Carpentry

Summer 2010

We hired Courtney for a few more carpentry projects.

First up: repairs to our wheelhouse door due to more water intrusion issues (sigh... water, water, everywhere...). Water was getting inside the door, presumably via the glass bedding, but possibly through the latch/lock plate. The interior veneer was becoming stained and buckled. Courtney did a little refinishing work, and replaced the heavily clouded and scratched plexiglass with safety glass. It sure looks nicer and provides a clearer view. (We've subsequently discovered that the water problem isn't solved, so more effort forthcoming).

Then, one of our nicer additions... The storage area openings in the v-berth were just oval cutouts. It was pretty messy looking with all our belongings stuffed in there (not to mention, rough seas had a habit of dumping our stuff out on the bed).

Here's a picture of the original openings (along with our cat Lola):

Courtney built new rectangular doors, and cut out the openings to fit. The new doors trim it out nicely. When closed, they sit flush. Out of pure serendipity, we found nice little pearl and tarnished-bronze handles in an antique shop. (I'll probably swap the hinges out for tarnished versions instead of polished.)

When opened, they're held up by a friction-based arm which can be locked into place to secure the door open. This is, of course, very important to Lola.

One issue: the existing light fixtures blocked the aft doors. They were in terrible shape anyway, so we replaced them with fixtures that have flexible goose-necks. Now we can move the lights out the way when opening the doors.