On cold nights, what is more comfortable than a fire?
The diesel heater burns the air in the cabin and sends it up out the chimney. Then the box becomes very hot which warms the boat. As it burns, it sends the cabin air outside through the chimney and causes the dorades to draw air in. This fresh air is dry and clean, which leads to the boat becoming filled with warm and dry air.
It is amazing how fire can make a space change from habitable to comfortable.
The shower sump used to discharge through a below the waterline seacock that also served as the intake to the old head. I had long since converted from the standard marine head to a Composting Toilet, which means I no longer required an underwater intake. This also means that I no longer required having this below the waterline through hull.
It is time to seal it up!
The seacock was always stuffed away inside this tine cabinet, which means that we couldn’t access it to seal it up. Now that the head is gutted, this is a wonderful opportunity to close up that through hull!
The sea cock was removed and the hole sealed on the inside with roving and cloth, just to keep the dust out while I grind the outside of the hull to make a proper plug.
Surprise! Maddie went to the Museum in Angra and was fixated on the ceiling in the old church. Then she stepped down without realizing that the step existed and twisted her ankle!
She was in excruciating pain and got picked up by the EMS on the island. They reached the location very quickly and took wonderful care of her.
After a trip to the local hospital, an X-Ray, and an exam from a traumatologist/orthopedist, she was diagnosed with a sprained ankle.
Sprained ankles are not conducive to boat living on the hard. Climbing the ladder is not feasible so Maddie went to live on a friends couch for a week while her ankle healed.
The cabinet in the head will serve to hold the sink and also to store the bathroom necessities. The main issue we had with the old sink cabinet was that the doors opened towards the midship which means that if we healed hard to port, the doors would swing open and dump everything they were supposed to be storing.
The solution is to make this new cabinet open with a door fore-aft. But first, we need to build a frame!
To make the corners stronger, I mitered all the corners.
The outermost corner of the frame needed a compound miter to make sure that all the edges and legs are fastened together properly.
The cleats for the aft side of the cabinet were merely glued to the iron frame that attaches to the chainlate with no mechanical fastener while the cleats on the bulkhead were fastened with screws.
Now that we have a frame made, we can begin planking the bock and building our head once again!
The painting in the head has been progressing nicely. Bilgekote applied directly to the walls and floor has been taking nicely and leaving a very good slick surface. The first coat was very thin to avoid having runs in the paint.
The second coat is masking over the wooden surface while leaving a strong and durable finish.
We are planning to build a cabinet over the sink area which means that I might be needing to fiberglass to the bulkhead, so I’m not putting any paint there that might need to be sanded off again!
The frame for the sink and cabinet is assembled but not planked yet.
I also mounted the cleats for the planks on the side so that I could effectively paint up to them but not waste time painting beyond the cleats.
Lastly, the hose for the sump pump was run before the shower floor was glassed in fully. If you look closely, you will only see one hose run (the hose from the shower sump to discharge the shower water) but no hose to drain the sink. This is because I forgot to run that hose and won’t discover that little fact for a long time!
