Time to take a break

Well we took this old flooring out of the boat for the last time this weekend. What a satisfying feeling as I loaded it up in the cart and took it to the dumpster. It served it's purpose and now its time to treat Tybee Time to her new floor. Seems like so long ago we started this project and it's finally come to an end. A labor of love and we absolutely love it. The hard work has definitely paid off.

Another project that Dirk has been working on was the engine control panel. As you can see it has seen better days. Instead of trying to purchase a new one Dirk decided to try and rebuild this one. He has gotten pretty good with fiberglass and epoxy, so he wanted to give this a shot.
First order of business was to reinforce the plastic panel. He put several layers of fiberglass and epoxy on the backside to cover un-needed holes and make the panel stronger. It was very thin and brittle. After he sanded and smoothed all the surfaces I put a nice white coat of paint on.
He then attached the panel to a frame. Believe it or not the frame was made of two plastic (marine lumber type) cutting boards. He routed the inside to accommodate a plexiglass panel that slides to the side for access, and keeps water out. Hard to see it, but its there.
The final product installed and ready to have Max (engine so named ) started up. And it did start right up. We had not had the engine running for about four weeks now and what a great sound that was. I have to give Dirk kudos on this project as I think he did an excellent job and he saved a lot of money that can be spent elsewhere. (On the boat of course)
This weekend at the marina there was a lot of hustle and bustle from boats decorating for the annual parade of lights to be held next weekend. So the marina is looking all festive with boats ablaze with lights and other festive touches. Our marina tries to get everyone in the mood offering a prize for just decorating your boat regardless of being in the parade or not. So we will take the camera down next weekend and see if we can capture some nice pics to post. This weekend will be a weekend to sit back and relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor.