I finally located an as-yet unused manual pump that I had purchased long ago but had never deployed because it was the wrong type of pump for mounting vertically inside the cockpit well wall. It’s been stored away all this time and, having located it, I took it to the boat to see if I could determine once and for all whether the problem of not being able to pump out the lower bilge lie with the pump itself or with the hoses. It took only minutes to swap out the pump and give it a try, and I found that the problem is definitely the pump. In fact, the test pump responded so effectively and immediately that I realized that the existing pump has never worked properly. I’m bummed about this. This failed pump has seen so little use, and I’ve often read that they are practically indestructible. It’s a Guzzler 500 that had been bought for $65 and installed by the yard back in the summer of 2003. It’s the pump mounted on the bulkhead in this photo.

So, I have to buy a new pump.

I spent the rest of my time at the boat today trying to fit the forward cabin ceiling slats in place in order to determine the position of those troublesome support cleats located at the chainlocker bulkhead end, and at the port side head compartment bulkhead end. I will need to epoxy them in place and I don’t want to have to change any of the original fastener holes in the slats. I had retrieved what I believed were all the remaining slats from storage, but quickly found that I had overlooked some of them. I did a few other things, simple things, like installing a cleat in front of the water tank, and filling the holes that had been drilled in the overhead under-deck long ago to determine whether there was rot in the core.

The malfunctioning manual bilge pump continues to baffle me. I reinstalled the pump after having disassembled it to check for problems, of which I found none. I awoke from a dream that suggested a clogged hose. I took something with me today to poke through the hose from the pump to the seacock but found nothing. I fear this pump has just quit on me. Unsettling, really. These manual pumps are supposed to be indestructible. Evidently, not so. I may do something different for the lower bilge, in fact. More thoughts on that later.

I managed to finally apply a coat of primer on the new chainlocker bulkhead today. It seems like so little, but really it takes a lot of sanding to get to the point where a coat of paint can be applied. That said, I sanded and sanded and decided I’d gotten as smooth a surface as I would get, after which I applied a coat of primer paint, all the while listening to NPR discussing how we really got bamboozled into an irreversible dilemma when we let Bush convince everyone to attach Iraq. How on earth do we ondo the wrongs of others when we never voted for them or their projects? One single man alone can’t do it. Shame on us all!

Ok ok, I’ll get off the subject and move on. Here’s a picture. Or two pictures, different exposures.

What’s also going on in these pictures is the positioning of the ceiling slats, that is, I am attempting to position the original supports for the slats at each modified end so that I can epoxy them in place before I’ve finished painting the hull interior. This is a tricky business. The original positions have been altered somewhat by the work I’ve completed with the new bulkheads. I don’t want to have to drill new holes into the support cleats. I think this will work. I will have to retrieve more of the slats from my garage before I can proceed. The angles are critical.

On the port side, where I’ve installed the new bulkhead to isolate the head compartment, I will have to cut down all the original slats to fit the new, shortened forward cabin space. I’ll have to be a little more flexible with fastening the slats here.

I finished tabbing the forward-facing surrounding edges of the new chainlocker bulkhead today. What a chore! Imagine fitting arm, head and epoxy brush through a 12″ x 12″ opening and fabricating something you can be proud of! I will need aspirin to sleep tonight for sure. I didn’t get any tabbing applied to the overhead section because frankly, I just couldn’t. I couldn’t reach in there enough to properly lay in the tabbing. The areas I did tab, all along the sides, are good to go though.

I had taken the manual bilge pump home with me yesterday to see if I could find something within the unit that is keeping it from properly pumping water through. I took it all apart and it looks like new everywhere. So, I’ve put it back together and tightened every single bolt, and will return this to the boat and give it another go.

I finally got the remaining v-berth bunk boards cut out and fitted in today. This means a lot more room for me to work inside that cabin. It won’t be as uncomfortable to finish tabbing the chainlocker bulkhead and to strip and paint the overhead and ceilings, and I’ll soon be able to start the work on v-berth cushions. Nothing is permanently installed as yet. There’s still a lot of work to do before I can set everything in permanently.

