The stuff of dreams(?)…

C.E. Grundler

Some of my fondest childhood memories focused around working on the boat with my parents. Looking back, I realize much of that time in general was spent working on the boat, as the boat in question, a wood twin diesel sportfisherman of in 1950s vintage, was in constant need of ceaseless work. All the same, I enjoyed the endless projects, the seasonal rituals of winterizing and commissioning, sanding and painting and the day to day upkeep the boat demanded. My dreams of the future grew around the idea of someday owning my own boat – something a bit bigger than my dinghy – to travel aboard and maintain. Years of sketch pads were filled with drawings, designs of the ideal boat, combining every feature I felt embodied the ultimate liveaboard/cruiser.

Here I am, decades later, and as I write this I've spent yet another day decked out in a Tyvek jumpsuit, respirator and facemask, armed with powertools of destruction, cutting away a bits of a boat as old as that dream. I'm amused to think that back when I was first creating that 'perfect' boat in my head, this very same boat was taking shape in a boatyard in Hong Kong. Perhaps I'd seen this same boat in magazines, read reviews all those years ago. That, at least, might explain the inexplicable connection I have with this boat. Then again, maybe I'm just out of my mind. Yeah, that might be it, because this IS my dream boat, and I really am enjoying myself.

Most sane people, when they take a vacation, spend it somewhere scenic and relaxing. The key word here is 'sane'. I'm technically 'on vacation' this week; my husband is off from work and I'm off from writing, and we're spending our days hopefully wrapping the great salon ceiling/bridge deck overhaul. As I've said in previous posts, we had an issue of leaks and delamination. We were fortunate that the core material was teak lumber and had zero rot, and originally hoped we could dry out the saturation and repair the existing materials. But as we discovered, years of water freezing and thawing had taken their toll: the core wood had become brittle and the delamination too extensive. We tossed around repairing from above, repairing from below, and ultimately decided to replace the core and laminates entirely.

In the top photo you can see the new ceiling core beside the boat. Rather than construct it overhead, we built it over a frame, and it consists of three layers of laminated marine ply, bonded together with West Epoxy. Below are photos of the cabin, prepped for the new core to be eased into place by week's end. There's much more to this all, but to be honest, I'm exhausted from the last few days, and bracing for the nerve-wracking days ahead.

Warning: the following photos are not for the faint of heart.

Here you can see the layers as they were, with the upper glass laminate, core, lower glass laminate and the 'ribs', all of which will be duplicated… but first all this must go!

More like this…

Wish us luck! I'll keep you all posted as this progresses.

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