126 Days!

That number is getting smaller too quickly now. We have about 18 “Boat Days” until she is shipped to her slip in Wiarton. At that point we are having bow thrusters installed and the cockpit upholstery done. 18 days to get the rest of the living area cabinets done and the headliner completed.

18 days!

It doesn’t seem like a lot does it?

This particular boat day started sunny and cold.

Our plan was (and is) to start again in the v-berth and work our way aft to start finishing everything off. Donald worked on the v-berth’s bed area.

Here he is joining two panels together to make one long one. Since the grain runs the length of the sheet we can only get 4′ wide panels at the most. By butting them together we can then make wider panels with the grain running in the proper direction. He is using a biscuit joiner to connect the two panels.

We have to find the best angle for the panel as we are putting it in and are basically making this up as we go along.

It took us a few hours to fit and install just this one panel. Lots of adhesive goes into this kind of work. We don’t want to see any exposed fasteners.

Here he is putting in a small filler strip. Like I said we use lots of adhesive bit it cleans up easily with acetone.

Donald then cut the top for the platform that will run beside the mattress. This creates a 2″ recessed area that will effectively lock the mattress into place.

Next week he will make a top cap for the angled wall that will run into the hull just under the windows. The fun part will be making the mirror image of the whole thing for the starboard side.

He also made and installed a panel on the inside of the vestibule entrance to the v-berth.

Now he can frame in the door jamb to the v-berth. One step closer to hanging our first door.

Donald put the doors on the storage area under the foot of the bed.

My work was a little easier. I cut out the templates for the helm panels matching the existing ones.

Our electrician will use these to mark up the locations of the switches and gauges. We will then send these to a company in Florida that makes custom panel insert for the helm.

Speaking of the electrician…

Dan (from CAS Marine) on the left and our electrician Jon stopped in to start figuring out what we will need for the boat. They are smiling because they know how much this is going to cost us.

Over the next few weeks all of the wiring will be installed. Since the walls are open it will be easier (and cheaper) to run the wiring.

I added a few more pieces of Corian to the head.

I also cut holes for the electrical boxes.

In the vestibule…

In the sit down eating area…

In the v-berth… This was my first one and I had to cut through 3 panels so it isn’t as pretty as it should be.

I wasn’t planning putting one here but someone talked me into putting in a TV… And now we have one. The entrance to the v-berth is on the left. The opening behind the TV will be filled in with frosted glass.

I also installed an outlet in the head along with an air conditioning vent and taps.

My final job this weekend was to cut a hole in the floor where we will need to access the motor for the bow thrusters. Luckily the location for the access is where we were planning on putting a base cabinet for the frosted glass panel to close in the old entrance to the v-berth.

There is a lot of expanded foam to remove so the tube can be installed, glassed in and the motor installed.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for following along.