Undercover Boatwork

Travis:

Well we have survived all that nature could throw at us all winter long. Now birds are back, singing their songs as constant reminders that it is time to get back to work. The task has been laid out clearly by the dozens of to do lists that have been compiled throughout the winter. The task is daunting. I am getting very anxious to sail Me Voy again so I have been working at an urgent pace. Today is Monday and I am glad to have been able to go to my regular job today so that I could get a break from working so hard. The pace at work is far from urgent, and most projects require focus in only one area to be repaired or up graded, rather than having something to do everywhere like we have on Me Voy. It is nice to have a break but I am looking foreword to this coming week-end so I can get back to it.

People at the marina are used to seeing us working outside on Lucy Maru. They would walk buy real slow and gauge our progress day by day. Now, evrything is hidden. It feels like working on some top secret project for NASA or something. I have even had one guy who lives at the marina ask me if we had been out of town all week-end. I kind of like the privacy but I am looking foreword to getting the tent off so I don't have to crawl on deck.

I am hoping, before the cover comes off in a few weeks, to get the cockpit looking the way it should. Finally finished. I had some thin teak I had left from re-sawing some boards for a cockpit coaming I did on another boat a while back, that I decided to veneer the bulkhead in. As with most boat projects, doing the job takes a bit of figuring out. How do I hold these very thin boards into place while the epoxy sets? After some head scratching I came up with the system pictured above, using a pile of scrap Mahogany, a few scrap pieces of Teak, and two strips of Ash screwed in between the seams holding all the veneer flush. The system worked great, and everything sanded and finished out great.
Here it is sanded with a coat of epoxy. I also cut in the "doggie hatch" which will be Chopper and Billy's primary entrance to get below deck, seen in the lower right of the above photo. There is still some engineering problems to work out in order to make that system work, but when it is all done, there will be a door that battens down from the inside with cabinetry that the boys can climb to get onto the deck. Should be kind of cool, if it works.

I also got the engine beds set into place this week-end. The engine beds are the heavy timbers that the engine is bolted down to. The originals were in great shape so we saved them and after a half day of modification with a handsaw and a dulling chisel, they fit perfectly. They are being held into the perfect position with a couple of pieces of fir and a sauce pan for gluing. More clamping improvisation.

This is a raft I made at work for a customer. I didn't mean to post this pic but here it is and I don't know how to delete it.

Mr Perkins awaiting installation. I am hoping to begin the work of cleaning up and going over our engine over the next few weeks. Now that the engine compartment is ready, the next step is to install the engine.

The place is a wreck. Maggie gets a deer in headlights look evrytime she comes aboard. She has decided to focus on LM. I feel a little overwhelmed but the thought of a fresh salty breeze filling those sails is more than enough to keep me going. I fantasize about a day, in the not too distant future, when I can kick back on deck in some tropical anchorage aboard this beautifully restored sailboat and do nothing all day long. Until then I'll keep plugging away.