Bit by Bit, We Work and Work

On days when we cannot work outside, we are starting to remove damaged parts inside and do repairs. This photo of the upstairs salon shows where we have removed the teak plywood from the walls as they were all damaged from the windows leaking due to the broken windows and bad track. We also decided to remove the second (portside) couch/bunk to make the room larger since we don't plan on having alot of people stay on the boat with us.

This photo of the starboard side is before the paint removing, sanding, and rebuilding the lower deck railing and rub rail were started. We have now finished designing and adding the deck railing which is teak turnings and a treated pine rail painted white. The black paint, yellow paint, etc were all removed from the sides of the boat and sanded down. The yellow stripe was the rub rail which was deteriorated from water being able to get behind the rail and start rotting the wooden hull.

Howard climbs up with box full of teak pieces quite a ways up there for sure. At least he has been able to keep a hat on to cut down on burning the egghead!
These two photos also show where some rot work needs to be done, trim boards rebuilt, wood planks pulled back in, etc. We work on her slow but steady, not wanting to make Chut Loon a showplace, but one that can be lived on and yet show her beauty off.

Susan works on fly-deck railing..already sanded, now applying teak finish to railing and then we repainted the entire fly-deck white, and a red pinstripe around the outer edge at the cabin roof. Luckily most of the days here have been a mild mid 70s to 80s and a cool breeze coming off the Chesapeake Bay.

Here is a photo of the new main deck railing. The white paint really helps make it stand out. While working on the turnings, however; Howard "looked away for a second" and cut the tip of his right pinky finger off, down to the bone. Luckily the Hampton VA Hospital is right next door to Fort Monroe were we keep our RV at the campground. They took him right in and took care of it, as much as they could, which ended up being cleaning it out, cut off loose skin, and bandage it up, give you drugs, send you home! Of course, he wanted to get back at the saw the next day, but I said NO WAY! Of course, I am not one really to talk..I am so black and blue from tripping; losing my footing on ladders; etc. that I could not wear shorts or a swimsuit now if I wanted to. After a little bit I seem to lose my balance alot so I cannot do much more than a couple hours a day of anything. So--I have now finished painting the black trim on the sides; I painted the back gold and green trim; painted the rub-rail gold; re-finished and painted carved leaves gold and put them back on the rear sides of the boat; re-finished and painted the wooden dragons and re-mounted them on the front sides of the boat. Howard has been busy down in the "pit" - draining old gas; fuel; etc. out of the tanks and taking them to recycling pit; cutting strips of copper to ready the hull for oakum and caulking; repairing bad boards; epoxying whatever needs it (and alot of things needed it) etc. Here are some photos to show you what I mean. Will blog again real soon.


Dragons re-finished and re-mounted. I went through quite a quandry trying to determine the right colors for these guys. These are representative of the Dragon of the Seas.


Rear carvings of leaves and vines, re-painted and mounted. Could not restore the entire leave/vine motif on each side as originally they were about 6 feet long, but too much damage on rest of it to save.


Rear "Poop Deck" refinished and painted..the circles on the bottom, however, have now been painted green but forgot to take the photo - Howard!



The boat was placed in a lift and the front end raised about a foot, as the way she sat on the barrels, water that leaked inside had no way to find the scuppers that drain any water away...new rub rail on both sides painted gold. She will be painted bright red on the hull down to the water line.