Busy boat weekend

 Well the weather is getting nicer, the days are getting longer, and yes we are still working on the boat.  We are making progress and the to do list was getting shorter. It was a busy work weekend trying to wrap up as many of the big projects as I could. I apologize ahead of time as there are not many pictures to share. Been too busy working on it to take pics!
 I have been working on the re wiring the boat as when we got it the compartment that held the wiring and the battery looked like a rabid squirrel had gone wild in it. There were wires laying everywhere and when I checked the fuses all but one were blown. Instead of trying to fix the mess I just ripped it all out. So I have been busy running all new wires and installing all LED running lights. With our plan being that we are going to overnight as much as possible on the boat I wanted to keep our current draw to minimum. The led lights are super low draw and work great. I have installed a new LED stern nav light and wired it separately so that when are at anchor and want to swim at night we can flip it on and have a swim light. We were surprised it was as bight as it turned out to be.
 Thursday night I ripped out the old carpet on the cabin walls and replaced it with new carpet. Boy what a fun job. Not a job for a old man who is not very flexible. Luckily my nickname used to be Gumby and I got it installed without too many lasting muscle issues. Had to resort to using a heat gun to help soften the backing on the carpet to allow it to conform to a few bends but overall it turned out ok. With new carpet and new exposed cabin wood things are looking much better in the cabin.  Gotta love the smell of carpet adhesive especially in a small sailboat cabin ;-)
 I took off early Friday since I knew I was going to have to fly at least one day over the weekend. I started cutting the new foam for our cabin cushions. That went well and now we can kinda get a feel for how comfy our new digs are going to be. I curled up in the v birth and took a quick nap just to try it out LOL. Now we just have to find time to get the covers made.
 Saturday I started in on wiring the switch and fuse panel. I have really struggled trying to find the supplies I wanted to use on the electrical project. Seems like every store in town carries the same line of items just with different packaging. I really wanted a double conductor red and black wire but hardly anyone stocks it. Never found a bus bar so I had to use terminal strips and wire them to act as a load strip. I know each connection is another point of resistance but for our very limited draw system I am not too worried about it. With a 10 amp max fuse and a over all load of less than 3 amps with everything turned on I can live with a little resistance.
  I used to think running wires in a plane was bad. Turns out a fiberglass boat is just as bad. I wound up with several bleeding wounds and a couple fiberglass splinters in my hands. I pushed on hoping I would not bleed out before I got done. Of course even with as simple of a electrical system as ours it still took twice as long as I had hoped it would to get it all wired up. I did as much of the wiring on the bench as I could as I knew working down in that compartment was not going to be any fun. I was right. My knees wound up quite sore and my left elbow still hurts from where I hit the winch box. But by four Saturday afternoon I was lowering the battery into place and turning on the tunes for the first time. Everything seemed to work and no blown fuses! Plus the stereo sounded much better in the boat than it did on our kitchen counter so that was a bonus.

 

Everything is wired now except for the solar panel. I am still in a quandary over where to put it. We are down to two locations. I am thinking on top of the cabin is going to win out. Just need to make sure we won't step on it. Seriously, what are the chances??? I have the solar controller mounted next to the switch panel as that seemed like the best place I could find.

 I am hoping the local sign engraver can make us some new labels to match the ones on the switch panel. We need ones that say stern light, spreader lights, and usb power.
 Lil Miles really enjoyed hopping around on the boat as I worked. Wasn't long before he was sticking his head out of the front hatch and looking all around. He alternated between playing on the boat and driving "Miles Veep". His terminology for laying claim to our Jeep Juicy.
 I had my daughter and a friend of hers help me reinstall the mast since Cindy was busy watching her lil grandson Miles. Nothing like working with a couple of newbies trying to step the mast. Like the blind leading the blind. Somehow we managed and everything fell back in place just like it should. Now all we had to do was wait for darkness so we could see how bright the LED lights were that I installed on the bottom side of the spreader bars.
 While I waited on the sun to set I took the time to repair one of the cabin top supports. I raised the cabin top when I installed the carpet trying to help ventilate the cabin and without thinking I allowed the top to over rotate towards the bow. Without the mast or the wood support we used with the winter cover there was nothing there to stop it. The part that broke is some sort of plastic and it was a clean break. I epoxied it back together but was fearful that might not be enough. So I drilled it and installed two screws to help give it some more strength. So far so good. Chances of finding that part would probably not have been good.
 Cindy and I went out about 9 Saturday night to do a light check. All the nav lights came on and the mast head/anchor light still worked. It had been a PIA for some reason and required some modifications to the contacts in the socket to run the led bulb. Then it was time I had been waiting on. I reached down under the table and flipped the switch on the spreader lights. A soft glow gently lit the areas of the cabin around me. As I raised my head up out of the cabin I was welcomed with a warm soft glow of light shining down all over the top side of the boat. They worked great! Not too bright. Just enough light that we can easily see what we are doing without being blinding. The stars were out and we could still easily see them with the lights on. Since they are up on the spreaders I am hopeful that the bugs stay up there too! I really think we will be glad we have those lights.
 I wound up having to fly yesterday so I did not get much time to work on the boat. When I got home I pulled the cushion foam out and put it in the basement so we can work on them inside now. I went along and wrote a to do list of what I have left to do yet. It was longer than I had hoped it would be. To help offset my depression from the to do list I installed the mounting bracket for our gas grill. I can almost smell the food cooking on it as I type this. Cindy helped me drop the mast down and secure all the lines and shrouds. Of course she had forgotten most of the names of the various parts but I will keep working with her. She did remember topping lift though! We are all legal now as I installed our registration and lunch permit stickers along with the new license plate. Guess that means we actually have to tow it somewhere now...
 Yesterday was my self imposed deadline of being done with the boat as I have other projects I have to move onto now. I will work on my to do list as time allows. Sadly we still no idea when we will actually get time to take the boat for her first sail. Cindy is very busy this month with testing at school. Plus the weather is still so up and down still. Maybe this week will be the start of warmer weather for us with daytime highs close to 80 all week.