More fiberglass sanding & patching

One learning from installing the first few panels of headliner was that it doesn’t cover imperfections as much as I hoped. To make the next panel look smoother I’d have to make the actual fiberglass smoother – remove some of the bumps, etc. As much as I hate sanding fiberglass it still seemed like a worthwhile task so I cleared out the cabin – all the books, cushions, galley items, etc. – and went on with sending off the rough bits and patching anything that looked compromised in any way and had any remote risk of leaking.

Even with the shop vac, the dust was everywhere and cleanup took forever. But I think we’ll see smoother panel in the end.

Starboard side headliner in the saloon

Continued on with headliner install and tackled half of the saloon. Was royal pain to deal with a panel this big on my own. Came up with a system that had a support pole and clamps and ultimately allowed to get the entire panel done. Took quite a bit of time but I’m happy with the result.

Final saloon seat done. Getting cozy

Marina was without power today but thankfully, I have put in an inverter as part of my propulsion power system upgrade. That made it possible to complete this weekend’s project.

Upholstered the final saloon seat and paused to take in the new look. Love how cosy this. material looks, especially in the warm evening light.

Don’t want to run my usual electric heater off the inverter so got the fireplace going. This is definitely turning into a super cozy happy place!

Started on saloon seats

With all 3 back support cushions done, it was time to get the seats upholstered. These ones are a bit more complicated because ever single one of the 3 has a small notch on one of the corners.

That makes them not really reversible and to save on the cost of material and make them more likely to stay in place I ended up using special nonskid backing. The zipper goes into the backing panel.

Then I make the top part using “simple box cushion”, except of course it has a notch that takes the “simple” part out of the name 🙂

Turned out pretty nice.

Made the first cushion cover

The first cover turned out pretty well. Used the traditional method with continuous boxing to make it reversible.

Realized last minute that I ordered #5 zippers and then got #10 pulls that totally don’t fit them. Doh! Tried to find #5 pulls anywhere in SF and managed to find 1 at a store on Clement st. That one was white. So this first cushion has black zipper with white pull. Will have to wait for more #5 to arrive in mail before I can tackle the other cushions.

Organized DC cabling

When we finished connecting all the DC stuff last time we left a giant mess of cables inside the compartment under the saloon seat. It was getting dark and we were just too tired.

I’d love to someday use that compartment for storage so today I tidied up all the cabling and washed that locker inside. Looks much better.