New Running Rigging!

After replacing our halyards & topping lift with new ones from Cajun Rope, we were ready to get rid of the ugly, worn lines on the rest of our boat. The photo above shows our new lines on the boom (outhaul & boom vang) and traveler, along with our new Garhauer double clutch on the port side. (Check out our $5 vinyl tablecloth that I've attached to our traveler! This prevents us from having to use our companionway boards every time we're in & out of the boat. It may not be canvas or pretty, but it works & we love it!)

You can see how worn our lines were on our boom and traveler!

Our new traveler lines look much better!

We also added a new main sheet and two Garhauer single clutches on the starboard side of Nirvana. Why two singles? Well, we had ordered a single clutch a while ago then realized we wanted another and it was too late to return the single clutch so .. two singles!

You'll notice in one of the photos above that our boom is down. That's because we also replaced the line inside our boom, called the "internal outhaul". 

Here's a photo of the internal outhaul line & block inside of the boom.

We also replaced our backstay with Cajun Rope ..

Now that we've replaced our running rigging, it's time to install our new lazy jacks & sail pack and replace our standing rigging. We weren't planning on the expense of new standing rigging, but after our recent rigging inspection we're gonna deal with it. Stay tuned!

Hasta luego .. until then. Mid-Life Cruising!

Reviving Our Tohatsu!

When we bought our Tohatsu & dinghy brand new, we didn't realize we'd use them one time then put them in storage for over 7 years! But, that's what happened. For the past few years, it seemed that we'd never see "Mr. T" and our dinghy again. Downsizing, becoming liveaboards, and continual boat projects never left time (or the need) for our dinghy and motor. Finally, the time had come to pull them out of storage! 

After hibernating for so many years, we knew it'd be best to give our Tohatsu some TLC. After loading "Mr. T" into our truck, we headed to our daughter's house to use her garage and water. Living at a marina with a condo association means no working in the parking lot!

Once we got to our daughter's place, Ken placed the Tohatsu in a tub of water to test it. As we figured ... it wouldn't start! We knew the carburetor needed a cleaning, the impeller needed to be replaced, and the fluids needed to be changed. The first thing Ken did was remove, disassemble and clean the float & jets of the carburetor. He then reassembled the carburetor, put it back on the motor, then tested the motor again. It ran fine .. whew! The next step was to remove the lower unit of the Tohatsu to replace the impeller.

From the lower unit, Ken then removed the impeller housing from the top ..

which revealed the impeller. The impeller looked pretty good, but after sitting for several years we replaced it anyway. This was a pretty simple process, as the old impeller easily came out of the housing. To install the new impeller, Ken coated the inside of it with gear lube then slid it onto the shaft. 

After the impeller was in place, Ken slid the housing over it while rotating the shaft to allow the housing to sit properly. We were feeling pretty good, as replacing the impeller went smoothly ...

but not so fast! After lubricating the shaft of the lower unit with gear lube, Ken tried replacing the lower unit back into the motor ... for over an hour! Ken and I both tried and tried to get the damn thing back in, but it just wasn't happening. We checked the gears to make sure the motor was in neutral, but nothing worked. We were having a hard time seeing where the shaft was going, and we were getting pretty frustrated. We decided to take a lunch break to get away. When we tried again with clear heads, full stomachs, and a flashlight borrowed from our daughter ... the lower unit went in on the first attempt! Being able to see with the flashlight made all the difference. Hallelujah! Getting the shaft aligned just right is critical in getting the lower unit back on.

After the lower unit was installed, Ken changed the engine & lower unit oil. This was pretty simple and he had no problems. For this maintenance, Ken used "lower unit gear lube" and Castrol 10W-40 .. both from Wal-Mart.

Once everything was back in place, Ken set "Mr. T" into the water and tested it out. Luckily, all went well with putting the motor back together and it ran great. It was such a relief to have "Mr. T" up and running again!

 The next step was getting it to our boat. I was able to help Ken lift the motor in & out of the truck, but carrying it across the parking lot, along the walkway, and down the dock had me nervous. The motor weighs almost 60 lbs. and is awkward to carry. Luckily, our dock neighbor noticed our "situation" and offered to help Ken carry the Tohatsu to our boat. Talk about relieved! It's always nice to be surrounded by such kind folks. I snapped a quick photo before they disappeared, so it's blurry. 

Once resting in Nirvana's cockpit, Ken and I were able to place "Mr. T" on our stern with the help of our new motor hoist. We can already tell the money spent on our hoist is well worth it!

