Summer in Baltimore - 2017

Jul 5 thru Jul 9

--Blogpost written by Bob

First thing this morning, Wednesday, July 5, I made the cockpit seat extension boards (to the template I made) and coated them with epoxy on one side (and then coated the opposite side late in the evening).

When Maggie got back from a doctor's appointment late this morning, we drove to Pottstown PA (3 hours) to pick up our new v-berth mattress.  (Our old mattress was 25 years old and pretty much worn out--so, this was a big deal to us!). The new mattress was custom manufactured by Magic Sleeper.  It's total thickness is about 6 inches.  It has a fabric hinge in the middle that allows the mattress to fold so that we can get it through the boat and into the v-berth.  It contains two different types of foam, one being a memory foam, and an integral quilted pad on the top surface.  It is very nicely finished all around.

One of the two brothers that own and operate Magic Sleeper
is helping me load our new mattress into our car.

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Thursday, July 6, was a very rainy day and I've discovered what I like about rainy days.  Rainy days are like nature's way of giving me permission to "kick back" and slow down.

After helping Maggie with pinning up the fitted sheets, we moved our new mattress to the boat--fortunately, it was between rain showers.  While she was sewing the fitted sheets after lunch, I was installing a new engine room light.

This photo was taken looking through the engine access door in
the quarter berth.  The photo was taken with my iPad and no
additional lighting.  The LED light, mounted under the
cockpit floor, is quite bright and floods the area well.

Installing this light required some unusual maneuvers since access in this area is somewhat limited.  I had to tape the mounting screws to a stubby screw driver to be able to get the mounting screws installed.

The new engine room light has an aluminum housing and is 5-1/4"
long and 2-5/8" wide.  It protrudes from the ceiling above
the engine by only 5/8".  It has 3 LED bulbs
and is rated at 12 watts.

The light fixture was purchased on Amazon.  I used the existing wiring which was generously sized for a 12-volt, 10-watt, incandescent bulb.  Of course, the LEDs produce a lot less heat and provide more lumens.

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Today, July 7, we spent all morning in Annapolis doing errands while the skies were overcast and it rained occasionally.  In the afternoon the weather cleared up and I applied the second coat of epoxy on the cockpit seat extension boards that I've been working on.

After discovering the crabmeat that we were going to cook for dinner was spoiled, we walked across the street to Langermann's for dinner out, only to discover they recently closed down.  This was a big disappointment for us (and I'm sure to the all the bartenders, waiters, and waitresses that did such a good job of making customers feel comfortable).  We found out that one of the reasons for the closure was the $18,000 per month they paid for rent on the property.  Apparently, restaurants are a tough business.

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On Saturday, July 8, while Maggie was away at a family picnic in northern New Jersey, I continued to work on the cockpit seat extensions by cutting and drilling the aluminum bars to be used for the supports.

The test fit up shown above was done with just two carriage bolts
between the boards and the aluminum bars.  There are
actually two rows of carriage bolts on each end.
This is the fit up of the port side
cockpit seat extension.

Once the cockpit seat extensions were successfully fit up in place, I drilled the remainder of the bolt holes and then disassembled them for painting.  We selected an Interlux-brand polyurethane paint (#4207 Bristol Beige) that somewhat matches our new canvas color.  (We will be using this same paint in the future on the hard dodger when we change out the navy blue canvas to toast-colored canvas.)

I painted the epoxy-coated boards on the dock using
Interlux-brand polyurethane paint.

I was able to coat both sides of the epoxy-coated boards today but it will take 2 to 3 coats to obtain acceptable coverage.  More painting tomorrow...

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Today, Sunday, July 9, I'm taking it easy except for getting another coat of paint on the cockpit seat extension boards.  I'm hoping that 2 coats of paint will be enough--we'll see tomorrow morning....


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