Lights, tricolours, deckies and climbing gear

Thats what I need to buy at the Southampton boat show...

The lights will be the expensive bit... There are 10 of the overhead ones and about 6 bulkhead lights... And they're £27 and £18 respectively each... and thats with a standard bulb... add another £6 per light for an LED... Ouch!

I'm going to buy the Nasa LED tricolour... was going to get the combined anchor light version, but firstly I don't really like masthead anchor lights and secondly Nasa have put a daft two wire system on it, that means a DPDT switch, and mucks up any sensible switch panel!

....the deckies... Mine have holes!

I've also just bought a climbing harness on eBay... I feel a trip to the masthead coming on.... Aerial, lights and wind instruments to fit!

Varnished saloon 2

Varnished saloon 1

First coat on!

The entire saloon is now resplendent in its first coat of varnish.

It took about 10hrs in total to put one coat on, so with 3 coats planned, that's two weekend's work to finish... Unless its very warm, in which case I might get it done in a single weekend.

As usual, the first heavily thinned coat largely soaks in, so a bit dull... The next will be unthinned, and then the last matt coat to finish (other than a few carefully chosen bits which will be left in gloss)

Overall, it's looking fab though... pics to follow.

Varnish!

A full day!

Finished the last bit of sanding, and then spent 5hrs removing dust!!!... Lots of sweeping, brushing, hoovering and tack ragging...

A nice dry and breezy day helped... opened the hatches and the dust blew out!

Then another 2hrs of wiping down with white spirits and then the varnishing, after several months of prep, was started... Yeah!

Only got a 1/4 of the saloon done before light stopped play, but it's a start!

Almost ready to varnish

A good day. The chart table area is back to bare wood... And half way through the remaining bits by the companionway steps...

Should get that done tommorrow..

And then will begin removing the dust.

Once that's done, i've got a small area of melamine to remove and then can start the varnishing.

First job will be a full wipe down with white spirits. So hope its dry, and I can open all hatches...or i'll be as high as a kite!

switch panel

My nice shiny new switch panel will need replacing! Two of the twenty switches have already failed.... that's what you get for buying them cheaply from eBay!... also, while they were rated at 15A, I suspect that the problem is the current I am putting through them... both of the failed switches have been on the fridge circuit... which I estimate at about 8A... Anyway.... I've researched some nice new switches... not particularly expensive, and I may well use it as an opportunity to firstly use switches that have built in LEDs to remove the need for seperate ones (and they are also perhaps a bit too bright currently), and also to put a relay on the two or three devices that are a bit heavier on current, to take the load off the switch itself.... again, not expensive to do. I did worry about another 'thing to go wrong', but in my experience, relays are pretty robust, and no more likely to fail than the device its powering itself. I have also perhaps used the rewiring to recognise that the switches i've fitted aren't quite the right ones, and I could do with a couple of others, as well as lose a couple.... Finally, I may well look at getting the panel made up professionally.... looks a lot smarter... must talk to friends (Clive - if you're reading this, give us a contact name!) about where they had it done.

Inside again

Fed up with external varnishing (and having run out of varnish again)... I decided to get on with the remaining internal varnishing removal in the main saloon..... The chart table...

I've got half of it removed.... Should be done with another good day's work.

I think i'll have a little construction work to do to fit the radio, SSB and anything else that I need at the chart table... such as a stereo...

Got the rough layout in my head, so will have to do some research on wood options.

Fuel condition

Just dipped the fuel tank, and it looks promising!

After our mini 'flooding' at the end of last year, i'd assumed water had got into the fuel tank (the filler fitting isn't very secure), but extracting a small amount of fuel from the very bottom of the tank suggests its pink, and doesn't look contaminated.... Its pink I suspect as she's had white in the tank at some point (highly likely given where she was kept), but no evidence of water.

I really need two people to check it properly, otherwise i'll spray diesel everywhere, but early signs are positive.

4th coat

Don't suppose it looks much different in these pictures, but it is starting to get that 'mirror' look that I so much wanted.... 2 coats to go!

And another piccy

3rd coat

Looking grand!

more new varnish

new varnish

Shiny shiny!

All wood now resplendent in a second coat of varnish... at just 25% thinners, so a bit more shiny.... Looks great.... pics to follow.

Will try to get back down next weekend to put 2 more of the 6 coats on...

Phew... what a day!

Starting at 09:00, we sanded.... and sanded.... and sanded....

Finished sanding at 17:30.

Two and half hours of varnishing, and the first coat is on the toe rail.... Yah!

Couldn't take a photo as it was getting too dark!!

Will do so tomorrow.

Now I just need to hope it isn't too dewy tonight, and then that it dries in time for a second coat, as we are off home.

As previously, I suspect this first coat will be dissapointing as it is heavily thinned and just soaks in leaving a dull matt finish...

But its a start, and overall Phoenix looks a mile better than previously.

Bare wood!

Toe rail

Phew!

Just stopped for the day after an 08:30 start (sander a bit antisocial this time of the evening when people are enjoying time in their cockpits)

But..... another productive day...

Today's goal.... the toe rail...

We started by applying Nitromors in 3 feet chunks of the 3"x2" toe rail, with Debs applying, and me following behind with a scraper.... and so it went... on and on and on....

By 16:30, we closed the loop, back where we started... a full 110 feet of wood scraped almost back to bare wood... remnants of varnish remain in places... It must have been on 10 years, and it's like concrete!

We did however dance a little jig around the decks in celebration upon getting back where we started!

An hour or so with the sander saw 20 feet nicely finished... so a few hours tomorrow and we'll be ready to apply the first coat of varnish...

Can't wait!

Another fantastic day!

All the forward coach roof done.... Trim and windows... And a second coat on everywhere else...

She's looking fantastic!

Tomorrow, the toe rail begins... And that should really finish off her 'above decks' makeover.

Sunshine

Finally!

Aft windows varnished... forward grab rails back to bare wood and varnished.... second coat on aft trim, aft grab rails and dog house...

Good weather forecast tomorrow too, so hoping that we'll finish forward trim and window frames and perhaps even start on toe rail...

Great progress!

Aft window surrounds back to bare wood.... Still dodging showers!

Varnish and dodging showers

An early start, with the sander, working on the aft coach roof grab handles and trim strip... And dodging heavy rain storms... Had to put a tarpaulin over the dog house to prevent the bare wood getting wet. Its not that the rain hurts the wood, but it takes 2hrs to dry out!

Anyway, the rain cleared, and a first coat on the dog house and then the handles and trim strip...

The first coat is always dissapointing as its heavily thinned, so just soaks in and leaves a dull matt finish... But even so, it still looks a lot better than the old cracked and faded varnish that it replaced.

Tomorrow, the aft coach roof window frames, and then start the forward coach roof equivalents.

Weather forecast is looking a lot better, so optimistic that we'll keep making good progress.

Dog house

No, i'm not in it!

Its the hard cover over the centre of the boat.... And today i've sanded the outside back to bare wood... 8hrs sanding...

I did have to cover it up 3 or 4 times during the day when heavy thundery showers passed through.

Tomorrow varnishing begins!