Paint & Plumbing

Finally, I get to paint. I hated covering up that natural wood, but I don't want the cabin to be dark, so I painted it off-white. The sole, vent trunk, seat and maybe a few other pieces around the ports will be left natural wood. I want cushions to cover the sole, but that will come later.

The interior is painted with Glidden Porch & Floor Polyurethane Oil Gloss. It has held up well on our PDRacers, so I thought it would be good for the interior of TARDIS. The exterior of the boat will be painted with a marine paint.

Plumbing, I hate plumbing. The pump has been installed and the plumbing done. To fill the water tanks, a hose will be screwed into the hull and dropped into the water. I needed a 3/4 inch 90 degree elbow with threads on both ends. Apparently, there is no such animal, so I made my own. This was done by cutting off the slip fitting side, and glueing a threaded fitting to it. A hole was then drilled through the hull and lots of epoxy used to hold it in place. Check that off my list!

We are getting closer and closer to putting the deck on. These are exciting times!

Water Tank Plumbing: Part 1

Lezlie: "Just drill four holes. How hard can that be!"

I found that drilling the holes in the sides of the water tanks was not so easy. The length of the drill and bit was longer than the width of the tank. It was a challenge, but I managed to get holes in the appropriate places.

It was decided that the water tanks would be used for ballast only and not for drinking water. To fill the tanks, the pump will pull water from a hose that will connect to the outside of the hull and hang in the water.

This view is looking back toward the stern. The valve (the grey part) will let us fill or drain each tank separately.

This is aft bulkhead #3. This valve, and the pipe angled down will allow us to use the pump for draining the bilge... if needed. Hopefully, we will never need it, but have it just in case. Clear tubing will run along the port side to connect this valve to the pump. The pump will be located behind bulkhead #4. The next few days I will be working on the plumbing for the pump. This will be covered in Part 2.