It really is interesting how time can change your perspective on things. When we started boat day on November 16th of last year we couldn’t wait to put the winter cover on but now, a mere 5 months later, we can’t wait to take it off. Unfortunately we can’t do that quite yet.

Although we have 1 of the hatches now we don’t know when we are getting the other 3. When I originally ordered them I gave my supplier the wrong information. I gave them the dimensions but wasn’t specific enough in my email as to whether it was the opening size or the overall size. I should have double checked and now I am dealing with the fallout.

With most things being shut down I can’t even find out the status of the order. I will remember to double check with my next boat. Of course I will have to live on that same boat because Leanne will probably kick me out of the house.

We are hoping that everything will be in place by the end of April for the cover to come off.

I think I’ve mentioned before that some boat days seem to be better and more productive than others. We both felt that we didn’t get as much done this past Saturday as we usually do and that may be because we did more thinking this week (and before Kevin and Jason can get their inevitable helpful comments in …. yes … we do think sometimes). It seemed there was more planning and figuring things out.

Case in point…

Donald wanted to cover up a small beam that spanned the width of the boat so that he could then start working on the enclosure for the removable panels behind the helm. This is the area that houses all of the mess of wires and instruments to actually operate the boat.

We both thought this would be a simple thing to make and install. We were both wrong. It was simple to make but tricky to install. We wanted the bottom edge of this beam to be straight across which is hard to do with the curved bow. Add to it the fact that our sliding door isn’t in yet (still waiting for some of those parts) and this now becomes more difficult.

In this photo Donald has finally managed to position the beam where he wants it and is adding blocks to fill in the area above it.

This beam will be the base to which we will add the white vinyl headliner and laminate cap. Without the track for the door in place we had to guess at the final placement of the beam over the door opening. We have been making this up as we are going along so why change that now?

In this photo he covered up the face of the beam with 1/4″ water resistant mdf and has scribed it to the curved ceiling. Here he has shifted to working on the port side bulkhead.

It took us a while to figure out how we are going to deal with the curved windows on both the port and starboard sides. In order to finish them off the way we want to we had to cover them over completely with the same mdf. Instead of trying explain it here we will show the process over the next few weeks. In other words we don’t exactly know how it will go yet but we do have an idea.

Donald also built a small cabinet for the area in between the fridge and stairs so that we can use it as a pantry. He is fitting it here so that he could scribe it to the floor.

We have to slightly alter the placement of the bottom step so that we can open the door on the right.

My job was to continue on with the headliner in the v-berth.

These photos are shots looking straight up at the ceiling and you can just see the lines on the plywood indicating where the vinyl covered borders will be for the ceiling reveal. I really have no idea if this is the correct way to do this but I figure it should work. I am almost very certain…

I first fitted strips of 1/4″ mdf so that I could make sure the mitres would work out.

I then wrapped each piece in vinyl and glued it back into place.

I used both construction adhesive and hot glue to fasten them into place.

…and here is how it turned out.

Only about an inch of this strip will be seen once the main panels are installed. I am really hoping that I get quicker at this because what I did in the v-berth so far took a good part of the day.

Donald did finish putting on 1/4″ mdf on the area underneath the windows and we came up with a layout for the fabric covered panels. We haven’t picked a fabric for this area yet and it looks like I won’t be able to for a while. This may be something that I will have to finish in Wiarton.

I also took some time to work on the starboard side window frames to take out the final pieces of plexi. These frames will be sanded, cleaned and then painted black in place.

We will be back at it on Tuesday.

Stay safe and healthy.