Nav Station REDO

I removed the hardwood laminate from the Nav Station, sanded and applied the white plastic flex-board. Though I did not have enough trim to completely finish the job, I got close. It looks good. Satisfied with the REDO.

Fair seas and God bless!

The Good News and the Bad News...

The good news is I have finished the Nav Station. The bad news is I HATE IT!

The stain looked OK on a test piece of wood, but once I applied it, it was way too dark. (I feel like I'm caught in a chocolate nightmare from which I cannot awake). So, today, I'll take it all up and REDO it with a white dry eraser type board, (Sorry, I don't know the official name of the type panel at Home Depot).

Honestly, I was thinking of going that way anyway, and this stain disaster has pushed me on over the edge. The good news is I can use the existing panel pieces as a pattern to cut a ONE piece panel which would be better anyway. Call me crazy but I have to live on this vessel and I have to like the way things are. (I do like the way the bead-board turned out).

Other Good News, the boat is clean and completely organized. It was to a point that it looked like a tornado had gone through a tool-shed and second hand marine parts store. Not anymore. Now she is organized and clean. 

I also did the floor-plan for the P&M Worldwide version of the Westsail 32. (Drop down center-line table).

I still have a long way to go but she is looking better every day.

Fair seas and God bless!

Nav Station Continued...

Today, Nav Station work continued. I am covering the station with a hardwood laminate. The station is not as cluttered as it looks, those things are weighing down the laminate until the glue dries. The electrical panel is mounted on a door that opens for quick and easy access. Tomorrow the opening top gets laminated and all the trim work is scheduled.

Pics below added 3/18/2014

Pics below added 3/20/2014

Fair seas and God bless!

The Field of Dreams...

The boat yard at Indiantown Marina is very large consisting of storage areas and D.I.Y. areas. The storage area is huge with old and newer boats. The number of older boats in this area of the yard is probably four to one, (older boats verses newer boats). I heard a yacht broker refer to the storage area as, "The Field of Dreams".

That made me think about how many people "Dream" of refitting a boat and sailing away, but never finish and fulfill their dream. Some of these boats, (including a Westsail 32), have not been touched for years. As I walked through the storage area today I could almost feel the dreams of so many...so many that gave up, or ran out of time, or money, or health, or simply woke up from their dream. It could be depressing... but... instead of depressing me, it motivated me even more! 

This boat was made of almost all teak wood

So, back to my boat...back to my dream. I vowed to make the twenty-one mile drive every free evening and every day off and any other free time I could manage and work relentlessly toward fulfilling my dream. Despite the blood, (it seems I bleed some every time I work on her), the sweat, (always...it's South Florida), and sometimes the tears, (not really...not yet...). I refuse to let my dream die in a field in a small town in Florida. No, my dream will taste salt-water and feel the spray of far away seas. (Sorry, I'm waxing poetic here)...back to the boat.

Butterfly Hatch fixed...

Then, it was back to the Nav Station. I scabbed in Marine Plywood and made the hinged top that will be decorated with brass decorative brass hinges, secured all electrical lines and other lines such as radio, depth finder, etc.. I will overlay the whole station with some sort of laminate, (I haven't decided what type yet). Next trip, I will build a cabinet for the electrical panel with the means by which the panel can open from top or side for quick and easy access.

 

More to come later.

Fair seas and God bless!