Quick update...

Lots of different projects going right now . Heres a quick update... Did some surgery on the wheelhouse console to add room for bilge pump switches below the main distribution panel. Just couldn't find another good place for these so, out came the jigsaw. Also cut out for a Murphy alarm panel that will be wired to bilge and engine alarms. Added wiper switches and horn button to the main instrument panel too. In the aft stateroom, we did some rough carpentry and framing on the master closet and bathroom. The head was particularly challenging due to the rise in the bottom plating in this corner of the boat. Getting the floor and toilet platform in was a mind bender (nothing straight or square to work with). Plumbing is also ongoing with more work on the sewage and gray water piping which is all 1.5" ABS with hose at the connections to the heads, pumps, and tanks. This should help keep everything relatively odor free as the hard pipe is very good at containing smells. I've been doing lots of engine room work and I've kind of lost track of all the projects there, so I included some pics showing general engine room progress.

More exhaust, plumbing work, interior framing... and an eclipse

Another busy couple of weeks have flown by so I'll do a quick catch up. Dave continues to assist with plumbing and whatever else we are up to on the weekends. Currently the big push plumbing-wise is to get all the 1 1/2" ABS pipe run for black water and grey water systems. I've also been working on the install of water pumps, vacuum pumps, filters, etc. Almost all this stuff is situated in the engine room under the work bench and making it all fit in some sort of logical, serviceable arrangement has been a challenge. From past personal experience, when it comes to black water and grey water components, proper relative elevation of pumps and piping and hose is the key to odor free systems and easy to service pumps. With this installation, my goal was to have everything drain away from the transfer and vacuum pumps and have no low spots in the plumbing to hold the nasty stuff. So far its all working out but it takes a lot of thought (time) to do it right. Just another set of details to obsess over... Finished a neat little project on the aft swim step. Took an aluminum Bomar lift out hatch, welded on some hinges and made a box for the interior out of 1/8" x 4" aluminum flatbar (radiused to match the shape of the hatch and welded up watertight). Now we have a bulletproof transom shower and salt water fish washdown station that seals up with a twist of the handle. This idea goes way bak to when we were designing the boat and I couldn't bring myself to put one of those plastic shower boxes on a steel boat. Nice to finally get it done. Installed the two auxillary exhaust pipes, one for the diesel furnace/water heater and the other for a future DC genset. Also started on some more interior framing in the aft cabin. We are really trying to get the boat finished enough to launch and live on (while we finish all the trim and detail work) by the end of the Summer or early fall. For us, art of living on board comfortably includes having a finished sleeping cabin and head so that is where I am putting my attention right now. And finally, some pictures of us watching the solar eclipse... couldn't get any pictures of the eclipse itself so this is all we've got. It didn't get completely dark but the change in the quantity and quality of light was very noticeable and you could see the ring of sunlight around the dark moon clearly with a welders mask. Last pic is of the weird blurry double shadows during the event. Pretty cool.

Some help from our friends...

Our good friend and neighbor Dave was kind enough to spend his weekend helping us with some more carpentry. Dave's specialty is plumbing, but he has a good handle on all the trades. Having some outside help was a rare treat as we have been doing almost the entire fit-out by ourselves to date. Dave is looking at starting his own boat building project this year (composite construction catamaran) and a weekend on our project hasn't scared him off... he is very skilled and efficient and it was a pleasure having his help.

We knocked out the side-shell planking in the galley area and the guest cabin forward. Closing up the guest cabin area required the installation of some plumbing for the fill and vent for one of our water tanks. This gave us a chance to dig into our big box of pex tubing and fittings that had been sitting in storage for the last year. The first line we ran was one inch pex for the water tank #1 fill. Pex is great stuff but definitely a challenge to work with in this (larger, more rigid) size. Other than the water fills, the rest of the pex plumbing on the boat will be 3/4 and 1/2". After starting our plumbing wrestling with the 1", those smaller sizes should be a piece of cake. We have two more sections of side-shell planking, then we'll be switching gears and starting on the plumbing for the potable water, raw water anchor wash-down, black and gray water (toilets and drains), and hydronic heater plumbing. Started the install of the engine room located pumps, filters and manifolds in preparation for the plumbing work coming up... I think we'll be playing with this part of the project for at least a couple of weeks. What are you up to next week Dave?