Interior Work Has Begun.....

Hello once again and welcome back to my blog covering the refit of my sailboat, BeBop. This weekend I've started to do the major woodworking projects to the interior. I also put the 1st coat of Brightsides on the mast with Rich's help. I wanted to get the 2nd coat done today but daylight savings time plus a tad bit too much wind later on prevented me from doing it. But now with light in the afternoon I can work on things I normally would not be able to. Lets start by taking a look overall look at the interior.


Smallish and in ok shape but needs some help. The headliner needs to be replaced and she needs paint. Everything is also removed to make life easier during the refit. I wanted to add in a bit more storage space where the shelves go and somebody I talk to via email gave me a great idea for a new locker. Here is the before of what the hanging shelves looked like.


It worked ok I'm sure but wow, what a lot of wasted space....cubic feet of it that I need to take advantage of. So out they went and I'm building in hard shelves to take their place. I'm keeping the really small hanging ones as I think it will come in handy for smallish random type items. Here is what I've done so far.


The plywood has been measured and cut but still needs to be sanded, painted and installed. I'm also planning on putting a small lip on the shelves edges so items cannot fall out so easy. I know it doesn't look great at the moment but use a bit of imagination and picture it all finished painted white. I could of bought a interior grade of wood (ie prettier) for the shelves but that would be a lot more money (that I don't have) where as a 4x8 piece of exterior grade pressure treated plywood was $26 bucks for the sheet. That's enough to do everything I want to for the interior. It will just require more sanding to get a acceptable finish. Sigh...Sanding...story of my life. >_<

This is the new V berth locker that I'm installing. It will probably be used for the ground tackle since it's easy enough to hoist it through the forward hatch located directly above it. It supports about double my weight so I can stand on it and it makes getting out of the hatch easier too. This picture is very rough. I have just cut the pieces out and am test fitting them. They too will be sanded, painted, etc. I would like to add that this locker was not my brainstorm but of a fellow Nomad owner in the UK, Derek Todd of the S/V "Rolean." I would like to thank you again for the photo, idea and the information you have given me so far. Stay in touch sir.



So it's not as exciting as launching my dory but it's work that needs to be done. This is about it without telling you the size and quantity of the stainless steel bolts that I'm using to secure all the new pieces in with. Detail I doubt many of you wish to read. I am getting lots of questions about what I'm doing and why so I'm putting together a couple of entries that will answer them. I hope to have the first part up by the middle of this week so keep checking back from time to time. Until next time...Fair Winds...