Merry Christmas!

This might be the last blog post of 2019 so I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a merry Christmas. Whatever this holiday season means to you I hope it is a happy and safe one.

And remember…the daylight hours are now getting longer.

This boat day was sunny and mild. A beautiful day.

With the sun shining on the winter cover it was nice and warm inside.

I have never shown the layout of this particular model and year. Here is what I am assuming are the original hand drawn plans for the 1987 460 Express Cruiser. There were two layouts available around that time.

This weekend we were mainly working in the mid berth and former ensuite head.

Donald would cut each panel and we would fit it. We don’t want any exposed fasteners which means there is a lot of adhesive used.

The adhesive creates a good amount of suction on the wall but we still have to brace the panels limiting our movement in an already tight spot.

Here Donald is prefitting the next panel

We have to make sure the edge of the return panel lines up perfectly with the hallway panel. We will be putting in a finished jamb so they need to be even.

The adhesive squeezes out from the joint but acetone cleans it up easily.

It took half the day to install five panels in the mid berth. Since we won’t be having any base to cover the gap at the finished floor…there can’t be a gap at the finished floor.

Laminate typically has the grain running the length of the sheet so, in order to make wide panels with vertical grain, Donald has to cut two pieces and join them together. When he is done with them it is extremely difficult to find the joint.

We then moved over to the former ensuite head. We decided to make this the entrance to the v-berth and will be installing some small storage cabinets here as well. One of these cabinets will be where we put the centre cushion for the drop down table in the eating area. This is where our second almost-full-size bed will be. In this photo we installed a white laminate panel to act as the back of the tall cabinet. It is only about 6″ deep including the door.

The cushion will be in the bottom section and the top will be where we will mount all of the drivers for the LED lights.

In my last post I talked about making something for the boat that was a bit more on the artsy side. We will be needing a table for the cockpit and I came up a design similar to a table I saw in a local restaurant. In the fall I collected a bunch of maple leaves with the plan to somehow use them for the boat. Here are a few photos of the table so far.

I poured a base of epoxy in the two recessed areas and added leaves to them.

The leaves on the left were supplied by our goods friends in Smithers BC. Jill and Kevin (yes… THAT Kevin) picked them in the fall and sent them to me. Jill then traveled to Halifax and picked the ones on the right.

The plan is to have leaves from coast to coast. I added red maple leaves I picked myself.

Tanya (our good friend and neighbour) found the most perfect leaf to finish it off.

I have a couple of more pours of the clear epoxy to do but this is what it looks like.

W.C. Fields said to never work with animals or children. I would like to add leaves and epoxy. In order to preserve leaves they should be ironed between sheets of waxed paper. This helps maintain the vibrant colours. It also leaches into epoxy. I am hoping that the next two coats will help minimize this. They also tend to move when the epoxy is settling so you have to keep repositioning them until it starts to cure. Still…I am very happy with the over all look.

Donald and I are planning on working next Saturday. We don’t like skipping boat day!