The living spaces got several upgrades this year during our stay at LUBR. Here are the projects and pictures (some in slide show mode).

GALLEY AND SALOON

The middle 2 cabinet doors above the sink had always been cattywampus. Part of the problem was that the cabinet bottom has warped over the years, but that wasn’t the whole problem. We tried replacing the hinges, and either the gap between the doors was even and the top and bottom were offset, or the tops and bottoms were level and the gap between the doors was not even. We could not figure out a fix. Andre came up with a great solution: Custom shims under the hinges (different on top and bottom of cabinet door) to orient the doors properly. Success!

One thing about being at LUBR is that we have easy access to the shop. We used this convenience to make a few small improvements in the galley: an undersink shelf to protect the heater/fan, and a restrainer for the refrigerator doors in case of heavy seas.

We had been pondering what type of handle to put on our new drawer under the microwave. We ended up going with no handle, so LUBR routed out a small area that will allow reaching in to open the drawer.

We now have sea rails for the stove! We used Slim’s sea rails on Deerleap as a prototype. Kim at LUBR fashioned the sea rails and a clever holder to keep them out of the way but handy when we’re at port. We also found foldable milk crates for the prep area of the stove.

Heads (toilets) are important on a boat. Originally, we had vacu-flush toilets that were problematic. We replaced the day head last year with a macerator head and really liked the upgrade. This year we did the other 2 heads. But, since we were redoing the forward head, it made sense to rip up the 1970 linoleum that was on the floor. Which meant that we needed to sand, seal, and varnish the floor, and Peter needed to make more quarter round for the junction between wall and floor. The result is gorgeous. What you can’t appreciate in the images is the beauty of the sanded brass nails that are now visible.

Of course, that means that the rest of that room needed to be upgraded, so we added sanded caulk along the perimeter of the counter. Next 3 projects in that room: painting the Formica next to the sink, replacing the light in the shower (done!), and finish varnishing around the door (in progress).

We had a few small wood projects: a holder for flashlights for the passageway, a holder for handheld radios, and gizmos to keep cooler tops open.

Our biggest project in the saloon was a new bookcase. The corner by the aft door has always seemed to be the perfect place for a set of shelves. One weekend, we decide to start on the project. As usual, it wasn’t easy. Not one of the angles of the bookcase is 90 degrees. The floor slopes forward. The starboard wall curves outwards, and the floor slopes to starboard. All these non-90 degree angles are apropos for a boat, but meant that we spent a lot of time measuring angles and making prototypes. In the end, it turned out great.

We then made some metal brackets for fiddles for the shelves. The sea rails/fiddles are made from the cover of deck boxes that were on the boat in 1941. The piece of mahogany is 5/4 inch thick! The brackets were hand fashioned from brass plates.

One other small project was part of the museum–a comparison between an original Monel steel bolt in the bow vs. a replacement put in by a Navy yard in Alaska in 1942 after a collision with a rock. Monel is indestructible! From left to right: Navy steel from a section farthest away from the outside of the hull, Navy steel within a plank, and Monel bolt (the Monel bolt had the same diameter the entire length).

We just finished up in time to head back to our dock as the shutdown began.