Now that we had the motor and hoist on the boat, it was time to bring the ole (new) inflatable dinghy out of storage. Would it hold air after all this time?!

Hasta luego ... until then. Mid-Life Cruising!

More Wood Creations on Nirvana!

A while back Ken was busy creating a new bulkhead on Nirvana, but there was more "creating" to be done. At that time, Ken also made a new piece of wood in our v-berth to replace the rotten piece. I never did get around to posting a pic ... I think he did a great job matching it to the original teak door!

Since the bulkhead and v-berth wood project, we've been busy with all sorts of boat projects .. including more wood stuff.  We need all the storage we can get on our 30 footer, so we added shelves to our hanging locker. We figured shelves would be a lot more efficient than a rod for hanging.  After all, we'll mostly be in shorts and swimsuits.  *Notice our new plumbing hoses .. no more green!

Ken made two new shelves, and after these photos were taken he also added trim on the edges to keep things in place .. and a couple coats of polyurethane.  The bottom of the locker will probably be used to store our shoes after we secure the hose out of the way .. I gotta get rid of some stuff!

Here's a photo of the new bulkhead & renewed locker with the original dark plexi-glass back in place overhead ...

Another wood creation of Ken's was this door and trim for the new storage area that Ken cut out in our head.

I think he did a great job matching this too! The door on the left is the new one, and I dressed up the original door with a sun decal that I love.  Did I mention that I met Ken in a high school wood-working class?!

I was so excited to see this ugly little head area come to life!  With the new sink, faucet, cabinet, and sun decal .. it was finally time to pull out the plexi-mirrors that we bought a few years ago.  What we didn't realize .. the protective film on the mirrors shouldn't be left to sit for years in a closet! The film came off easily at first .. until I got to the edges of the two plexi-mirrors. The stuff wouldn't come off! After a quick look on the internet (saved us again), I applied a thin layer of paint thinner on the film and then scraped it off with my fingernail and a hair dryer. This trick actually worked!

Here's a pic of Nirvana's renovated head, with a lil wooden knob added to our new cabinet door. The lighting wasn't the best in this photo. We plan on replacing our old light fixtures with new LED fixtures real soon, including the one shown in the corner of this photo. We've been working on creating switches for custom LED light strips .. let's just say it's been an ordeal. That's another story for another day!

Ken also made some wood strips to set the locker shelves on, as well as some wooden circles to act as backing plates/interior trim for two of our winches that come through the salon ceiling. If only we'd thought to do all of these wood projects and staining at once. I think we're done staining, but ya know what happens when you think!

I don't get to write posts near as often as I'd like to lately, but there's a lot of good stuff going on. We cleaned & greased all of our winches and re-bedded them with butyl tape ...

and we're almost finished re-bedding all of our other deck hardware. Soon we'll be inspecting our rigging and getting our sails back on. Will the sails go on first, or will we bring our interior cushions out of storage, clean & recover them?  So much to do ..

We took a couple of breaks .. spent a day sailing on the lake with a friend. It was so nice to be back on the water again. Thanks Ted! We also participated in a friend's annual "Crawfish Cook-Off" .. Ken boils them the best! Our son-in-law couldn't make it this year, but our daughter learned a few secrets!

Ken & our daughter, Erica, checking out our boiled bugs ...

Oh, and one lil thing I almost forgot to mention .. we gave our notice to our landlord!!!  By mid-May, we're outta this condo! Yeah, we've been a little busy .. we haven't quit our jobs yet! We have some exciting changes in store, but that's another post soon ..

Hasta luego .. until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!

Shiny, Happy People!

Like one of my favorite R.E.M. songs .. we're "Shiny, Happy People" with our shiny, new plumbing on Nirvana!  After removing all of the old, moldy plumbing hoses and painting the storage areas, we finally have running water again on Nirvana!

After a good cleaning with Barkeeper's Friend, we decided to keep the original galley sinks and just buy a new faucet. It's a bit larger than the ideal size for the sinks, but being from Home Depot .. it was a lot cheaper than a "marine" faucet! The above photo in this post shows the finished installation. We're happy!

Like all of our projects on Nirvana, replacing the plumbing wasn't as quick n easy as it sounds! Pulling n tugging new hoses through holes and underneath settees & cabinets ain't no joke. Hoses to & from the two water tanks, hoses to & from the head, hoses to & from the galley, a vent hose from each water tank, and another from the holding tank .. and they all needed new clamps and screws. Why is it that all of our old stainless steel clamps didn't have stainless screws?! Then there was all those little plastic pieces/parts needed to attach the tiny sink drains to the hose .. elbows, tees, bushings ... I learned all sorts of new words! But, it was all figured out after many trips to the hardware store.

