Great Loop Preparations in High Gear

[Seapup]

Shiny!!! Looks great.

[ris]

Would you have any idea of what paint they used. I just finished my bunks and putting tandem axles under the trailer and I need to paint it. That trailer looks really nice.

[Chinook]

The paint is called AIS industrial auto paint, and it is a Sherwin Williams product. It requires a special primer and hardener, as I understand it. It was spray applied, and covered beautifully. The painter also undercoated the under side of the fenders, and gave me a spray can of chip protector. I set a masking tape line on the lower half of the leading edge of the fenders, where rock chips tend to accumulate, and I sprayed them with this clear chip protector. It should help to keep the paint job looking good.

[Chinook]

View of the newly refurbished interior. We sewed the cushions, using Sunbrella and high density foam for the seats and vee berth, medium density for the seat backs. We glued polyester batting to the surface of the foam, using a 3M spray adhesive, before filling the cushion covers. This gave them a nice rounded, full look. We relied heavily on Sailrite for techniques on making cushions, and ordered some items from them, including a hotknife specifically designed for cutting synthetic fabric like sunbrella. It cuts and seals the edges to prevent raveling. I can't imagine doing a project like this without one. Behind and just past the far end of the port settee backrest are new chart racks. I installed mahogany rails to hold the seat cushions in place, instead of the velcro attachments originally supplied with the boat. On either side of the vee berth, suspended along the hull, are a pair of sunbrella pocket organizers, which will hold tee shirts, underwear, socks, swim suits and other items we want to keep handy. On the floors are new carpets, with nonskid cushion material glued to the undersides, which give them a nice soft feel. The galley features a new Corian countertop and stainless steel sink, edged with a mahogany fiddle. A rebuilt dish storage rack sits on the back of the countertop. New mahogany storage bins sit on the back edge of the table. The windows are now accented with mahogany window frames. Half inch velcro dots are inset around the window frames, so that blackout curtains can be directly attached. The new Sirocco fan is mounted to the cabin roof, close to galley, table and vee berth.

[Chinook]

This view shows the full galley, with remodeled dish storage rack, counter top, sink, and fiddle.

[Chinook]

View of new cushions, chart racks, and fabric organizer.

[Chinook]

This is a better view of the vee berth. At bottom center is the custom key cushion which covers the space above the forward part of the aisle. We leave this in place all the time. On the side settee side, I built a wooden elevated extension of the seat between vee berth and galley, which puts the side seat at the same level as the vee berth. For X owners, this is a very nice mod, which makes a lot of sense. It even gives you a little more storage space in the locker in front of the galley.

[Chinook]

This view shows the pocket organizer, with elasticized sunbrella pockets sewed onto nougahide back panel. The panel is glued to 1/8 inch mahogany door skin, which then slips up between hull and cabin roof liner. Patches of velcro help hold the organizer in place. The chart racks behind and off the end of the side settee backrest.

[Chinook]

View of galley, looking aft. The new AIS radio is flush mounted up high, where the old fuse panel was located. To the left of the radio is a small plastic pouch which holds our personal locator beacon. The ice chest sits on a handy white painted box. Inside the box, in partitioned spaces, are such awkward items as our ship's bell, a 10 lb downrigger ball, and my conch horn. In a tray above these essential items are a variety of handy tools, used for setting up the boat.

[Chinook]

This cool organizer features elasticized boxed pockets, sewn onto a nougahide back panel. It's stiffened with a mahogany door skin batten. A pocket at the top holds a dowel, which enables the thing to hang from Command hooks, which are attatched to the hull, beneath the table. We will store shoes in the bottom pockets, and miscellaneous items like gloves, in the top. It's a nice use of an otherwise wasted space.

[Chinook]

This is our new folding cockpit table. The top is fabricated with alternating strips of mahogany and black walnut, finished with multiple coats of spar varnish. The hinge hardware are flush mount folding table hinges, designed specifically for this application. They sit flat on the table, with no annoying hinge spine sticking up, like you get with simple butt hinges. The table leg hinges in the middle, so it folds up and snaps into storage position when the table is lowered. It rests flat, against the pedestal and is held there with a stainless snap. 4 snaps on the underside of the closed table wings enable a pedestal organizer to be snapped to the face of the stored table.

[Chinook]

Here Sandy and I are, in our makeshift cushion fabrication shop, otherwise known as the dining room, with dining table covered with a sheet of masonite. I'm cutting sunbrella with the hot knife, while Sandy hums along at the sewing machine.

[Nautek]

Chinook
Just looking at your mods makes me green with envy
It should make life on board a lot more comfortable
Good luck with the trip and look forward to your trip reports

Allan

[innervations]

Chinook. Love your work!

[mastreb]

Awesome work! Love the Vee berth mod.