The Adventures of the Sailing Vessel Air Ops, and Her Crew
Boat Projects
The wonderful thing about Air Ops, is that she has been extremely well-cared for, by her owners of many years. Not only are Dave and Merry great people, they were both very conscientious in her upkeep. Therefore, she has relatively few things she requires, before heading offshore. Off course, she is a boat, and has a new owner….
Internal Lighting
Side project, as I continue Head renovations.
The internal lighting is a mixed bag. However, upon exploration, many of the DC powered lights are from Alpenglow lights out of Eureka, Montana. Alpenglow has an RV heritage, but with an owner who was also a sailor. www.alpenglowlights.com
When these lights fade, it is often because the compact flourescent bulbs (CFL) are nearing their end. Alpenglow has recently changed to LED’s. Of course these are much more energy efficient and will, undoubtedly, outlast me.
But the real impact is …. omg. These quality fixtures, with the new LED’s, kick out so much light!. I can finally see my nav station!
A huge shout out to Christine, at aspenglow, for their amazing product.
Aft Head Renovations
Having basically completed the Forward Head (see below; awaiting lights and medicine cabinet, a bit of trim / sealing left to do, …) I decided to see about the aft head.
I decided to take the sink out, since it was easier to install shut off valves without the sink in the way…. then….See? This is all I wanted to do – for safety and ease of working on the renovations, BUT….After the sink, came the fresh water filter system…Started ripping out the walls.Discovered good news / bad news..
The material behind the bamboo was, first of all, the 40 year old fabric. However, to my surprise, behind that was NOT solid mahogany (as had been on both forward and aft walls of the forward head), but instead, a 1/8 or 1/16 inch plywood which had areas of wetness and rot. I was able to pick some of it off with my fingers. But not all, of course. Some required the prybar. And behind that — solid fibreglass / resin! This is going to cut down on sanding, aid in waterproofing and overall form a great backing material for the tiles!
Behind the 40 year old fabric — wood, as expected — BUT….Nasty, hand, crumbling very thin plywood.However, behind the aft wall material — the expected solid mahogany. Awesome!Finger slice from rotten plywoodForward wall with most of the old plywood removedAft wall before angle grinderNote to self — yes, an air nailer is fun and easy, but some poor schmuck is likely to need to remove them at some point, so use restraint (this is 1/10 of the nails removed)Aft wall half done with angle grinder and metal brushCeiling yet to be groundThe Captain needs a shower…..Aft wall done
Aft wall sandedTearing out old shelvingRemoving old carpeting from inside shelvesMore Carpet removalMore shelves to come outMost things stripped outCreating spaces for new panel / drawers and shelvesRemoving solar powered fan – great idea for the tropics – not so much for open ocean and the rain forest areas – unless you like drips down your neck while using the head….Back of the carpetsIn case you wondered what the aft deck below the mizzen was — 1 inch of balsa sandwhiched between fibreglassNow this was a really shitty job…Close up of balsa coreToilet and Lectra San waste system removedYes, that is what it looks like. It smells worse.Cleaned up, SandedReady for paintHeat ducts – I have a plan!New shelf location – i shall put a fold down door above, aft, and a solid mahogany piece forward, for the head heat duct and the remote control for the new electric toiletFloor / shower base ground down and sandedFirst coat onWhen the angle grinder with the wire brush decides to debride your hand — fought back. I think I won. 🙂Bluetooth flushing! And (apparently) toilet paper is allowedAdded a raw water filter before the electric pumpAft wall tiling – just the edges left to trimForward wall tiling – some trim leftThe whole area is soooo much brighter, cleaner and neaterStarboard wall – trim left to doComplete new toilet. Had to replace the polycarbonate base, as this Marine Elegance toilet is slightly longer than the old Raritan model.
Drawer making for the aft head — of course everything must be custom built to fit.
Boards cut on table sawKreg jig and drill to make hidden screwsKreg jib clamped in place and fully drilledResulting holeMore claming and drillingAll 4 drilledDrawer builtCorner right-angle clamps before screwingGlued and screwedTop fold down door with hidden European hingesClosed door. Put a solid block in to mount the heater hose and Bluetooth controlled toilet flush systemDrawers in and most of the bottom fold out wall builtDrawers in actionAlmost done. Painting drawers on deckNew water filter system for redundancyNew taps, filtered water tap and soap dispenserDrawers workFold down euro hinges workfront drawer is biggerFold out door to cover bottom systemsManaged to get most leaks stoppedSanded down teak floorAdded ledge with sealed back stopCustom ledge needed to provide room for accessoriesDiesel heater and A/C now can open properly into the headRaritan lectrasan sanitation system works againRaritan bluetooth toilet controlTiles finisheDetailed raritan controlNew faucet controls, fresh drinking water and soap dispenserDoor cleaned up and re-installed
More to come, as renovations continue….
Forward Head Renovations
We decided to start small. Or relatively so. It was still big. Here is the forward head, pre-renovation:
Forward Head, Before Renovations Started
It was a good head. The Raritan toilet worked well, but needed a rebuild. The bamboo wall panelling was seperating in some locations. The ceiling material was sagging. The plastic sliding doors sometimes popped out. The sink was feeling it’s age.
So the demolition began:
Sink removedBamboo paneling came outCeiling liner came downCeiling coming downMore ceilingWall liner behind the bambooOriginal wall linerHair dryer went1984 shelf materialOriginal carpet-lined shelves had to goFront wall liner and cabinet face goneA very small part of the mess
Then the big guns had to come out — angle grinder to remove the mold and old glue from the walls, multi-tool , circular saw, jigsaw, etc. to remove shelves:
Removed shelves around holding tankShelves were VERY well glassed inAft mahogany wall back behindMore shelf removalReally came to value the suit, respirator and safety glassesA bit dusty…Much measuring was done
After grinding, random orbital sanding, creation of dust, mess and more dust…
Ceiling paint going onBack wall painted and tile going up, new cabinet framing going up
Of course it is a boat, so there are no straight edges. And the top shelf needed to be closed in and the boat had to be modified to match the new shelves. So we cut backing material, then used fibreglass, then bondo, then fine material to fill in…
Garry helping with fibreglassAnd more fibreglassTop left is the area we needed to bring out flush with the top cabinet shelfMessy jobFibreglass doneBondo over fibreglass to smooth it outSanded bondoMore smoothing requiredFinal fine material going on
Buy mahogany, prep, prep more, prep again….
Matching the new mahogany to the original vent mahoganyCustom made bottom planks to accommodate wiring and plumbingBare wood before urethane3 coats with 220 grit sanding in betweenLOVE these tools – hinge jig from KregDoor fronts coming together
And now you can start to see the master plan coming together (of course the master plan changed 5 times as we had to adapt….)
Base installedFraming doneDoor access to plumbingDoors installedDrawer building at homeSome drawers inDrawer workHandles onAlmost finishedTop shelf door in, cleaned out. DONE with cupboardsTrim finished and installedToilet out, floor repaintedNew shelf, with towel rack, protecting toilet paper.New TP holderMedicine cabinet / mirror added, side shelf fastened downGrab bar / towel rack addedForward head is completed
This is just a list, for so I don’t forget what we did.
AIS
Iridium Go / Predict Wind
Main Halyard
Radar Repair
Watermaker Repair
Engine Overheating / Losing Coolant / Hot Water System
