30th January 2011

Spent some more time working on the inside, the galley this time. The original work surface was 18mm Ply covered in a yellow patterned formica. As I needed to replace the sink the old work surface was going to need to be replaced. I looked for 25mm work surface, but couldn't find anything suitable and normal work surface is too thick. However, in B&Q they sell some cheap surface which is only 38mm thick and was ideal, its a nice granite colour so it will match the internal colours scheme. You can see the large tiles I'm going to use for the splash back, they are a slate affect so everything will tie in nicely. 

The layers of varnish are building up as is the paint in the rear cabin, its lifted my spirits a bit seeing her come together and I can keep warm in the rear cabin with the gas heater on. 

23rd January 2011

Guess what? More rot!!! I'd found a soft patch on the rear deck, and tried to seal it with resin, but in the end, like all the other rot I've found it was time to cut it out. Guess I know what I'll be doing at a later date...

17th January 2011

I decided to refurbish the interior lights, the chrome was discoloured, the glass needed a good clean and the back/reflectors were rusty and faded. These are the before images:

Brasso, elbow grease and a quick spray of paint on the reflectors and they look as good as new:

15th January 2011

I've spent so much time recently working on the outside and cutting rot away that I decided to do some work on the inside. Chopping the rot away has been demoralising and hopefully varnishing and painting the inside will lift my spirits a bit. You can see how the timber has come up with a simple coat of varnish, already looking a thousand times better. I've decided to paint the inside with Sadolin Superdec Opaque paint, its water based and according to the details I've read doesn't need to be sanded between coats, will not peel, fade or crack and doesn't need an undercoat and should last 8 years. 

  

 

  

I'd also routed the rear timber that covers the transom, it was an £80 piece of timber and I had to route and plane off about £60 to create the shape I needed. Its a pity I don't have a hamster anymore as I could have used the sawdust for it.

9th January 2011

Originally Sabrina had two dinettes in the rear that converted to beds, I've decided to change one of the tables into a bench seat so that I can fit the calorfier under it and fit a larger one at the same time.

19th December 2010

Haven't been down to Sabrina as much as I would have liked to recently due to holidays, this is the first day in over a month and it was a little cold:

Spend a couple of hours tidying up, but after a couple of hours I couldn't feel my toes so had to give up.

17th October 2010

I spent today sorting out the hole in the starboard side and also that side of the cockpit. The cockpit is just a reassembly job.

 

I'm getting to be an old hand at cutting out the rot and replacing it with good timber. The trick is to cut it back to good wood, trying to get it in line with a support timber so that the new panel can be easily screwed in place, where that isn't possible I use hardwood behind to create the support, making sure there is an overlap of at least 2 inches. I coat the timber with epoxy mixed with some filler to create a very thin paste so that when the screws tighten it squeezes out of the ends. I then run a finger over the excess to create a small fillet to add strength and to make sure its well packed in. I then make the new in fill panel and do the same, making sure all the joints are full of resin and filler, making sure the resin is proud of the joint so I can sand it flat once the resin has gone off. It does get kinda messy as the resin paste is very thin and its advisable to wear gloves. Its all held together with stainless steel screws. Once you have got the hang of it its actually very easy and quick to do and it makes more sense to just chop out the rot just to be on the safe side.

   

I also planed off the side timbers for the sliding roof, originally the sides were plywood so overtime rotted as part of the changes I have made to her I have been replacing some of the ply with hardwood to help prevent any future rot.  Thank goodness for the thicknesser planer.