Solstice Salutations

We last left you in heavy project mode. We wanted to get Gypsy into usable shape so we could do more than work on her, like actually get her out sailing. Our first goal was to get the cabin looking finished. We had unvarnished trim and lemon yellow paint still showing. The varnishing needed to get done first, so May was varnish month. We varnished and we worked on enclosing the engine space in the cockpit lockers. We got the varnishing done in time to clean the cabin and get Gypsy ready for the Memorial Day cruise. We had a fun weekend not working on the boat. The engine enclosure is still in process. Since the engine was not enclosed we get to invent the whole system. This means you do one bit and then you design the next bit… It may be done before we sail to Mexico.

cabin not painted — The cabin looks pretty good. The vee berth still has the lemon yellow paint.

The ladder is varnished and we have our new Treadmaster steps. You can see that the quarter berth still needs varnish. The ladder has come a long way from its plywood back and solid sides. It now weighs less, too.

The painting came next. We piled all the cushions up in the main cabin and painted the vee berth and quarter berth.

cushions covered — No ghost, just cushions.

Bill made new plexiglass sliders for the head and galley cabinets. He almost fainted when he got the bill for the plexi. They do look good!

galley with plexi

head with plexi

mirrors in — We also got plexi mirrors. They will be great.

wind vane rebuild — While we were doing the painting, our dining room table became Monitor central. We rebuilt our wind vane. We replaced all of the plastic bearings and the blocks. While doing this, we discovered that 316 stainless is not that rust resistant. There were some every iffy bolts that have now been pounded out and also replaced. Anyways, the wind vane is ready to mount on Gypsy. The 3M stainless polish works very well at removing rust.

watermaker 1 — We also started installing our watermaker. This is the main pump and reverse osmosis membrane unit. It is mounted above the quarter berth. We wanted a location that had good access and this was about the only choice. We chose this unit because it had a bigger output and a lower amp draw per gallon than the small Katadyn watermakers. We will be able to make 6 gallons per hour for an 8 amp draw.

watermaker 2 — The rest of the gear for the watermaker will mount on the board that will hang below the shelf. Getting the layout settled was a big step. Now Bill just needs to mount everything and run the plumbing.

The other project we finally got to was to have Rogers Marine come and troubleshoot our instruments. We were having problems with our radar and GPS. The problem turned out to be a defective Lowrance GPS. If we had been able to deal with this sooner we may have been able to get warranty coverage. Lesson learned is deal with problems sooner rather than later.

So that is what we have been doing. We are working to get Gypsy ready for her summer cruise to Vancouver Island. We have a month to get her ready.

5 thoughts on “Solstice Salutations”

Kate Swabey says:

June 21, 2018 at 6:56 am

Looking so good. Well done !

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Charlie Needled says:

June 21, 2018 at 9:27 am

Send postal letter to pres. of co. as to gps . Many times they won’t hold you to the letter of agreement to gain the goodwill.

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pennote says:

June 21, 2018 at 4:06 pm

Beautiful, careful work as always!

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Ellen Jacobson says:

June 22, 2018 at 8:12 am

You guys have been doing a lot of work! It all looks terrific. We really need to do some varnish work as well. Your photos are motivating me to get on that particular task 🙂

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1. Bill & Nina Kramer says:
  
  June 22, 2018 at 6:48 pm
  
  Thanks, the varnishing isn’t too hard, use a good brush that is not too big. The biggest problem is the sanding and taping.
  
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