We celebrated the New Year in our typical lavish and opulent style. The Cristal was flowing as we partied into the wee hours on the deck of our yacht. Not really. I just made that up but it sounds so much more high flying and exciting than the reality which was we were all asleep by 10 pm because we were tired from sanding and painting in the damp and cold. And while Ceol Mor might technically be a yacht , I just can not refer to her as such without feeling like a complete tool. In my mind, a yacht does not require me ever dealing with the contents of a holding tank or manual labor on my part of any kind. A boat, does however. So in truthfulness I will admit we rang in the New Year by working on the boat.
I think we are now at a point where we can say that we have/are in the process of rebuilding this boat from the keel up. Mark says I am being overly dramatic and that only every single one of the functional systems is or has been rebuilt. The interior teak joinery is gorgeous. Its only the functional bits that need a complete update. A boat by its very nature has a metric butt load of functional systems. So many systems, so little time...
Mark removed our water heater from under the aft cabin berth. I believe our heater is the very same model Joshua Slocum used on his boat. We are talking about seriously old equipment. We know it was original to the boat because the darned thing was too big to fit through the cabin door. They must have built the boat around it. Mark managed to get it off the boat with an assist from his boat buddy Tim and a hacksaw.
Once the heater was removed we were able to finally access the port side engine mounts. We can certainly improve upon the less than desirable angle iron and wood mounting (hey, you boat yard peeps do realize that bolts simply mounted through wood will compress over time, don't you?) with the addition of metal plates. Eventually, some day a repower will happen (Mmmm Beta) and when it does we can redesign the engine room to have a much more solid engine mounting but for now, the engine seems to keep on keeping on and hopefully we can cut down on the shake, rattle and roll factor a bit by beefing up what we have.
With the heater out from underneath the girls' berth we found what one always seems to find on these old boats- rot. The plywood supporting the heater had gotten wet and it did what wood does when it gets wet- it rotted. On a positive note, this is nothing really structural and therefore is pretty to easy to set to rights by cutting new wood and a lot of sanding and painting. A new, shiny water heater will be installed in the very near future.
As part of the prep for redoing the entire plumbing system, Mark removed our water tank from under the port side salon settee. Guess what we found there? Just guess? More rot. This time the culprit seems to have been the leaking chain plates which if you've been following along you know was a huge, long and laborious job to correct. I was really hoping we had seen the last of issues from that particular defect. No worries. Its not structural and my sanding and roll and tip skills are getting quite good.
I am pretty darned gleeful right now. The reason being is that Mark has finally contracted with a really talented boatwright to take out our forward head. This will be just about the best Christmas present I could ever receive. We met him last year through Mark's boat friend Tim and I admired the work he had done on other boats as well as the gorgeous wooden dinghy he had built for himself. I was ready to hire him last year but Mark wasn't so when the boatwright returned to Maine last fall I thought we had missed our chance . He's back in Texas and Mark is ready so it looks like a go.He does beautiful work and I am so proud of Mark for turning over a project to someone else. Just because you CAN do it all yourself doesn't mean that you shouldn't enlist the aid of a professional from time to time. With an assist on the carpentry we just might have Ceol Mor ready before the 2014 hurricane season cranks up.
This photo has absolutely nothing to do with the boat refit. I added it because Kitty actually sat still for about 3 minutes, there are no remnants of breakfast on her face and her hair is somewhat brushed. This is worthy of note. Its Kitty and Angus- the wee bagpiper Mark brought back from Scotland for her Christmas present. She seriously loves the funny little guy.
I think we are now at a point where we can say that we have/are in the process of rebuilding this boat from the keel up. Mark says I am being overly dramatic and that only every single one of the functional systems is or has been rebuilt. The interior teak joinery is gorgeous. Its only the functional bits that need a complete update. A boat by its very nature has a metric butt load of functional systems. So many systems, so little time...
Mark removed our water heater from under the aft cabin berth. I believe our heater is the very same model Joshua Slocum used on his boat. We are talking about seriously old equipment. We know it was original to the boat because the darned thing was too big to fit through the cabin door. They must have built the boat around it. Mark managed to get it off the boat with an assist from his boat buddy Tim and a hacksaw.
Once the heater was removed we were able to finally access the port side engine mounts. We can certainly improve upon the less than desirable angle iron and wood mounting (hey, you boat yard peeps do realize that bolts simply mounted through wood will compress over time, don't you?) with the addition of metal plates. Eventually, some day a repower will happen (Mmmm Beta) and when it does we can redesign the engine room to have a much more solid engine mounting but for now, the engine seems to keep on keeping on and hopefully we can cut down on the shake, rattle and roll factor a bit by beefing up what we have.