It’s been raining a lot lately so I’ve been spending some time searching for those items I need in order to continue. One additional thing that failed was the little heater I had inside the boat. I had to pick up a new one because the existing one started to spark ominously on me. I try to keep the dust down inside the boat while I’m cutting and grinding, but I managed nonetheless to destroy this little heater along the way.

When I arrived at the boat today the first thing I did was to attempt to drain the lower bilges of a little bit of standing water that has been in there for some time using the manual bilge pump. This pump is located on the aft cockpit well wall and has lately been troublesome. Today it wouldn’t prime at all. I spent a lot of time tightening all the clamps to the hoses, but still I couldn’t get it to pump the water out. Finally I disconnected the hoses at the pump and removed the whole thing. From the outside it looks like it should work, but something must have gone wrong with the inside components. I thought I might take it apart and see.

I had finally been successful in finding the little shelf for the starboard v-berth locker in my garage, and so I made the necessary additional cuts to it today to fit it in place. This will give me yet more stowage space while I’m finishing the area.

I plunged into the bunk board cutting and fitting task. I started by moving the water tank vent hose that runs up the starboard side so that it would appropriately tuck in against the hanging locker bulkhead. I wanted a clean passage from under the v-berth for this hose. I had to temporarily remove the bottom-most ceiling trim to accomplish this. Once that was done I turned to the bunk board.

I found a piece of 1/2″ plywood for the remaining bunk boards and as I already had cut out the cardboard pattern for the starboard side, I traced it onto the ply and made my cuts. No overly-tricky angles to deal with here. Pretty straightforward.

I was happy with the fit, but what really surprised me was that when I turned the same cardboard pattern over on its other side and tried it in the port side space it fit perfectly so that I didn’t have to make a new pattern for that side! I am amazed because that bulkhead is new to the boat, having built it myself some time ago, and it means that I fitted this new port-side bulkhead in exactly the same location as the original starboard hanging locker bulkhead. Superb! Must be beginner’s luck.

I’ve decided that I will definitely need to cut out an access opening in the port side upright bulkhead in order to be able to easily reach the head intake seacock valve. But for now, and because nothing is permanently fastened, I’m content to finish the chainlocker work first. The status is this:

Not a pretty sight for sure, but to me it’s encouraging. I have to finish the chainlocker tabbing, sand and paint it. Install the teak door. Finish tabbing the overhead beams to the hull. Strip the paint off of the overhead and wash down the hull sides. Paint all of that. Then I can start the permanent fastening of the v-berth structure, I think. Then there’s teak trim to replace everywhere, and an overhead liner to install. It will be gorgeous.

I’ve decided that I really need to finish everything that will lead to having the aft-most v-berth bunk boards in place as extra work area in the forward cabin. It will make it physically more comfortable for me to finish the fiberglass tabbing on the forward side of the chainlocker bulkhead. Trust me.

Toward that end a few days ago I had started to shape some mahogany stock I had on hand and was doing really well with it when, darn it, I made a cut that was completely unacceptable. So many angles, so little expertise.

I had to rush around and find more mahogany stock to begin the effort once again, and today I ripped the new board and much more carefully made cuts to fit top cleats for the new forward cabin bulkheads. I have the original shelf that fits inside the starboard v-berth area, but I haven’t located it yet. It’s buried in my garage somewhere.

I was then able to mark the tops of the bulkheads and cut them down to the right height so that I could make patterns for the bunk boards that will cover the remaining v-berth space. I’m pretty happy with the results. I’ve only just temporarily tacked everything in place and plan to properly prepare all the sections before permanently assembling them.

The only concern now is that the original teak trim pieces that fit around the upper edges of the v-berth no longer fit. I may have to create brand new trim pieces. Bummer.

I’ve also been struggling with the decision of whether or not to cut an access opening in the port-side bulkhead. I’m arguing with myself over this. I probably should cut one that will allow me to easily access the seacock for the head intake. Otherwise I would have to lift the v-berth bunk board to get to it. I’ll probably cut one out then. I think I’ve talked myself into it.

I was coming down the gangway at Jantzen Bay the other day when I spotted this very large bird, a hawk or something, sitting atop a mast. I add this here as evidence of the likely reason why the windex went missing on my mast a few years ago.