Not quite stalled..

but not a ton of progress as is becoming usual. Not sure how to fix that except keep plugging along and doing what I can when I can. I have been pushing the ball forward in a couple of areas. The countertop project of course. Firstly, the storage bins underneath received more coats of paint and are looking quite spiffy at the moment.

Before assembly there has been more painting to do. I decided to paint under the dish storage area and the drop storage box on the starboard side. The bottoms and non visible areas were coated in straight epoxy for sealing. The plywood has proven quite thirsty and it has taken three coats of bilgekote to get exceptable coverage. The last coat went on today so 'soon' is the plan for final installation of the countertops.

Installing the remaining sound/heat insulation around the engine was another project that was done recently. That funny wooden thing on the engine is my Triton original spicerack/electrical panel. I need to add a electrical plug in the wiring harness so I can disconnect the panel wiring from the engine wiring. Until then I have to remove the rack to keep the wiring harness out of the way of the countertop. That's another 'soon-ish' project.

I also took another stab at fixing that irritating leak that I have been trying to track down. I am pretty sure the leak is starting with the cheap plastic hatch cover on the starboard side which I will use to access one half of the house batteries. Water was pooling up on the battery shelf and being dumped right along the seam between the 'half bulkhead' at the aft end of the cabin area and the plywood panel I used to close off the cabin from the cockpit area. I partially fixed that by cutting a corner off the battery shelf so the water gets dumped further aft and away from the seam.

I also noticed that water could be riding down the manual bilge pump hose (yeah, that grimy one in the photo. Mold has been a constant problem so far even with the improved ventilation). During a rain storm I had applied polysulfide sealant (boatlife) to parts of the seam in a quick and dirty attempt to fix the issue. Today I finished removing the old stuff and doing a better job of getting the goop into place. Having the corner of the battery shelf cut away improved access for my paw-like hands.

Further access was granted after I took another look at my exhaust system. I have been suspicious of it for a few years and I have been keeping a close eye on it for awhile. Its just normal iron piping. Two weeks ago I took a harder look with a three foot crowbar and found the remaining metal not up to my expectations. I was able to break the pipe. That made access easier and resolved me to fixing the exhaust properly. More about that in another post.

Finally, I spent some time trimming the supporting structure for the countertops in preparation for final installation.

And that is where the boat is at the moment. I usually write something about upcoming plans but since I seem to be so bad at predicting what will be getting worked on next I might just stop here and let everyone, including myself, be surprised. If you life in the northern hemisphere then enjoy the spring weather. If you live in the southern hemisphere then... well I am sorry, it sucks to be you. Bundle up 'cause old man winter is a 'knockin :-P Until next time wantoks ;-)