The Light at the End of the Tunnel...

I can finally see it... the light at the end of the tunnel!  The exterior projects are starting to wind down and we're prepping the SHAD for the much awaited sandblasting and painting.  I've been told that we'll start the sandblasting Wednesday morning at 6am.  I'm excited, nervous and terrified!  More than once I've thought that we've bitten off more, WAY MORE, than we can chew, but we're doing it.  I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think we're just a couple of weeks from being back in the water!

Here's the front of the house with all of the new beautiful wood.

 Here are some close ups of the wood around the top of the house. 

I can't remember what these are called, but they will be on the roof where the stacks for the oil stove and water heater will come through the roof.

Paul and Dave mixing the roof coating

I prepped the roofs for the silicone roofing.

Paul painting the roofing around the edges.

Wheelhouse roof halfway done.

Lower roof almost done.

First coat DONE!

Part of prepping for the sandblasting is to protect the house.  The last thing we want to do is accidentally sandblast the epoxy off the house or blast the portholes and windows.  We're wrapping the lower parts of the house, windows & portholes with cardboard and draping the rest of the house with visqueen.

~Misty~

Welding is DONE!!

Juneau's weather has been less than pleasant over the last several days.  We've had high winds and record rainfall resulting in flooding in the lakes, rivers and small streams.  Unfortunately for us the high winds wreaked havoc on our boat cover.  Dave and I went down Saturday morning to check everything out.  The tarp had come undone in several places, rain was coming in through the top and some of the conduit had come apart.  It was way too windy to get that thing back together, so we rallied the troops for an attempt on Sunday. Thankfully the wind had died down enough for us to get it back together!!  We duct taped, zip tied and screwed the cover back together in a couple of hours.  Sorry... no pictures as I couldn't hang on to the tarp and camera at the same time.

The weather was so crummy  on Sunday that I didn't even take the time to check out all the work the welders had done. They are finished and even took the time to clean up the whole area under the boat.  It was really nice to show up to all of that done as well!

Here are some pictures of the welder's work.

On the stern the exhaust pipes come up from the lazarette and will go through the new roof overhang.  There was some rusting around the bottom of the pipes on both sides, so the welder removed the steel around them and replaced it.

Port side exhaust.

Starboard side exhaust.

 When the SHAD was built in 1958, the anchor winch sat right in front of the house in the middle of the front deck.  The anchor chain would go up through the hause pipe in the bow to the winch.  After much discussion it was decided that we should close the hause pipe.  This will help keep water off the deck, as you'll see in the next picture the pipe comes right up through the bow deck.

Hause pipe at the bow.

This is the other end of the anchor chain hause pipe, right on the bow deck.  It was just big enough to get my size 8.5 foot wedged inside.  I was more concerned about breaking an ankle than getting the deck wet!

Hause pipe on the bow deck.

The rub rail is now on all the way around the hull!



Starboard side.

The generator located in the engine room used to exhaust right at the water line.  Dave had the welder close off the original exhaust hole and move it up a little higher.

Shop floor drain.

Galley sink drain.

Shower & toilet drains.



Progress!

I've been in in Kotzebue for several days and haven't been down to the boat since last Sunday. I was anxious to see what had been done while I was gone.  Dave picked me up at the airport yesterday morning, we had breakfast with Tara at Sandpiper and headed straight for the boat.  It was exciting to see what all had been done!

The upper roof is up and will be primered by next time I go back to the boat.

~Misty~

Roof over the Captain's Bunk.

Roof over the wheelhouse.

 The hatch was reinstalled in the wheelhouse roof.  We moved it to the starboard side and put it right above the chart table.  This will make it easier for me to get through it and on to the roof and back down into the wheelhouse. I'll be able to stand on the chart table instead of dangling in the air trying to get my foot on the ledge next to the stairs.

Roof hatch in the wheelhouse roof.

The shower was put back in the head so the lower roof could be finished.  It's just sitting in there at this time.  

Shop.  Roof on here too.

View of the upper roof that covers the wheelhouse and Captain's bunk.

 The welder had also been busy while I was gone. He has attached the rail across the stern, around the starboard corner and about halfway down the starboard side.

Dave checking out the new rub rail.

Starboard rub rail.

Nice corner on the starboard side.

My job yesterday consisted of holding stuff when asked and gluing plugs into theses screw holes.

Empty screw holes.

Plugs for the holes.

Glue for the plugs.

Measuring the plug.

Glue in the hole.

Plugged screw holes.

Paul sanding the upper roof.

Dave and Shawn.