Progress Update! Canvas and Electronics and Railings Oh My!

This post goes out to those of you who’ve been asking the seemingly simple but slightly hard-to-answer question: “how’s the boat project going?” While not totally comprehensive, here is a pretty good update on many of the things we’ve been up to. If you follow us on Instagram (@aboard idilio - wink wink) you may have seen some of this, but certainly not all.

I'd say our status may be summarized as: the list of active projects just keeps growing! So it’s hard to feel like we’ve made great progress even as we keep diligently plugging away at stuff. That said, some smaller things are starting to get checked off the list, and even a few bigger things - ones that we got rolling early on - are nearing completion. We're hoping to soon feel like we’ve moved past tearing things apart and into the making things nice stage. 

 

CANVAS!

The biggest example of a project getting close to complete is the canvas enclosure… That one is not DIY, but will still be a massive change for the look and usability of the boat. We commissioned the job a few months ago, after some deliberating on which color to go with. We wanted something more vibrant than the previous (navy) canvas, but needed something that still worked with some of the other navy accents on the boat. 

We ended up going with a moderately vibrant Turquoise, something fun that jives with the vibe we are going for with the Tolly, but works in conjunction with the navy. We briefly considered going full authentic "Tolly Teal", but it was just too much for us. Last weekend, we were excited to find the canvas mostly completed, and the fit is just great! The difference between this and the old is dramatic… The old canvas was in terrible shape, it was a bad fit with ripped seams and scratched/faded glass. Also, its configuration didn’t allow passage between the cabin and the flybridge without removing the back panels. It left most of the cabin door exposed to the elements (which is why the wood frame was in such terrible shape). The new canvas will completely shield the door and allow for circulation between flybridge and salon. And the fit is so nice!

HULL STRIPE

Another thing that made the boat look borderline junky was the navy accent stripe above the rub rail, terribly faded and cracked. Granted, this should have been a low-priority item, as an ugly stripe has no effect on our ability to go boating… But I just couldn’t keep looking at that thing anymore! So I grabbed the heat gun and scraper and went to work! Unfortunately it was waaaaaaay more work than I bargained for… It took me a full day to get this stripe off, with many areas so brittle that it would only come in tiny pieces... Probably not the very best use of my time, but it was quite cathartic to get rid of that thing, and now we can start planning what to do in its place. We’ll likely do a new stripe, and may even consider something like a double stripe that brings yet another color into play. Wild, right?! Just like with the canvas, there are deliberations ahead!

HATCHES

One satisfying project we'll hopefully wrap up soon is the hatch refurbishing/replacement. You might recall that one of the first things we tackled was removing the two Bomar hatches from the boat, sending them to Atkins and Hoyle for full refurbishment. This included stripping and anodizing of the cast aluminum frames and reglazing with new cast acrylic. As things tend to go, it got a little more complicated… Somewhere in the refurbishing process, they lost the lid for one of our hatches, which is a bummer since these top-of-the-line cast aluminum hatches are four-digit commodities... "they just don’t make 'em like that anymore, dontchaknow!" After exploring many options to resolve the issue, Atkins and Hoyle decided to send us one of their own Offshore Cast Hatches as a replacement, at no additional cost. We first had to confirm that their hatch would be an OK fit on the raised portion of our deck. Thankfully, it looks like it will work just fine. I had to get over myself and just be OK with the fact that the two hatches on the boat won't match. In any case, when we finally got our two hatches back via mail, it felt like Christmas. Of course, the screws for the replacement hatch don’t line up with the old screws, so the installation for that one became a little bit more involved. But it’s not that big of a deal, since I was planning on over-drilling the screw holes anyway, and fill them with thickened epoxy, so that screws don’t end up penetrating the deck’s balsa coring. Below, the new Atkins and Hoyle hatch, and the old screw holes have been filled and new ones drilled (new ones have the countersink). 

Last weekend, we finished drilling and epoxying the holes as we get the area ready to receive the new hatches. That’s Becca’s hand below as she used a zip tie to work the epoxy in and remove air bubbles. Now, when we install, we will drill into the epoxy for the mounting screws. We are hoping to get these babies on there very soon!

GELCOAT

Speaking of Becca, She constantly surprises me with her gumption. Example: her volunteering to take on the significant task of gelcoat patching the 50+ old holes from old snaps and screws that we removed from the aft deck and flybridge. After filling with epoxy, this involved applying gelcoat, sanding, and - usually - doing the whole thing a second time. Most of them look great, certainly much better than what these nasty-looking sealant -covered snaps looked like before: 

Below you can see her hard at work as she went around the aft deck, side decks, and flybridge, methodically working through the spots. I realize we didn’t quite take a “finished” photo of any of them, but they are coming out nice enough that you really hardly notice them at all - other than the inevitable difference in gelcoat color. Not only does it look better, but the drastic reducing the possible places where water may leak into the deck assembly will bring me some peace of mind! Since I tend to worry about things, peace of mind is always welcome. Why people drill so many holes into boats, especially in cored areas, really boggles the mind. 

