Sabre 28 - Cruiser - Project

[JawsOrca]

Mid week (ish) update.

 

Thankfully the storm surge didn't do any damage for us apart from wash the ladders and kept me up most of the night.. Dave's been over and nailed the bulkhead walls up and tested the lighting circuits to ensure all will be fine when we come to put the headlining boards up... he's probably done more bits with electrical cables too.

 

I've ordered the headlining material and stainless steel staples and hopefully they should arrive tomorrow (fingers crossed).. This evening I also went and collected the kitchen cabinets (B&Q ) although they are oak cabinets (I know this is a botch but it will be quick and easy - It should look ok too though - we can always replace later in the boats life). I've also just ordered a starlight cooker too.. (We dont have space for a moonlight )

 

I promise I'll get some pictures this weekend

[JawsOrca]

Busy day and I'm exhausted! I spent all day gluing the headlining onto the boards.. Strangely hawke house made me buy and use waterproof PVA instead of contact adhesive... I wasn't confident but it's done really well and has glued on perfectly.. It was hard work to score and remove the form to staple over but again we managed.. Whilst I was doing this Dave nailed in the bulkheads and installed a couple more timber battens. 

 

Mum and dad popped in for lunch and brought the mudweight which was kindly donated by captmatt (Paul).. It is nice and chunky at 22kg so it should hold (thanks again Paul) . It's turning a few heads already as mudweights aren't used down here lol..!  (Oh dad said no mermaid fenders on their boat lol!)

 

After lunch and into the evening we carefully drilled the screw holes (Last weekend we test fitted these and marked the screwholes on the back so we can drill threw the fabric and know that the boards will fit).. thankfully all that prep work last weekend paid off and we quickly (In about 1 hour!) quickly installed the boards..

 

We are both very impressed with the outcome! it looks amazing (if I say so myself!) and certainly fells finished now!! The light really did started to go so I didn't get many pictures (I'll get more tomorrow).. but it really looks good! (better than I hoped!).. I quickly ran round and pushed in the recessed LED lights.

 

Tomorrow, I brought the kitchen cabinets so we will cut them and put them in.. I'm also going to install a punnet above the windows as I don't like seeing the crease of curtains (and we will have LED rope lights there as a feature so will maybe fabricate them tomorrow (not that's why the edges of the headlining don't have buttons!).

[SweetKingfisher1]

Yes, I can say Alan was working when we arrived   . The boat looks great and you now place what is going where. I love the shower / toilet room, nice sink in there  . Great couple of hours with the boys  . 

 

Ian and Alan may say no to the mermaids, but since when do I do what I am told Never   I do what I want  .

 

Regards

Marina   

[Maxwellian]

Looking good Alan.

[Gracie]

"Since when do I do what I am told Never, I do what I want"

Way to go Marina, you tell em girl Lol

Grace

[ZimbiIV]

Hi Alan,

No more weight training needed just lift that thing a few times per visit!

If you put a couple of coats of Hammerite all over including the base, the mud washes off easier.  

It's looking good, do you want to practise carpet fitting now, I can supply the boat to try on.

Marina, pink mermaid fenders look ideal for getting a nice quiet spot ANYWHERE!!!!!!

paul 

[JawsOrca]

Thanks Maxwellian

 

Paul! We have some spare epoxy so I'll give it a good paint I think when we have finished it will be no work for at least a year!! Mum needs to do her front cabin carpet though  

[JawsOrca]

Today, we had an easy day to be honest.. we both the starts of colds so are feeling pretty exhausted.

 

Although we managed to get the three kitchen cabinets in.. we had to cut the backs though due to the shape of the fibreglass although it didn't need much and went together well.. 

 

We also did little bits.. Triming some of the sidelining. .tidy up.. Swapped the fuel tank over as the one we brought needed an inspection hatch but it wouldn't really take one.. but we had a spare one in the shed (like you do) and that will work better (It's taller and shorter so more space for the heater and the fuel sender will work better).

 

Lots of pictures attached.. enjoy.. as you can image the boat at the yard here is getting lots of attention (we had 4 people walk around this morning!).. everyone likes my boaty lamp (It was my impulse purchase although thankfully didn't cost £250 like the first one I saw!).. This is the only bulkhead mounted lamp though so I wanted something boaty... The yacht clubs commodore came to look although he mentioned his wife was talking about it all the way home and now wants a power boat.. whoops!

 

 

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Alan,

Looking good.

Regards

Alan

[deebee29]

Really looking good now Alan (and Dave)

You've both put the hours in but we can all see that it's worth it

David:wave

[JawsOrca]

Thanks guys .. it's starting to feel achievable although still along way to go  

[Gracie]

Alan, she's beautiful, how are you both going to feel when you spend your first night on her? Unbelievably proud of yourselves I would imagine and rightly so

 

I do hope you only have colds the both of you and not the dreaded man flu lol, hope you feel better soon

 

Grace

[Maxwellian]

Coming together nicely. How are you going to finish off the edges/corners, some kind of wooden angel?

[JawsOrca]

Aww thanks Grace.. Hopefully the first night aboard will be a wild mooring on the ant. I'm not too sure how it will feel! probably nerve racking hoping everyone hangs together lol.. she will feel very comfortable I think though We will feel proud of her though considering we really are professionals at this (although would we both love to ) we are already (although that headlining has really turned the corner!). Hopefully these are colds! It's me that always gets that manflu although I have a long commute and easy surrender to it!

