Monday, March 4, 2013

Interior Pictures.

Well, its been a while since I posted here... we are still using our old (slow) internet connection on the boat and I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and post pictures. For now, I'm going to try doing the text on our home internet connection and uploading the photos directly from my phone using a blogger app. Winter is still with us, despite the dry weather here on the West Coast, so all of our efforts continue to be on the interior fit-out. I am determined to not live in a construction zone for years and years so most of our weekends are spent working on some aspect of the boat. I've been jumping around a bit, but recent work has included aft cabin cabinets and finish, completing the galley and dinette, and starting on the wheelhouse interior panelling and finish work. What usually drives the to-do list is "what materials am I tired of tripping over? One nice addition to the wheelhouse has been a tank monitoring system for our fresh, gray, and black water tanks. No more lifting hatches to sight the tanks - it's all on a digital read-out with alarms for high and low levels. The tank tender (below the digital gauge ) is for sounding fuel tanks. It uses air pressure to read how many inches of diesel are in each tank. Next to this is a table that converts inches to gallons for each fuel tank. I haven't hooked up the fuel tank end of this system yet but it is very simple in principle. The plywood that we were using for a dinette table was getting pretty gross, so I used some left over black laminate to make a temporary table thats a little easier to keep clean. Eventually I'd like to do some kind of cool inlaid wood top, but this will do for now. Also found some inexpensive patio furniture cushions that will get us by until we build some proper upholstered benches. I kind of like the jungle look. We continue to work on aft cabin and aft head cabinets. The cabinets shown are mostly raw wood still, but will darken up like the galley cabinets once I put some finish on them. Results are starting to show and it's great getting our stuff out of cardboard boxes. Also put in a neat little computer desk which I am sitting at to type this post. Definitely need to upgrade the lawn chair seat soon though. In the wheelhouse, we are using some more of the doug fir T&G for wainscoting. Above this (between the windows) will be painted plywood panels and mahogany trim. Speaking of which, I started ripping down some of the 4x4 and 2x3 pieces of salvage mahogany that I found out in West Marin a couple of years ago. I have no idea how old it is or where it came from originally, but looks like really nice stuff once you remove the grey weathered exterior. extraordinary deep red with lots of swirl and figure to the grain. These pictures don't really do it justice. Once its all ripped and surfaced, this will make nice trim and countertop edging. -PB





























































9 comments:

  1. Looking really good. :))

    Bill Kelleher

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  2. Nice find on the Mahogany. Who/where are the wheel house doors from? Are you happy with them? My two doors are creeping up the to do list.

    Conall

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    1. Hi Conall. Sorry for the late reply, I missed your comment. If you are still looking for wheelhouse doors, check out Diamond Seaglaze. On their home page, click on "in stock doors and windows". This is all their demos, mis-cuts, etc. If you are a little flexible on your sizes (or lucky to find exactly what you want) you can find some smoking deals.

      Peter

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    2. Oh, and yes... Doors are great. Good commercial grade stuff with excellent hardware.

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  3. Great job Peter. Did your doors come complete with jambs? I need to replace a couple of wing doors on our boat and really like the doors you chose. Watching for more updates and pictures.

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  4. Thanks Terry.

    The wheelhouse doors came pre-hung in welded aluminum door frames with an overlay type flange. For our install, we just drilled the flange and bolted them directly into the opening with 316 stainless bolts. We found that it was critical to keep the doors dogged down tight and shimmed in the door frame during install. This keeps everything in alignment when tightening the bolts. We also took some care to try to isolate the aluminum doors from the stainless hardware and steel house using a butyl rubber bedding compound.

    Peter

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    1. Great information Peter. Many thanks for your time to answer my questions. These doors look like very well engineered products. A good source. My doors will be installed in wood walls but I do understand the need to prevent the aluminum parts coming in contact with any stainless steel components. I would like to arrange for a visit to see your boat first hand when I next get down to San Francisco. Our boat is in the Emeryville Marina so it's not too far to drive up for a visit. We moved there from Bozeman, Montana. Our boat is a 63 foot aluminum Chris Craft so I have gained some experience with metal boats and the issues that are unique to them. Thanks again.

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  5. Hi Terry,
    As an aluminum boat owner, I'm sure you've learned the pros and cons of aluminum construction. It's great stuff if you follow the rules.
    I'm definitely no expert on dissimilar metals in marine environments but we have made some observations over the years...
    On the aluminum ferries that I've worked on, it seems that stainless can live with aluminum in certain situations without too much fallout. Where we have seen problems, it's when there are areas that are not allowed to naturally oxidize in the open air (like when the metals are painted over or always damp. Usually if the aluminum is painted, and the hardware is not very well isolated, the paint will fail around the fasteners and radiating outward. When damp and closed off to fresh air, the aluminum will also eventually start corroding away. We've had our best luck with these two metals by isolating the hardware as best we can and keeping the surfaces unfinished and free to naturally oxidize.

    I'd be happy to give you a tour sometime. Shoot me a message via this blog next time you are in town.

    Regards,
    Peter

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