Progress Update: October 28th

 'Loading the skiff'

DJ has been working on a project in North Carolina all summer and hopefully will be wrapping it up and back to the ship soon. He has been back a few times and this trip we made excellent progress with some very heavy lifting. 
We removed the 400 lb granite top table that was on the back deck and this made room for the tools that have been stored in the utility trailer.

We are really liking that knuckle boom crane! I mean, really really liking. Our backs are liking it as well.

Bandsaw base and motor

A large router table

Joiner and base

Table saw and base

Bandsaw

Our back deck now looks like a workshop like the rest of the boat!

The granite table which was sold to a new home.

Penny was enjoying the empty space with the table gone but that didn't last long!

Didn't take long to put things to work. 
Ripping guides for a new pocket door.

Thanks to Gary Blanton for the donation of the dado set and some extra blades. Didn't take long to put them to work!

The start of the pocket door leading into the shop. Space is very narrow through here so a normal hinged door would impinge on the little space there is.

Progress Update: Oct. 9th

The first wood shop storage cabinets are painted and ready for use. Amazing what can be accomplished with scrap wood from other projects!

Eric has taken a break from building cabinets to complete some other projects. The forward head walls have been prepped and primed and the first primer coat is on the shower stall. The primer has to set a week before we can paint in order for it to cure properly and accept the epoxy paint we will top coat with. There is one section or wall to be cut out and replaced to improve the way storage is utilized. It sure looks and smells much better in there now!

Next he will be building a sliding door for the work shop and then go back to cabinets. The section next to the doorway to the shop has been partially torn out, sanded and painted with Kilz. The door will slide along the wall in this area. The rest will be rebuilt into storage cubbies.

 The last of the scrap plywood cabinets built. More to follow!

Eric prepping the forward head walls.

 Getting ready to prime the shower

 

Shower (before)

 Shower (primer coat)

A really nasty grinding prep and sanding job!

This is the area that held the A/C for the lower cabins, head and laundry room. We have changed the AC unit locations.

The sliding door will be built here.

Primer coat

 

 Lots of fresh cut cleat stock for the

next round of work shop cabinets.

Progress Update: Sept. 26th

In spite of a heart attack and slow healing shoulder wound, progress is being made!






 Upper storage cabinets in forward shop. Still need paint and then snap on canvas covers.

Support collar for the drill press and top step for the forward emergency escape hatch. The drill press is also bolted to the deck, don't want it coming loose at sea.

Eric laying up patterns for the first cabinet. Each piece is odd angles and some curves because of hull shape.

 Eric building the first cabinet

Patterns for every piece! Very time-consuming process but well worth it for the end result.

 The hallway looks wonderful with the new FRP panels!

Eric working on the walls in the lower head. He had to quit after a bit, his shoulder is giving him a lot of trouble while its healing. He's getting a lot of rest but the idleness is driving him crazy. He's not very happy with interruptions in working on projects.

Progress Report: August 27th

On July 28th, Eric was rudely interrupted by a heart attack. He received two stents. The main artery to his heart was 99% blocked. He's recovering now and getting much better! 
Progress has resumed although Eric is working on a small side job to help pay some of our personal bills so he is split between the two jobs for a short time. 

( Eric prepping for the FRP panels)

The shop overhead is finished! The black area is the emergency hatch.

The top outer 1/4 section of the door frame for the lower head was too badly burned and could not be salvaged. Eric made new pieces and they look perfect! 

The two remaining door frames in the hallway were sanded, primed and painted before prepping the walls for FRP panels.

Mary cleaning up after the over-all hallway sanding. 

Our beautiful new panels!!

Right side of the hallway. The left side still needs to be done.

Stopping an annoying leak in the aft cabin we recently painted.

Progress Update: July 24th

(Eric painting large overhead panel)

The last two weeks Eric has been splitting his time between the ship and a temporary marine service job. We made slow progress with on-board projects but progress non the less. The overhead in the shop has the perimeter finished, one large panel installed and another large panel set to go up Monday. 
The crew head is spackled and ready for sanding and the hallway walls are ready to be covered. We will be using textured FRP sheets for the hallway which is similar to fiberglass shower-board. 

