put it on the stand. It wasn't as heavy as I thought it was going to be. But there really is no good place to hold on to it where you have any kind of maneuverability. I must have looked like one of the Marx brothers trying to line up the clamps with the top of the stand.

I did make a mistake in the process. I should have taken off the cowl hood first. I caught a piece of the chrome on my jacket and bent it. It is held on by 3 plastic nuts on the inside that I can just pop off. I'll take off the piec of chrome, straighten it back out, and put it back. It shouldn't be too hard. I'm going to have to take several of the decorative pieces off in order to fix up the paint on the motor, anyway.

Today, I started on one of the windows. I scrped and sanded it down and put on the stain. Tomorrow, I'll be able to start varnishing it.

Election Day

Kids off from school. Kathy's school wasn't closed, so I had to stay home from work. The kids didn't want to get out of their jammies, leaving me time to work on the boat.

I took pictures of the sanded down aft seat back, that I worked on yesterday. There are a couple of dark spots in the wood, but they'll be hidden when the stain gets applied (pictured below).

Next, I finish sanded and put a coat of stain on the rear facing seat and seat back.

Then I unwrapped the window assemblies that have been wrapped in sheets since I bought the boat. The insides of the window frames, the glass, and the metal part that holds in the glass are all in perfect condition. The outside wood on the frames will need to be sanded and re-finished. There were a lot of spots with peeling varnish. I started scraping off the loose stuff, but I didn't want to sand them yet because there were still wet boards around from the staining.

Flu...

The flu went through our family. So, the boat had to wait for a while. But I finally got out there last night.

I finished dry-fitting the second rear facing seat, scribing and cutting the contour to match the side of the boat. After taking a picture, I brought the parts inside to start the sanding and finishing process.

Then I put a few more interior panels into the boat. The last one for this side is going to be a tough cut.

I also decided to sand and refinish the seat back for the aft bench seat. The color difference between the bench seat and seat back bothered me. I 've sanded it down. But I still have to stain and varnish it. I didn't take a picture.