The electrical panel and all associated hidden wiring is now in a dumpster on its way to the 12v electrical graveyard. For some reason this area has taken me a while to get to. Could be the 2700 other priorities but who knows. Yesterday I decided I had put it off long enough after a bad start at sanding. I had gone down to Akupara with the intent of working on sanding and staining but it just wasn’t working out for me so I changed jobs. Since sanding was not an option, I chose to tackle the workshop/chartdesk/electrical panel area/hallway. I ripped out all of the old wood and discovered another mouldy wall. Hopefully we are getting to the point of not finding any more of these. Anyway, today I scrubbed all the mould off, painted the inside of the hull and the surrounding area and set about cutting a new backboard. I have been toying with the idea of what I am going to put back here as I want the electrical panel at the nav station. I have had 2 ideas. The first was to use the new found space as a storage area for all of my cases of spare parts but after measuring and planning and placing and trying it just would not go. So, on to plan 2 which was actually plan 1 but I had to go through at least the process of trying the spare parts cases. Plan 2, which was actually plan 1, is to use this area for the watermaker. The admiral will attest that I spent about a month with all of the little bits and pieces of the watermaker on the livingroom coffee table. It was the perfect place to lay it all out and move pieces around trying to make it fit into the allotted space. It was time well spent as the final layout is about the exact same size as the space I now have.
As I have mentioned previously, when we purchased Akupara, the watermaker was tucked into a non accessible spot in the back of the engine room. Any thought of changing filters or performing any kind of maintenance was quickly put to death.
With the new location, every piece will be accessible from a comfortable standing position which as we grow into old age, will be much appreciated. I don’t think a lot of people realize just how often the filters need to be changed until after it is too late.
For some reason I am really excited to get this are complete! We will not be using the watermaker any time soon, but to have it tucked away all neat and organized and CLEAN makes me very happy!
Other than that I accomplished a lot of little small jobs this weekend. Things that are just small and fiddly that take an exorbitant amount of time. I hung a few cupboards and closet doors and changed out a whole bunch of screws and added finishing washers. I cut a 3/4 piece of plywood to start filling in the hole from where the PO had the SSB. I organized all of the pieces of marine ply I had left. I organized all of the wood that still needs to be sanded and installed. I made about 4 trips to the garbage bin with little things I have been collecting as I come across them. There was a lot of tools left aboard and in our initial cleaning I did not want to throw them out. Now I am getting tired of moving them every time I need to do something so I am ridding myself of anything that is in less than pristine condition. Slowly of course, but a little is better than none.
So as an aside, yesterday the Admiral came with me as I left for Akupara. I had to stop at the store to buy sand paper and once we were on our way, the Admiral feigned illness. Out of nowhere she claimed to be nauseous and could not continue on our way. So being the gentle kind loving husband that I am, I turned the truck around and brought her home where she proceeded to spend the rest of the day on the couch watching Netflix.
Did I mention that we were basically having a monsoon with water running down the streets and sidewalks?
So yesterday, she did mention that she was going to come with me today, but somehow at 8am when I announced I was going to head out, there was no arguing or wait for me’s or hang on I’m coming or I will meet you there. Nope nothing.
Something tells me that she somehow had a miraculous recovery and perhaps a bit of guilt reared it’s ugly head as tonight when I returned home, I was greeted with a complete turkey dinner with all of the fixings.
Hmmmm, suspicious?
Here are some random pictures taken over this weekend.
