Saturday, August 18, 2012

Hot like an Oven...

Well, maybe "Stove" would be more appropriate.

Its been hot, very hot, and the weekends have been swelter fests at the boatyard.  It seemed like a good time to take a break, maybe a little vacation, catch up on some other chores and just fuss with little stuff in the mornings before it gets too hot inside the boat.  My sweat has been staining all the lovely woodwork...

... and I think the heat has cooked my brain a bit.  Most of my efforts have been towards installing the stove top; that and finding a new home for Jenny but more on that in a bit.  First ideas for mounting the stove was to simply install a fiddle around the edges of the paneling and sit the stove on top.




My problem came from trying to tie in the trim and make it all look good.  Those raw plywood edges were tough to make smooth and straight enough to butt up to an edge and dissapear. Both the side edge and top edge needed to be hidden and it just wasn't working out well.  Then those pesky screws on the left side were interfering with the removable step.  "Damned that it was all connected" is what  friend of mine says.  Doing one thing has ripple effects on everything else around it.  The outboard side was proving tricky too and I just didn't like where it was going to I returned to the drawing board.

Currently, I am working on my second attempt.


This involves more "real" wood and I expect that side panel alongside the ladder in the companionway is going to be cut away. 

The other issue on my mind is moving Jenny. There was an issue with the sale of my current boatyard and it looked like it was going to be around for another year which was a good thing. Just last week though the decision was made and Jenny will have to move in the next month.  All the business is going to another local boatyard that is currently making room for the additional boats.  I stopped by this morning to check it out and I wasn't too impressed.  Its a parking lot with limited power and no water and from the looks of it all the boats are jammed in inches from one another.  It isn't the kind of yard that favors project boats.  On the plus side, as a nice gesture from the current yard, all boats moving to the new yard will be done at the curent yard's expense.  That would save me a nice little bundle of money that could pay for something nice on the boat.  But as I mentioned, I am not too impressed with what I saw.

I was also looking at the old port of Gloucester where I have spot if I want it.  Its a great harbor to launch out of and the yard is highly recommended.  The problem is its probably the dirtiest junkpile of a boatyard I have ever seen.  Random bits of wood, boat parts, travel lift parts, etc. scattered everywhere and once again, only inches between the gunwales.  Its also about half an hour from where I live which makes running back for that forgotten tool even more of a chore.

I have a few more options one of which includes parking Jenny on a local farm where the owner is friend of mine.  It would be close and I would have some room.  Hauling costs twice a year might  make it it a bit more painful on the wallet but that's what I am looking at.  I hope to scope that out tomorrow.

Pretty sad update for a sadly neglected blog I know but that's all I got.  This weekend the heat seems to be breaking and hopefully the weather trend will continue.