House Duties

Well, not much progress was made on the boat lately.  The weather has been beautiful (a great time to sail), but tasks around the house and yard prevailed.  Work was done in the flower garden, but mostly we have had a chain saw running.  We topped the 5 leland cypress (took off 15' or more), had to "notch" a tree and replace an 8' section of fence (the tree has grown so much it is pushing/bowing the fence), and found one of our sweetgum trees was riddled with termites at the base.  Unfortunately this tree was leaning toward the shed, so it had to come down before Mother Nature decided when and where it would fall.

Sweetgum trees

Termite damage

Topping the leland cypress

Notching oak tree for fence

But, before all the yardwork, Mike has been finishing the formica work.  (It's hard to store large pieces of the formica.)  He replaced the dark colored formica in the aft cabin with the same pattern we used in the galley and on the nav station. 

Old formica stripped

New formica and sink reinstalled

 

 

 

 

He is also working on the top of the dresser in the aft cabin.  All that would be left is the top of one other cabinet next to the settee in the salon.  We haven't decided yet whether we'll bit the bullet and do it now (the weather is colder and makes drying the glue, i.e.,contact cement, a little more difficult) or just cut the piece of formica and store it until it is warmer and easier to dry the glue.

And, to celebrate a decade anniversary this year, we took a sunrise balloon ride over the Eastern shore on Thanksgiving Day.  It was a beautiful ride and we cruised at a max of 1100 ft and 25 mph.  It was like sailing, but in the air.

Sunrise from the balloon over MD's Eastern Shore

Fire-breathing dragon

Happy passengers

More Carpentry and Hot Water

The galley is looking really good these days.  All the trim has been completed and stained.  The corner trim took a few tries, but the end result is perfection.

Corner by stove

Outside corner of refrigerator

The slats along the hull behind the stove were cut and mounted and stained.  The wood came in 3 5' long pieces (all teak) but teak has many different shades.  So we ended up with a very interesting pattern of varying teak tones and really like it.

Teak slats behind the stove

So the galley looks beautiful and ready for some home-cooked meals.  This picture is with it all cleaned up before the rails are stained.  But you can get an idea of how much work was put into it.  We'll post side-by-side pictures  (before and after) once the cabin is completely cleaned.

Galley before trim is stained

Galley view from companionway

The galley wasn't the only project this week.  We also installed a fresh water pump and a hot water heater on a new shelf.

Fresh water pump (upper left corner)

Hot water heater on new shelf

And we replaced the cracked swage fitting for the inner forestay. We wanted to try to keep the quick-release fitting on the forestay, but to get a replacement piece was prohibitively expensive (as was a whole new quick-release fitting).  So we went with the standard turnbuckle approach.

Old fitting (with quick release) and new fitting in place

Also, the length of the backstay was adjusted by cutting off about 1 1/2".  And, Mike worked on the shelving over the nav station, securing the mount for the (fuel and water) gauges and staining and securing the shelf for the electronics.  Hey, it looks like it belongs and was always there!  (He does such good work.)  After we mount the SSB, all the wires will be cleaned up and out of the way.

Weathering Sandy

As you've probably already seen, Sandy blew through one-third of the lower 48 and hit the East Coast hard.  Luckily, the 70 mph winds we saw here were not as damaging as they could have been.  Both the house and Abake came through the storm safely and in tact.  One of the piers at our marina was flooded but for the liveaboards, it was no worries -- they had all the comforts of home.  However, just a little bit further up the coast in New Jersey and beyond were others who weren't so fortunate.  Our hearts go out to them.


While Abake was out of the water, we didn't go on board during the stormy days.  Once it calmed, Mike was able to replace a cockpit drain hose and clean the transducer (so we can have accurate depth readings again), jobs that are much easier with the boat out of the water.  She went back in on Wednesday.  So while she was at the bulkhead, we took the opportunity to move 3 "4D" batteries (each weighing about 120 lbs) on board.  With that weight, it would have been difficult to get them on from the finger pier.  We staged them in the cockpit when one of the yard workers spotted and took pity on one-handed Jenny and her pink cast and helped Mike get them down the companionway steps.  We were grateful for the assistance (and the strength)!

After Sandy at the bulkhead

So the past week or two Mike has been doing his carpenter gig.  He's finished the storage area in the galley under the gunwale, and he has almost finished the shelving behind the stove.  We're still waiting for the slats to arrive to cover the hull area behind the stove.  They should be here any day now.

Storage space replacing microwave/convection oven

Shelving behind the new stove

And, he's been designing and building structures in the nav station for gauges and some of our electronic equipment:

Mounting gauges and electronics