Fun fact: that’s birthday Becca in some of those photos, as she spent a good chunk of her birthday doing gelcoat work. It certainly wasn't a typical birthday, but what's a typical birthday nowadays anyway? Having a March birthday, Becca is at the front end of "COVID" birthday counts - this was already her third! Though, as COVID numbers were low, we still braved going out to celebrate with a little ice cream at lunch. 

RAILINGS

Another project we dove into head-on is the modification of the railings. The boat came with three access points: one at each side deck (with railing arm gate, one of which was missing) and of course the stern access - via the ladder up from the swim platform. None of them are ideal for loading and unloading so we decided that we’ll add an access point to the aft deck on the starboard side. This will be most useful at the marina when we're loaded down with weekend bags and groceries. We've now converted both side deck access points to chain (one gate was missing, and we love symmetry!) - which involved a lot of stainless steel cutting and doing some homework to find the right hardware… 

And they came out great! Check out those nice chains and how well the new fittings fit on the rails! The little set screws are easy to drop, and we noticed several were missing around the boat, so we bought a bag of new ones and Becca went around replacing all the missing ones. 

Now it’s just a matter of modifying the rail at the stern. We plan to use the arm gate that used to be at the side deck access. So, when it's closed, the deck will still have a rail all around. Obviously the canvas will need to be modified as well. We've only just started that process by cutting the rail:

ELECTRONICS

Another thing we’ve started tackling is the electronics. The boat had a 7” Garmin Echomap UHD unit on the flybridge. Per our previous post, we are working on installing the transducer that came with that unit, which we found in the box in the aft cabin closet. To stay in the ecosystem, I bought a 9” Echomap UHD for the flybridge, and moved the 7” one down to the lower helm - which previously had no displays. The new 9" Echomap compared to the 7":

Mounting the unit in the salon involved the scary task of cutting open the headliner (you can’t find this stuff anymore, and it’s one of the few original things that is still nice!) and then drilling through the salon ceiling up to the flybridge. I carefully cut a circle in the headliner with a utility knife, but the drilling required some muscle! I didn’t realize how much we would have to drill through… It turned out to be a layer of plywood, then the full cored deck assembly, then another layer of plywood… About 5” overall! But I made it through, ran the wires, and finished the hole at the headliner with a stainless steel clamshell:

Connecting the units involved crawling into the area under the helm bridge. I found that when the original 7" Echomap was installed, instead of cutting a hole large enough to fit the cable and inline fuse through, they cut off the end of the cable (with the fuse), then crimped and taped it back on. I didn’t like that, so I tossed that power cable and bought a new one. I routed and supported the cable runs along the way (taking the time to also strap some of the other loose cables I found in there), put on the nice tinned copper and heat shrink terminals on the connectors, and hooked them up! It was satisfying to see both units light right up when tested. 

Nothing makes you feel "not young" like crawling around in tight areas like the one picture above... Especially when you find yourself in places where you can't maneuver your way around and need to literally back out of. Becca apparently enjoy filming my struggle:

MORE "TREASURE"!

Another "benefit" of crawling around all the hard to access areas? The surprises! Remember those first posts when we though we had surely cleaned out the boat from all the stuff that was left behind? Only to still find some treasure a couple months later? Believe it or not, we’re still finding stuff… Even if it's plastic treasure, such as these two wonderful items found under the flybridge controls:

AND OTHER THINGS...

Before I wrap up, there are just a few more quick updates about other things that we’ve checked off the list… Becca painted the anchor line, and while we’ve decided to wait a year before tackling the project of modifying the bow pulpit for a new (Delta style) anchor, and add a windlass, it’s nice to have the brand new rode all marked up for depth. 

We also replaced the old compass, and I don't think many words are needed here, the photo speaks for itself: 

We bought a new VHF antenna, one to match the newer one that was on the opposite side of the boat (the boat has two VHF radios, one at each station). After practicing my jedi skills (bottom left below), I got it mounted in place. It replaced a really old one that was mounted on an equally old and non-functioning GPS antenna (top left). 

And lastly, we installed the trim piece that supports the swim ladder when it is down. The original wood one was ready to be retired. We fabricated a new one out of Starboard, and it looks great! 

So, where are we at? As you can see, the response to that question is a bit complicated... We are making progress, but some of the bigger projects are just getting started. Since we want to have the boat in the water for at least a part of the summer, we’re hoping to move the electrical plans along and put windows back in in the next couple of months. We’ll see how it goes! 

PS - We want to extend a shout out to our top commenter Lori Golden who has already reached the rank of Idilio superfan! Keep up the good work Lori, we see you!