Progress Update: May 18th

(Eric removing the upper deck companionway trim)
Due to needed repairs on the upper deck and fighting the seasons' termite swarms, finishing work on the lower cabins has been postponed for a bit. It's also going to get blistering hot very soon so this is the time to fix some leaks, do some repairs and also a bit of exterior painting. 

Eric wrote the following on our ministry FB page concerning this photo of the current project: 

"Ok, now for Eric's "Don't do this" comment of the day on boat repair and maintenance. Today's pile of rot and corrosion brought to you by my nemesis for the last three decades. Silicone caulk.

It has very few places it can be used successfully on a boat and never on the exterior, ever. I will slap you up side the head if I catch you doing it!

All this could have been avoided if the last person who worked on this had just taken a little more time and care and the proper stuff to bed it in.

I now have several hours of work cleaning up this mess before I can even think of reinstalling new trim and this time drilling and tapping fasteners into properly sized holes instead of stripping out the heads on stainless wood screws trying to force them through aluminum with undersized holes."

Grinding 









 

Ground clean and epoxy filled screw holes

Cleaning aluminum oxide out of deep
pitting with a pick to get a good bond.

 Epoxy fairing compound applied to pitting

(This has to cure for 24 hours before sanding)

On another note, Eric has finished the workshop rectangular port! Completely salvaged frame with new glass installed.

 New gasket in the refurbished workshop port

Fantastic! Outer trim will be a future project. 

       This is what we started with.

Progress Update: May 6th

Getting a 200 lb cast iron compressor off the boat! This is the engine driven air compressor for the old pneumatic fin stabilizer system that we will not be using. 

It was a whopper and a little more than we were going to carry up the engine room stairs. So it was a combined effort with a come along winch, the crane and a lot of grunt work.

 

A team effort!

Progress Update: May 5th

 (Eric prepping workshop port frame )

The rectangular ports are finished and Eric is now working on the round ports in the engine room. The workshop port has been salvaged. Glass has been ordered for it and hopefully it will be in next week. The glass for the round workshop ports has arrived and we are waiting to hear back from the welder about building some modified frames. 

Our broken dishwasher has been replaced with a beautiful donated one. We also received a really nice GE Microwave and fully equipped KitchenAid Mixer!

DJ has been experimenting with building an LED lighting system for the workshop and all the cabins up forward. We may end up putting them in the main salon as well.
 

 Workshop port frame repaired and painted.

Removing the broken dishwasher

 DJ prepping the old dishwasher for removal

DJ wiring a new switch for the dishwasher. The old one had some sketchy wiring that was replaced. He had to run new wire through some difficult spots but patience prevailed! 



 

 Dishwasher waiting to be installed

 Beautiful!

Very nice donated  microwave!

 This KitchenAid will come in very handy when there are teams of 8-14 people on-board during mission, medical and disaster work.

New 1/2 inch tempered glass for workshop ports. 

 DJ's LED lighting experiments

 Lots of new storage under the bunks 

in the cabin we just finished painting.

Progress Update: April 7th

 (Eric working on restoring the last fire damaged door)

Eric was able to salvage the door for the head up forward. It was burned on one corner but he repaired the spot and then sanded it well. After primer and paint it looks really good!

We had a really heavy rainstorm about 5 days ago and decided it was time to fix some leaky ports. Eric is now replacing all the old gaskets in the ports and making repairs where needed as he goes along. There are 16 rectangular ports and an additional 6 round ports that are in the engine room. He's on number 4 right now. 
   4 extra round ports are in the wood shop and 1 rectangular. The fire destroyed the rims on the round ones and we are now in the process of finding a good price on tempered glass to replace them as fixed port lights. The rectangular one has a chance at being salvaged but may be completely replaced as well.

 The door repaired and painted!

Eric working on the first port. This is the one that had a very bad leak caused by poorly adjusted pivot pins and a very old degraded gasket . After repairs and a new gasket, it is sealing beautifully!

 Applying adhesive

Pepping the gasket with weather strip adhesive. Then seated on the rim with a rubber mallet.

Everything is wiped down and cleaned

 before the hatch is put back on.

 

Progress Update: March 29th

(Mary applying first coat of paint)

The 9 dresser drawers for the forward cabin are just about finished. They need a little paint touch-up on the faces and they will be good to go. 
They were really nasty and smoke stained as this cabin was right next to the one with heavy fire damage. We were able to salvage them with a bit of work. They look great!

Eric prep sanding the drawers

ready for primer

 Mary hand-sanding primer

Two coats of paint after one coat of primer. Just need a bit of touch-up on the faces.

Beautiful donated handles

 

Progress Update: March 22nd

 (Eric doing sanding prep)

The forward cabin is painted! The drawers for the 2 dressers still need to be sanded and painted, the overhead customized and the floor carpeted. 
The new mahogany hand rail and walnut floor trim have also been installed in the forward hallway. 

 Penny supervising!

Primer coat on the walls.

This bunk storage space needed some extra work. Eric shored up one of the inner floorboards and also filled several cracks and openings along the bottom back section with 2 applications of expanding foam. The foam was then trimmed flush and painted.

 Getting started with primer inside one of the dressers. The bottom back had an opening that we filled with expanding foam.

Mary applying first coat of paint.

Penny supervising installation of floor trim. The mahogany hand rail looks really nice!

Progress Update: March 4th

(Eric making floor trim)

The hallway floor is painted and Eric is now making upper trim and baseboard as well as a mahogany hand rail. Amazing what you can make out of leftover scrap!
Spackling is completed in the forward cabin and sanding has begun. 

Eric sanding, grinding and puttying the old plywood flooring. 

Mary applying Kilz primer. 

Eric applying the second coat of gray.

Beautiful!

Eric cutting out the mahogany hand rail for the forward hallway.

Hand rail ready for finish sanding and then varnish.

Eric sanding black walnut trim for the forward hallway.

 Work has begun in the second cabin up forward.