The picture below is a bit blurry, but see all those plastic fittings from the galley sink .. x 2.  We used heater hose for the drainage hoses, and will eventually install a water filter in this under-sink cabinet.

Here's a photo of our shiny, new faucet & sink in the head .. and what's goin' on underneath (more fittings!). We found a great deal on the oval sink from Go2Marine. We bought it during a Christmas sale and with a coupon ... getting it for $26 bucks! Considering how funky the old sink was (Barkeeper's Friend just wasn't enough) and the cheap price on the sink .. this was money well spent! Who wants a funky sink in their bathroom?!  The faucet came from Home Depot ... again, meant for a house but a lot cheaper than a "marine" faucet. 

Notice the vent hose coming out of the left corner of the counter? This is from the holding tank (under the port salon settee) and goes up into the storage cabinet & out of the stanchion on the deck. We used spa hose for this. See those knobs underneath the electric outlet (yeah, we know electricity near the sink isn't safe and we need to address this) .. Ken added that with a shower hose/head for those rare times we actually shower inside the boat.

Here's a photo below of the hoses (we made sure they were potable!) in our storage closet that add water from two deck fill locations to the two water tanks & a vent hose that runs from each tank up to the deck and out of a stanchion. One water tank is forward of this closet in the v-berth and the other is aft of this closet under the starboard settee. (The second hose from deck to v-berth water tank is not in this photo .. and is located on the left behind the cabinet drawer). 

Ken built some shelves for this cabinet, and he finished the shelves just yesterday .. woo hoo! But that's another post soon ...

For those not familiar with boat plumbing .. do ya see why it's not as easy as it sounds? So many parts and tight places. I swear, building a house is much easier!

While thinking of those water deck fills .. we had to buy new plastic covers for them.  Am I the only one that thinks $50 bucks for two pieces of plastic is crazy?!  I think Catalina Direct got us on this one, and I found some cheaper ones but Ken said they wouldn't work? I don't know .. but we need to make sure these are secured and don't go overboard! Oh, and the bronze fill pieces in the deck were a bit green, so I used a tip that I learned from "Women Who Sail" .. ketchup!  The acid in the ketchup eats away at the grime .. just let sit about an hour then scrub with a toothbrush and rinse. It really works!

During all of this, our old water pump was leaking so it was replaced with a new Shur-Flo water pump (#86-8398) from PPL Motor Homes. We also got this on sale for $55.99 .. good deal! A lot of stuff for a boat can be found at an RV store for a lot less money. We kept our original water pump in case we can fix it when we have time. Maybe it would make a good spare.

The macerator pump was also repaired during this project with a new impeller & gasket from West Marine for $41.69. We've since found this repair kit for $26.36 at CE Showroom .. good to know for spares. We were happy with this fix .. better than over $100 bucks for a new pump! Also .. anything with a holding tank or macerator is dreaded ... but it really wasn't that bad. The macerator pump is located a bit higher than the holding tank, so there wasn't much of a mess. Whew .. there wasn't much "pugh"!

With clean water tanks and plumbing, this was exciting stuff to us. Only other boaters could understand my excitement about new hoses n stuff, right!

Since this project, we've installed the refinished teak cabinet drawers & doors that have been waiting for this plumbing project to be finished ... I was giddy! Also, in addition to the storage shelves that Ken just completed, he also created a new cabinet in the head for the new storage area (hole he cut) behind the toilet. Stay tuned for a post with photos .. Nirvana keeps looking better!

Upcoming projects are installing new interior LED lights that we purchased and bringing home our cushions for cleaning and re-covering. Nirvana is close to looking like a home!

Hasta luego ... until then. Mid-Life Cruising!

White Out!

After restoring our interior teak, we were ready to tackle the plumbing.  We don't mean new, shiny fixtures (although we're getting those) .. we're talking sticky, moldy plumbing hoses throughout the boat that needed removing and replacing.  Again, those folks that say "just go" have never bought a project boat! Some things just can't be ignored .. including the moldy hoses that our drinking water will be running through.

Anyway, I digress.  After removing all of the plumbing from Nirvana, we decided it would be a good time to paint the lower storage areas that appeared to have never been painted in the past.  These storage areas will house all sorts of items for us .. from food to spare parts to extra hygienic items. We don't wanna be grossed out in our home, so it was important to us to paint these areas that were dark, porous and filthy.

