June 24th, 2008

While I had a pretty ambitious schedule for working on the boat today, the weather gods didn't see things the same way(although they did provide some really exiting thunderstorms) and as a result there is still a lot of the hull to be sanded. On the other hand, this did give me the opportunity to finish cleaning up below, and for the first time in three years the bilges are bone-dry and ready for fresh paint, and I am pretty satisfied with the level of cleanliness down there.

This picture shows the forward view of the cabin. Some touch-ups are needed with the white paint, and the support for the mast needs to be refinished, as do the bulkheads which you can see from the peeling varnish.

Here is the cabin looking aft, which is a lot better than it looks. The hull here is all prepped for paint, so it should look a lot better soon once it is freshly painted. Woodwork still needs to be stripped and refinished, but that shouldn't take too long here (the varnish is already peeling off).

This is a view of the bilge. This is the best its looked in a long time! Free of dirt and debris, dry, some new plumbing in place, and ready for paint.

Once the bilge has been repainted, the cabin sole can go back in which will make it a lot easier to work down below.

Meanwhile, I have gone back to Cambridge for work on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and will be sailing at MIT this weekend. Not to leave the project at a standstill, I loaded all the interior components (cabin sole, companionway ladder, hatches, shelves and berth supports) into my car and have set up shop in the garage at our house in Cambridge.

As you can see, with a couple of old doors I was able to set up enough table space to lay everything out, so the varnishing should commence later this week.

That's all for now...