Am I renovating this boat or destroying her? Well, today I have to confess to two acts of destruction and one unholy thought – giving away my Roman Catholic upbringing here – but I have an excuse which I’ll come to in a moment, firstly the acts of destruction.
Act One.
Along both edges of the cockpit well there were solid wood
beams which acted as runners for two marine ply sliding doors which offered
access to lockers under the seats. The marine ply doors were ugly, delaminated
and, in one case, swollen so that opening and closing was very difficult. The
runners were held in place by bolts through the GRP seat moulding and they were
not pretty, one had been shortened at some point and one had several soft spots.
Economy should have suggested careful removal of the runners and maybe
replacement of the doors. The bolts however were rusted and didn’t want to
budge. I managed to remove a couple but, well there is always at least one
which doesn’t want to play – in my case there were several. I coated them in
penetrating oil last week but it had no effect. I was also hampered by the fact
that my tools are metric whereas the boat was built to good old fashioned feet
and inches – so tools, spanners and the like, are always either a trifle too
big or small. When they are too big it’s very easy to round off the angle of
the nut and then the job becomes impossible. One option was to try to saw
through the bolt but the heads were sunk into the wood and dowelled over and from
the other side (inside the locker) they were unreachable. Well, the wood wasn’t
in very good condition so it was relatively easy to cut it away in sections –
and then the bolts were easy to remove with a pair of blot croppers – job done,
but nothing is recoverable, the wood is good only for the stove – so I now have
to fashion some new ones out of hardwood and make up two new locker doors. Mmmm
not sure my woodworking is up to it.
Act Two
Two marine ply bulkheads either side of the companion way
hatch are as ugly as sin itself. They’re covered in an almost black varnish
with an assortment of holes drilled through at various times to accommodate
electrical wires and screws to attach instruments. The wiring is frightening tangle;
some of the threads seem to go nowhere. To call it a cobweb would be an insult
to the whole arachnid species. I was pretty sure I’d have to re-wire the boat
but now it’s certain, I cut through hundreds of wires in an attempt to get the
bulkheads out.
Confession
Varnish lovers, forgive me for what I am about to do. I
spent a good deal of time sanding the face of these bulkheads with a view to
varnishing but having got back to the original wood, well its just plain ugly.
I don’t like it – the colour is non-descript, neither a rich mahogany nor a
pale beach, the overriding colour is grey with a black grain in places. I don’t
know what it is but a clear varnish will not be the solution and I don’t like
woodstain. So my solution will be to paint the wooden bulkheads and edge them
with varnished hardwood strips. I’m thinking too of running some vertical
strips of hardwood down the bulkheads at 4 inch intervals before painting to
give the impression of planking rather than ply. We’ll see – and I’d appreciate
your thoughts.
In the meantime I’m trying to console myself with Belgian beer and by remembering that
if you wish to make an omelette you have to start by breaking a few eggs.
Seaward
