Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Progress Report

Well things are moving along quickly. We spent the first day scraping off barnacles and other assorted sea life. I thought it would be a tough job, but found a plastic paint scraper worked great.Everything just sloughed right off. I think they must have been dead barnacles as the boat has been in reasonably fresh water for the last year.I say resasonably because its a tidal river and im not sure how much sea water comes back this way at high tide.

The next day, David took the pressure washer to the boat and removed as much paint , dead wood and lingering seaweed as he could.



Over the next two days he worked at grinding the paint off. He got one whole side done already. I LOVE the wood. The grain is gorgeous. I so wish I could leave the boat just like that. I want to get the wood working guy back here to do an estimate on the whole job, once we get all the paint off and see what we are actually dealing with. So much of the wood on the one side needs to be replaced with something anyway, if I want the fiberglass to stick. So might as well just do the job right and have a nice wood boat.






Too bad about the crappy patch job we found under the paint, the wood is sound but ugly if I want to go the wood route






Ive decided I dont like the bland look of the rear part of the boat under the back deck where the bedroom is, so have decided to put wood paneling over it to match the paneling on the cabin.



I did a ton of sanding inside the boat. I started with the floors but after seeing how nice they were looking, wanted the rest of the boat to look as good, so also did the sink counter top and kitchen counter as well as some rough spots on the walls. I spent another full day cleaning all the dust out of the boat, sweeping , vacumming, washing down every single inch.

I got the coolest gadget yet. An electric stapler/nail gun. It works great, hardly any effort required ( no sore wrists) I want to nail down some loose parts in the kitchen and reseal all the seams in the wood on the sink counter with caulk. Ive sealed the inside of the boat with plastic everywhere to keep out the water when he pressure washed and keep out the dust and debris while working on things.I really need a workshop, I am getting a rather large collection of tools during these renos.

Ive seriously been thinking about building myself a floathome. Ive been looking on craigslist and picked up a super cute corner jacuzzi tub and matching toilet for free. All I need now is a house to put them in lol.
And they just happen to be raspberry pink which will go with all my burgendy accessories!!





A super cute floathome just came up for sale the other day, I was drooling when I saw the ad. A perfect hobbit house to go with my hobbit boat.







I love how they used wood burls for furniture.




If I don't win the lottery so I can buy this place, this is quite along the lines of what I would like to build. I'd probaly add a second story though as I want an extra room for a massage studio and a good size workshop. If nothing else Im grateful for the inspirations it has given me to see these pictures. Ive been working on a drawing of what I wanted to build but this place best descibes the look and feeling of the place I want. Ive been collecting pictures of some ideas I want to incorporate, someday I will get around to scanning them to show you.


Dream on all you dreamers, there is nothing stopping them from coming true,except your disbalief.

4 comments:

bowiechick said...

Sorry I didn't pop in and see how it is all going. Be nice to keep it all wood instead of glassing it all over. Did you happen to hit the Wooden Boat Fest at Granville Island on the weekend at all? Pretty sweet stuff and you would have been inspired.

Anonymous said...

Oh damn , didnt even know it was on, missed it altogether.Too bad, Im endlessly facinated with other peoples boats now, want to see what they have come up with for solutions to storage,power ect.

rob said...

Don`t let anyone tell you that a bigger boat means more storage it just isn`t true. Bigger boat more kit needed so actually less storage really. :o)) I read of a guy that had "west systemed" his boat to stop all the leaks and mid atlantic the front half got water behind it and it peeled off and he lost his boat! So I for one don`t fully trust it,however the Wharram cats all have it and they last for ever so I guess its in the way that it is done that matters.

Anonymous said...

Hi Rob, well to be honest, I dont know alot about what I am doing, but from what I can gather, it seems if you just fiberglass over the wood, it will eventually separate due to the woods shrinking, swelling and flexing that it goes through. The trick is to mechanically bond the first two layers of glass onto the boat with closely spaced staples or screws(if its a big boat).
The other factor is what kind of glass you use. Regular glass cloth is made of woven strands that produce what looks like a strainer with pools of resin in the holes. If these get cracks, they will leak and they are succeptable to peeling off in large sheets. Matt glass ,however, is formed of a matted tangle of strands going in all directions giving less chance of unsupported holes or tearing.

Alternate layers of Matt and Roving are used, the first two stapled on, then at least two more layers over that. If you have weak spots that need more , you alternate as many layers as you need to build it up.

You also have to be careful how you finish the ends. There should be a good overlap under the boat and to elimanate leaks on the edges, they should not be covered over with trim but tucked in and under an overhanging bevelled recess cut into solid wood.

All through-hulls and openings must be dealt with carefully to insure a perfect seal.

I got a good book detailing the whole process, called "Covering Wooden Boats with Fiberglass" by Allan H. Vaites if you or anyone else wants to know more about it.

I know what you mean about the bigger boat syndrome. Ive looked at boats that have more square footage than me but I still have more storage space. What I really want is a floating cabin to park beside my boat. I want room enough for a proper size fridge( mine only hold condiments before its full), a washer/dryer,a toolroom/workshop,a space to set up my massage table , some seasonal storage and some deck space. My boat is very comfy and livable for quite awhile, but I dont drive it around ( at this point anyway) and if Im going to be tied up, I might as well be comfortable.

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