 

Thanks Again Maxwellian, Yes the corners will have a nice chunky L shaped moulding from oak, theres a door frame going in between the front cabin and kitchen/dinette so that should trip that area of nicely... there will be a delay in doing this as we will need to get the floor down first which is teak and holly and will cost a fortune! so we need to get on with some other bits first.

[BroadScot]

Achooooooo!!!!! There germs gone!  Its looking great young Alan. Looks like B'pool has competition for the illuminations (a lot of lecky work)   You pair have done. Just the finer touches and wayhey Norfolk here we come!

 

 

Iain.

[JawsOrca]

lol thanks Iain. We still have 15 meters of LED rope lighting to go in.. gulp.. but I think its nice to have lots of different lighting options. It feels like we have turned a corner although theres still a scary about of work (and money) to do  We are aiming of bring her up in march though... we have to do the odd little bit up there depending on how we get on

[BroadScot]

I knew it I knew it!! Its a floating Discoteque   15mtrs of rope lighting!!!

 

Iain.

[JawsOrca]

lol 5 meters of colour changing too lol that was Richardsons/Sheerline "Kingfisher" that gave me that inspiration...

[JawsOrca]

So I have a little confession.. the window in the kitchen area sprang quite a leak in the week..and I've been fighting to get it sealed.. although it took me a few evenings to work out where.. I eventually found out that it as the down part of the window frame where it meets the bottom.. Once I found out.. during the dry evenings and all yesterday.. filled it with creaping crack sealant (that goodness for that product)... thankfully this morning it was all dry in there (although I'll still carry on with the sealant for a bit to make sure).

 

So once the leak was sealed we put the kitchen cabinets back together (I coated the edges with PVA glue as its chipboard, which shouldn't be used in a boat but it "should" be dry in there really, (we have in the houseboat and you see them in hireboats and they last.. if they don't then we will rip out later but as mentioned before this type of kitchen looks good and is quick to install. Perfect..

 

Other than this we have been doing lots of finishing jobs;

 

- Lighting is now all in and tested and working (apart from the last LED rope lights).

- All bulkhead work in the front cabin is made up.. they just need varnishing and clear epoxy and nailing up, then trimmed.

- Wardrobe door has been started.. it will need trimming.

- I cleaned the window frames and windows with a blade to make them clean

- Vents put on on the UFO vents on the front cabin.

- Toilet door frame trimmed with material.

- Swapped over the fuel tank as the one we brought didnt have a inspection panel needed for the heater pickup and was too small for the fuel sender to work.

- Swapped over the fuel filler as the one on there was too big for fuel hose (thankfully we had one in the toolbox .. like you do!).

- Installed Gas hose on gas bottle and recessed lifting ring on the hatch.

- Installed latch and lock on the engine bay hatch so the engine bay is now secure (I can sleep better! - Although the boat is heavily alarmed so people one get far without waking the hole marina up!)

- Installed engine and loo seacocks and associated plumbing (so I can sleep better now on a high tide!). 

- Plumbed in calorfier to the engine.

- Finish cold water tank system (just needs the vent).

- Finished running heater ducting.

 

No pictures though as these little jobs aren't very interesting although it's nice to be ticking them off.. plenty to still to do though! (But rewarding to tick them off!!).

[BroadScot]

Tick, Tick Tick....yup we are "Watching" your every move young Alan on here

 

Yes, all kidding apart, it must be great to see all your hard work now coming together.    Ever nearer the finnishing post!

 

Iain.

[JawsOrca]

Hi Iain... It sure is.. although these are the little jobs where it can take an hour to do a little bit of trim but when that's done we don't need to go near that bit again, so it's nice!

 

I done a project plan in the week too just to help me relax a bit more.. Although it's hard for Dave to tell me how much time he needs but I'm estimating we have about 250 hours left (So 25 days) so we should be hitting somewhere around mid January which isn't too bad it leaves a couple of months spare still (For dave's vaugeness) we are hoping to transport up in march.  (But money could be a problem as I estimate something like £3.5k (Plus £1k for transport, BSC, Survey).. that's a lot of money to find in a few weeks!.

 

We had more visitors today and more comments along the lines of.. "it's stunning", "It looks better my house" (I like that one!), "You so and so's certainly are very skilled".

[BuffaloBill]

Alan. You mentioned Stainless Steel Staples, are these

the ones you use in a staple gun?

If so, where did you get them as I need to buy some.

A link would be good....

[BroadScot]

Hi Bill,

 

Found these..... any good?

 

http://www.axminster.co.uk/arrow-t50-stainless-steel-staples

 

Iain

[JawsOrca]

Hi Bill,

 

Yes these are the ones you use in a heavy duty staples although as Iain found there they only appear to do for a couple of models of staples.. T50 appear to be be the norm so you may need to buy a stapler to match the staples...

 

Toolstation also do: http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p86199, although I brought from power tool products as I wanted 6mm ones to ensure they don't come out the otherside: http://www.powertooldirect.co.uk/cgi-bin/search.cgi?keywords=stainless+staples 

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Alan,

 

The usual stapler is a Arrow Stapler back in the day, I stlll have a few from my days of recovering pool table cushions. There are a few other makes on the market these days.

I tended to use from 6mm upto 12mm for other jobs.

 

Regards

Alan