The work continues.

Scraping: Early in the year, we decided to hire two young guys to help us with scraping the old paint off the newly exposed beams, walls and ceilings. At first we were worried about the effect of the extra cost on our burn rate, and thought we would try it for a week or so. After the first week, we saw how much progress they had made, and thought about how our ageing bodies would feel if we spent 8 hours a day scraping overhead in tight spaces. Sanity prevailed and the boys are now full time members of the Gyrfalcon family. We are thinking about adopting them both.

Heat and fresh water:  The new boiler and heating system has been on all month. The boat is finally drying out and smelling good. The bilges have all been pumped dry and are staying that way. The water tank (about 1100 gallons) is original and rusty. When we took off the lid, we discovered new iron-based life forms living in the tank.

We have arranged for a specialist to come in and line the tank with fiberglass, so that we will no longer have chunks of iron coming out of the faucets. The water pump, a Sears shallow well pump was frozen, and has been replaced as well. The original steel piping running from the tank to the pump was rusted almost shut and will be replaced with pex tubing.

Heads:  The forward head is below the water line, and too far forward to connect with the black water tank in the aft of the boat (under the floor in our stateroom). The current arrangement is that the outflow from the forward head goes overboard. Neither legal, or in fitting with our approach – we could see telling guests that they could only pee in the forward head and not to use any toilet paper). We decided to put an additional black water tank in the bow of the boat (under the floor of the most forward stateroom). The tank has been installed, and now both the forward head and the day head empty onto the new black water tank.  All of the toilets have been serviced, repaired, and converted to 24 v. We are ready to go (so to speak).

Coach roof:  The work on the coach roof is almost completed. Gordy built a new hatch, and has almost completed the cap rails on the starboard side, including the new hatch. The ladder is being sandblasted and repainted, and teak treads will be made to replace the Bayliner steps that were on the ladder.

Electrical spaghetti:  Peter spent several happy days tracing all the electrical circuits on the Gyr. We have breaker boxes for 110v DC (although there are no longer any 110v DC motors on the boat), 110 AC and 32 v DC. The majority of the original circuits on the boat were 100v AC. Through attrition and the fact that over the years 2 additional 100v AC subpanels were added, there are lots of empty (formerly used) breakers in the main 110v AC. The same holds true for the 32v DC breaker box (which will be changed over to 24v DC.

Illumination:  We have been thinking about lights. Currently, most of the lights are 110v AC (including the navigation lights). There are only 2 circuits worth of 32v DC lamps – for emergency lighting only. We have decided it makes to most sense to switch over to 24v LEDs as much as possible – they last forever and have a very small power draw. We went to the Boat Show last week, and looked at lots of LED lamps, and think we have found some surface mount fixtures that will look good and not break the bank.

While we were at the show, we also looked at all the electronics, and decided to go with Furuno. They have a new touch screen unit that has the same software as the Nobeltec system we have been using on the Guillemot. Plus there is an IPad app for a remote display. We’ll buy it later in the spring

Inflatables:  Over the Christmas holiday, we got a line on a used Zodiac in Idaho. It had been donated to a Children’s Home there, and they wanted to get it out of their barn. We got a great deal on it. It had already been surveyed. Before we picked it up, we asked for it to be taken to the local Honda dealer (the motor is a 4-stroke 135 hp Honda). It checked out fine. We drove over to Coeur d’Alene, ID to pick it up. We got home safely, and took it out on Lake Washington this afternoon. It is a go-fast boat. We were flying at 40 miles per hour, and were not near top speed. We have never had a boat that goes so fast.

Did we mention that the Zodiac is big in addition to fast? It is almost 20 feet long and 8 feet wide. Before we got it, we realized that it was really too big for the Gyr – it would take up almost the entire aft portion of the coach roof – so we wouldn’t be able to hold dances up there. So while we were at the Boat Show, we bought a 2^nd smaller used inflatable (12 feet long and fits comfortably on the roof). We plan to keep the Go-fast Zodiac as our town boat, and perhaps we will tow it behind the Gyr on long trips.

Our future mooring:  We have also found a home for the Gyrfalcon after she leaves Lake Union Boat Repair (a time that must surely come). We found a slip at Ewing Street Moorings, which all the residents describe as the last funky marina on the Ship Canal – we will fit right in. We are renting the slip already, and will keep the Zodiac there until the Gyr moves in the spring.