After cleaning the areas, we primed them with a coat of Kilz and then we painted two coats of Sherwin Williams' semi-gloss "Solo" paint. This is an interior latex trim paint that Ken uses on his jobs because of how hard & durable it is when dry. Ken had some of this paint left over from one of his jobs, so the price was right!

Here's a few before & after pics .. so glad we didn't blow this project off!  This first set shows underneath the aft cabin, with the fuel tank. The yellow tape held the wires out of our way ...

Here's the "head", with a new storage area behind the toilet that Ken cut out ...

And here's a view of the v-berth area .. (the first pic in this post is a close-up of the v-berth storage area .. where one of our water tanks is stored).

Last but not least .. the salon & galley areas. We painted the areas behind and underneath the settee cushions (see the black holding tank), the bilge and the cabinet under the galley sink. 

The starboard side .. you can almost see our second water tank but it's cut out of the photo.

I tell ya, this has been just as dramatic of a change to us as the restored teak! The storage areas are now bright, clean and easily able to wipe down. Now we won't think twice about storing food n stuff in these areas.

Since this paint project, we've installed the new head sink & faucet, the new galley faucet & original sinks, and are almost finished installing the new plumbing & vent hoses.  Oh, and while doing all of this the macerator pump stopped working. Ken ordered a new impeller & gasket and it's now as good as new. Ken was dreading this crappy job of removing the pump and replacing the parts, but it really wasn't that bad.

We'll have running water soon!

Hasta luego .. until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!

Interior Teak .. Renewed!

A few months ago (I'm a bit behind on the blog with our projects), I finally tackled the job of cleaning & sanding Nirvana's interior teak.  The teak was in bad shape .. dirty, dull and water-stained.  This would be okay for weekend sailing, but with plans to live on Nirvana ... the teak needed some TLC!

The first thing I did was clean the teak with a mixture of salt & vinegar, then I wiped it down with a damp cloth.  I hoped this "trick" that I found on the internet didn't turn into a joke.  As I cleaned the teak, I could see some of the water stains lightening up!

After cleaning, I then went back (not all done in the same day .. I wish!) and sanded the teak by hand.  Can you see the difference?! I was getting excited to see my hard work was paying off.

Here's a few more pics of before & after throughout the boat ...

We had a shelf that was heavily varnished & water-stained, so after Ken stripped the varnish I convinced him to try another internet "trick" to remove the water stains ... "Bar Keepers Friend"!  Since I'd gotten Ken involved in this, I hoped this was also a legit trick.  As the cleaner sat a few minutes, we could see the stain lightening .. it worked!  Who would've thought that this metal cleaner would work on teak?!

After cleaning & sanding .. a huge difference!

 

Since the "Barkeepers" worked so well, I figured I'd try it on the salon bulkhead to remove the water stains from an earlier leak before we bought the boat.  This was one of the few areas that I hadn't yet tackled with vinegar & salt.  I wiped on the cleaner, let it sit a few minutes, then removed with a damp sponge.  It worked, but I couldn't capture the tons of tiny water stains on my crappy phone camera.  It worked good enough to hit a few spots that needed a little extra help after the salt & vinegar cleaning & sanding.  So rewarding, and what a relief to have the teak clean, sanded & ready for sealing!  The pic below is after cleaning & sanding the bulkhead ...

Ken removed the drawers & cabinet doors and sealed them and all the interior teak with two coats of Minwax "Helmsman Spar Urethane" in Clear Satin. We considered teak oil, but we want low maintenance on Nirvana so we decided against it. Also, we know that many folks put MANY coats of varnish on their teak .. we have way too many projects to spend that much time on this!  We've heard good things about the product we used, so we'll see.  It was very easy to apply and we're really happy with the results!

What do you think?

I found the perfect decal to dress up the plain white center on our head's cabinet door ...

I can't tell ya how much better it feels to walk into Nirvana with her teak restored and the rotten wood replaced! The boat not only looks like new, but it smells better too. I can really see ourselves making this our home. I can't wait to get the plumbing finished so I can get our cushions from my Dad's place in Mississippi, clean & recover them, and bring them back on board. We'll also be able to put the cabinet doors & drawers back inside when the plumbing hoses are replaced .. yeah!

We recently removed all of the old & moldy plumbing hoses, faucets & sinks throughout the boat and cleaned the two plastic water tanks. While the plumbing was out we also cleaned, primed & painted all of the storage areas that were filthy & grimy. They look so much better, and they now have a nice finish for wiping down. Stay tuned for a post soon about this, as well as another about our new plumbing. We're almost finished running the new hoses & installing our new fixtures .. woo hoo!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!