Nuclear

This morning I used tools not commonly used in a boat. A hammer, pry bar, grinder & generator, ear plugs, mask, goggles and a skil saw. Some may not view this as progress but it was. At first glance Owl seemed to have everything needed for a weekend sail but if you dug a little deeper you'd find rotted bulkheads, spongy cabin sole, questionable plumbing and the list goes on. I figured on most of this work before I took on the project but as I broke ground I decided it would save time and energy in the long run if I took the time now to take care of some of the items I was planning on doing next year.

There had been a fair amount of patch work over the years. White formica had been veneered over some of the bulkheads to hide the defects of past patches and rot. The entire interior was painted white also so it looked blinding and cold. Some of the fiberglass mat for the port and starboard shelves and bulkheads pulled off easy but most needed a pry bar to get under it to pull off. I was able to run a grinder with a generator. This was necessary to cut the fiberglass tabbing and matt that didn't want to be pulled off by hand. The one forward bulkhead I took out last was the hardest to remove. The fiberglass attaching the bulkhead to the mast step support beam was very tough. I'm not sure of the correct term for this beam but it's important. I was very glad to see this in good shape because replacing that beam would be a little out of my league and probably expensive.

Did I mention I don't want to spend much money on this project? I can hear the hecklers now.

Last Sunday I spent a few hours chipping away at the trim work and decided to pull the old head out. Never a fun job but it has to be done. The previous owner didn't use the head and the bladder attached had never been used. I soon discovered that someone had been using the head in the past. There was a lot of mold and behind the bladder an old piece of carpet had been glued to the hull. There were way too many hose clamps and found a plastic elbow with more hose clamps etc.... too many points of failure for my liking. Owl will be sporting a luggable loo this summer.

I spent about 4 hours total and left one structural bulkhead in "just in case". My plan now is to install the new structural bulkhead in and then remove / replace the other one. The other two bulkheads just aft are more or less partitions so I'm thinking of leaving the starboard one out to add space in the cabin . I'm going to substitute the old hanging locker for a spot to do the cooking. I'd like to leave the port bulkhead out too but it may be nice to keep the head private. Maybe the head could go in the V berth.