Long Time -- No Blog An update as I try to catch up.

I spent nearly three years on the west coast remodeling and selling one house I have been renting for the last 23 years, and then I put the proceeds of that sale into remodeling another house in California.  So there has been a long break in posts.  I'll admit I forgot about this blog and remembered it while doing some online searching.

So, what else is happening?  I've been breeding dogs and that has take a lot of my time.

In any event, I have been going full guns on refurbishing Echo for the last few months and have lots of photos.  It will take me a while to catch up.

A few high points.

I decided to ditch the coffee grinder winch and cut in a companionway to the cockpit--which was sorely missing.  There was no easy way into the cockpit and since the wheel was moved to the aft end of the cockpit, there was nothing in the way.  In fact this will transform the boat.   Since the T shape is inverted, the top of the T forward, was where the wheel used to be, there is room to walk across the cockpit and service the winches I plan to install there.  The slider hatch will go under the deck so as not to infringe on the landing area of the forward "mineshaft" hatch.

Next is I want weather protection so I'm building a hard dodger.  The deck is 38.5" from the middle of the cockpit sole, and 36.5" on the side of the cockpit.  I want to be able to look over the dodger but also work the winches.  I'm thinking a height of 31 or 32" will give me room to lean over the winches and grind freely.  The design is somewhat fluid at the moment.  I'd like hand grips on a duckbill on the front side for people coming up the forward hatch to grab onto.  I'd like an opening window, but I am not sure if I will do that or not.   One issue it the traveler will go on top, so a metal frame is necessary in the construction.

The four deadlight windows are being replaced with 1/2" acrylic plexiglass.  A lot of work.  A lot of work.  A real lot of work went into this.  The goal is to make these seal perfectly and be easy to maintain in the future.  I found a repair was done, in an inferior manner.  My refit is more robust.  Better backing.  Thicker and wider plexiglass, and designed to be maintainable.  Hope to get those in during the next week.  Nearly all the prep work is done.

The aft head is going together with an electric head and a 64 gallon holding tank.  The holding tank will be a good size for a large crew and will be above the waterline for easy drainage offshore.

The galley has been gutted as well.   That will move forward this winter.

The V-berth area has had some repairs.

The salon has two settees done.  Seatbacks can be raised to make two more bunks--four total.  No teak trim yet.

The aft stateroom will have a cool feature.  The upper bunks will have a panel to enclose them when not needed as bunk, converting into storage areas.  That panel will be moved lower down when not needed, attached in front of lower storage areas.

In short Echo will sleep 10 people inshore, 8 offshore, or be configured to be comfy for two or four when coastal cruising.

Enough for now.  I have been too tired to post. I may just do a massive picture dump and add captions.

Priming again

Hatch Idea

Aside from some dust on it the hatch looks great. One issue is the handle gets in the way. I want to move it to the top instead of the front. 

Fuel Tank Wrestling

It may not seem like much, but this was the corner I needed to turn and I have bruises to show for it. 

Here it is in the aft end nearly ready to drop in. And that will have to wait as I have something else important to do. 

Electrical Panels

AC panel: I took these photos to redefine the wiring labels based on upcoming changes.

Input power no longer needs polarity sensing since the isolation transformers were installed. This has been required to disable that function.

DC panels:

Cross connect Switch on the left, DC lighting panel on right.  I plan to chance the Aft, Main, and forward lights to control sub panels in this locations.  

This biggest change to the panels willbe the number of wires going to them will be dramatically reduced.  Only hot leads will be terminated here and the ground bus will be used for panel lights.  Wago terminals on a DIN Rail will be used for the ground terminations. I am not sure how those work for the AC neutral connections.  

Temporary Ladderr

I started building a temporary companionway ladder, but my battery charger seems to have died and taken with it 3 or 4 batteries.  

I used the old aft upper bunks to enclose the platform and railing to provide some protection for the dog-/so she won't fall off. 

Aft bulkhead. Last two pieces!

Ron brought over two pieces of 3/4 marine plywood and I made a template out of cardboard, trimmed the to fit the last to places--high up under the side deck I left space for wires in conduit and throttle and transmission cables. 

Here are two shots showing them cleared in place on the aft side.

Port side aft view:

Starboard side aft view:

Here is the Starboard side of this bulkhead viewed from the front and tabbed in place.  I need to pull the engine control wired inboard before tabbing the top. I will put some PVC conduit in here on case I need to pull wire aft later on. When the new panel goes in, most wire will feed through this side. 

Port side looking aft, and all tabbed in except for access to conduit which I will add soon. Control cables are visible. AC power enters the boat in front of this bulkhead. No need to pass that through.