Moving inside.

I know this is supposed to be a blog about sailing a Reinell sailboat. Before we can sail we have to have the boat all set up and ready to go. I think we are almost there! I really only have the swim ladder and we can put her back into the water. The rest really is to make the inside look awesome and by very usable and comfortable for us.

Looks like I finally got all the leaks and the hardware stuff on the outside taken care of. So now I get to move on to the inside.

I am even more excited and nervous about this aspect of fixing / customizing our boat for us. I mean what is a good set up for us? What works on a sailboat and what doesn't? It's not like I have ever been on a sailboat to get some ideas.

Plus it is not like I have a lot of space to work with. There is like 16 feet from the front of the V berth to the companion way. Plus a little quarter berth that is perfect for the youngest. So in that space we need our space to sleep. We have a little sink and an area to make food plus a little ice box. A spot for the table and a place for the little john.

We we got the boat there was really nothing inside. So no ideas to start from really. Just a blank slate we get to make in any way we want to. That whole blank slate and filling it with something creative is definitely not my strong suite.

So the first thing that I saw was a problem was the front of the V berth. It had an area that really was wasted. Couldn't store anything or make use of it really. So that was an easy thing to see needed to be fixed for us.

What the V berth looked like after all the old nasty 1970's carpet was removed from the inside.

One thing I see is a lot of is having lockers everywhere. So I figured I would make one to make better use of that space.

I figured some furring strips epoxied on both side so that I can secure the face of the locker to it. Then I epoxied to horizontal furring strips to place a shelf on. Then I fiber glassed them to the hull just to make sure.

Then I used some cardboard and made a template for that area the best I could. Then I used that to cut that shape into a piece of 3/8 inch plywood.

It ended up with a really odd shape to be able to fit all the different contours of the boat.

Then I cut an opening. Then just cut a solid piece for the door. Stained them and applied several coats of varnish. For some reason the varnish on these pieces really was not very smooth. I kept carefully applying a coat. Letting it dry, then sanding it. Then carefully apply another coat, then lightly sand it. I tried foam brushes and regular brushes. I even went out and got a new can of varnish and tried thinning it out a little bit. I just couldn't get it to turn out as good as I wanted it to.

Because it can get dark in this area I figured some lighting in the locker would be a good idea. So I wired a small strip of LED lights. I put in a USB charge point for our electronics.

It is nice to be moving forward. It is nice when I can look and see a difference with what I am doing to the boat.

Just a few more steps and I am positive we will be able to be back sailing again!!