Overhead perimeter panels

First large panel installed

The crew head

 Fiberglass station

Adhesives and Putty station

 

 Painting station

Link to past Progress Reports

Island Missions Support, Inc.

The above link contains all previous posts with progress reports and photos from 7/7/14 - 8/27/16

Due to a computer failure in which all data was lost, access to our missions blog has been redirected by Blogger to this former blog.  All future postings will be written here.

Update - 7/7/14

We are now in the process of shutting down the wood shop and are scheduled to be finished by the end of July. It's a huge job and there are only the two of us but we are making good headway. It is amazing the amount of stuff one can accumulate over 11 years! As we are cleaning everything out, we are also setting aside many items that will be used on and for the future mission work boat. At this point we have a good supply of wire for re-doing the electrical systems (Which our son DJ will be in charge of) and various large metal boxes and tie-downs for the cargo hold, some wood, fasteners and fiberglass for refurbishing and building the interior to our needed specifications. There are also many tools that will be used for working on the vessel and also for a small on-board shop (which will be very important).

After the shop is closed Eric will be working in a wood shop that is only about 15 minutes away. He will be running the CNC Robotic Router (They bought it from us on the condition that Eric came with it :) The owner is very well aware of our calling to the mission field and understands that Eric will only be temporary. He will be training others to use the machine.

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Update!! The Missions Support Vessel!

In December of 2014, we were donated a one hundred and fouteen foot vessel that will be perfect for the work the Lord has called us to do in the South Pacific. Unfortunately, prior to it being donated, it received some damage in the forward cabin areas as the result of a small on-board fire. Because of this, *some work will be necessary in order to tear out the damaged areas and do an extensive cleaning due to the soot damage that happened as a result of the fire. Fortunately, redoing the damaged areas will give us the ability to rebuild the interior to our own unique needs and specifications, which we would have needed to do anyhow. The carpets and vinyl overhead have already been removed, and one of the first things we will do is the soot removal.

*Update: This phase has been completed and progress photos may be viewed here.

Both Eric and DJ are very experienced when it comes to boat repair. As a result, they are fully capable of doing any and all work required to complete this refit, which means we expect to be able to do most of the work ourselves.

At the time of this writing, the vessel continues to be docked in Louisiana. Even though there is quite a lot of work that needs to be done to her, we know that she is a very well built vessel and is in extremely good condition. Fortunately none of the mechanical systems were damaged by the fire, so we will be able to focus most of our attention on the refit and clean-up operation. We expect this work to begin on February 23, 2015.

Our Facebook page and this website will be updated as often as is possible, and we will include not only update reports but we will also post photos of the work in progress as we move closer towards the goal of getting her ready for the task the Lord has laid before us.
An interesting fact is that this vessel was originally built in 1971, in accordance with the ABS shipping standards of that time. During that time the requirements were such that vessels like this were required to be built with a heavier aluminum construction. Therefore, she was built far heavier than today's boats, which will turn out to be very important given the islands we want to be able to access.

Her specifications:

Length 114'
Beam 22'
Draft 6'

Engines are a pair of Cat 346 diesels. Non computer controlled and equipped with air starters. We consider that a bonus for where she will be serving! Fresh water cooled via raw water heat exchangers. They are in excellent condition.

She has 3" two piece stainless shafts and 39" four bladed stainless steel propellers. 

Fuel capacity is around 6000 gallons in four tanks.

Water capacity is 1500 gallons in two tanks.

5 bilge pumps with high water alarms plus a 240 volt dewatering / firefighting pump with two hose stations.

Electric generation via a 45 KW Perkins diesel genset and a 65 KW Isuzu genset.

She is equipped with a hydraulic system via a power pack and a pto on the Perkins generator. The hydraulic system runs the anchor windlass, bow thruster and a 2500 lb Hiab knuckle boom crane.

As you can see from the photos she is a very well built vessel and we feel very blessed to have been given a vessel that will meet our needs perfectly.

From the laundry room forward things will be getting torn out and replaced. There will be additional bunk space, a small workshop and possibly a small sound / recording booth for supporting language translation work.