With the heater out from underneath the girls' berth we found what one always seems to find on these old boats- rot. The plywood supporting the heater had gotten wet and it did what wood does when it gets wet- it rotted. On a positive note, this is nothing really structural and therefore is pretty to easy to set to rights by cutting new wood and a lot of sanding and painting. A new, shiny water heater will be installed in the very near future.
As part of the prep for redoing the entire plumbing system, Mark removed our water tank from under the port side salon settee. Guess what we found there? Just guess? More rot. This time the culprit seems to have been the leaking chain plates which if you've been following along you know was a huge, long and laborious job to correct. I was really hoping we had seen the last of issues from that particular defect. No worries. Its not structural and my sanding and roll and tip skills are getting quite good.
I am pretty darned gleeful right now. The reason being is that Mark has finally contracted with a really talented boatwright to take out our forward head. This will be just about the best Christmas present I could ever receive. We met him last year through Mark's boat friend Tim and I admired the work he had done on other boats as well as the gorgeous wooden dinghy he had built for himself. I was ready to hire him last year but Mark wasn't so when the boatwright returned to Maine last fall I thought we had missed our chance . He's back in Texas and Mark is ready so it looks like a go.He does beautiful work and I am so proud of Mark for turning over a project to someone else. Just because you CAN do it all yourself doesn't mean that you shouldn't enlist the aid of a professional from time to time. With an assist on the carpentry we just might have Ceol Mor ready before the 2014 hurricane season cranks up.
This photo has absolutely nothing to do with the boat refit. I added it because Kitty actually sat still for about 3 minutes, there are no remnants of breakfast on her face and her hair is somewhat brushed. This is worthy of note. Its Kitty and Angus- the wee bagpiper Mark brought back from Scotland for her Christmas present. She seriously loves the funny little guy.
Well the two of you know what no matter where you land in the world, you can always start a yacht refitting business and make out handsomely. That photo of Kitty is beyond gorgeous! And that doll, be still my heart. He is perfection!
ReplyDeleteI never want to do another refit. Ever. ;) Can not believe how well Mark did on procuring Angus all on his own. Unbeknownst to him, Santa had a little stuffed sheep to tuck into Kitty's stocking so Angus even has a sheep of his own.
DeleteSeriously, that picture must be framed. On the boat. I love her!!
ReplyDeleteAs to the re-fit, I continue to be amazed by how much you know about the systems on your boat. You are far more 'boaty' than I am. Wow!!
And I'm soooo envious. What are you going to do with the new "head." So awesome.
I know about our systems because I have been 'jumped in'. It helps to have an engineer on board who wants to ensure that I understand fully what we are doing and why. I'm learning as we go.
DeleteWhat will I do with the new head? Nothing but enjoy the floor space. Our fore cabin v berth funtions as our master cabin. The head enclosure means you have 18 inches of floor space which makes the cabin nothing more than a cubby hole with a berth. removing the head will open it up, make it seem to be a proper cabin. We have functioned in a 4 bedroom house with 2 bathrooms. Changing a 2 cabin/2 head boat to a 2 cabin/1 head should not be that big of a stretch.
That water heater looks a like like some sort of android from a sci-fi show. It should definitely have arms.
ReplyDeleteYES! At first I though R2 D2 but it was too much of a bastard to get out so I figure its actually a Dalek...
DeleteA knitted bagpiper? J'adore! I am quite impressed with how much you know about the boat too. Our tiny boat has so few systems and even then I'm not completely confident on ripping them apart and rebuilding.
ReplyDeleteI am still shocked that Mark found such a perfect gift for Kitty. Gift buying is not his thing.
DeleteHappy New years!! A water heater...I'll admit i'm a slight bit envious, but, but I'll use my power of perception and perceive my cold buckets of water as hot. Ah yes that's better.
ReplyDeleteSOOO excited for you on the progress of your head conversion. I can't wait to see photos of this. I am also keeping my fingers crossed you make it out before hurricane season 2014.
The pic of Kitty is adorably as is Angus the bagpiper. And you got her a sheep...geesh you are oozing cuteness.
Stay in the tropics, solar shower is your friend. :)
DeleteOh sorry about all the rot, but congrats on hiring the guy! Too cute of Kitty with her bagpipe friend!!!
ReplyDeleteNew water heater, new enlarged master 'suite', be still my heart! Hot water by itself is such a luxury. When people ask me if Moonrise has hot water, I have to get over my confusion first, because I never thought about it until I found out other boats had it. Next boat will definitely have hot water.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Mark got smart about hiring something out. I know you won't regret it. It will be awesome to see someone else working on the boat for a change.
Cute little Angus and wee Kitty!
I don't think you will ever have to worry about another refit because when you and Mark are finished, this boat will outlast you both. She's beautiful!