Summer... no cruising just working on the "lists" and finally, new countertops!

October Sunset at our home dock

It seems that the rains, heat and humidity started almost on the day we arrived back home after our Chesapeake Bay cruise in early July. We had a fabulous trip up and back on the ICW seeing many places that may look very different today after Hurricane Florence made a big impact on the eastern coast. Fortunately, we are just south of Charleston, SC and escaped all of her fury from wind and water. We did not escape the several days of work involved in securing home and boats. This time, we removed the bimini and Isinglass and did a lot more storm prep including tying the boat and floating dock to the main pier head and 2 trees on shore. Last year, we witnessed several floating docks that had come off the pilings just go floating away. We did a lot of prep work, waited, waited and we were spared. Then we had a bit of Hurricane Michael which also spared us of the worst getting only tropical force winds and some rain for the 2 days. 

Remnants of Florence

A painting from my Toogoodoo 365 Series (yes, a little shameless promotion) of the tail end of the hurricane winds wisping by us, thankfully without harm to the southern part of SC.

It could've been a lot worse and we are sorry for those affected. We know from personal experience how devastating this can be. Last year, our son Bryan lost his sailboat and home to Hurricane Irma at Dinner Key Marina, FL.

Windfree, Tayana 37 sailboat

This was the summer for the "the list". The never ending list of "to dos" and "repairs" or "updates" for Summer Breeze, also the normal house and yard duties.  I know, we never do catch up, do we? Thankfully, we only had 2 minor repairs after the trip. The fresh water pump that went out on the last 2 days of our 6 week trip and the stripped fuel screw thing. 
(I'm going to let Bruce write about that because that's all I remember about it.)  I waited until we go to our home dock and replaced the water pump with a new spare and replaced the in-line suction strainer whose housing had cracked and was letting air in.  As for the "stripped fuel screw thing", I retapped, with the help of a mechanic, the level screw on the port fuel injector pump which had stripped out and began leaking halfway to Chesapeake Bay. Thanks to Rescue Tape, we were able to complete our trip without a problem!

A summer to take care of the project list.

The fall breezes are now here and it has been a blessing to work outside on Summer Breeze. One job we did during the summer, was remove the wallpaper by the main entry door. That was not fun but after lots of brainstorming, we came up with an idea to use vinyl flooring boards on the walls, which are water proof (probably more resistant) and easy to put up. We found one in a wood color that was very close to the teak walls and since there is a curtain hanging where the teak meets the vinyl, it really isn't an eye catcher.

Bruce tearing off paper

Repairing and patching

First strip of vinyl flooring glued on

It is noticeable where it meets the teak wall but not noticeable because of the curtain

Welcome Aboard with an Ikea rack and hooks for hats and jackets

While on the trip, even though it was not in the heat of summer and with outer sun screens on the windows, we experienced how much heat does come in. I found some sun shields that are used for car and RV windows that you stick on the inside to block the penetrating heat and it adds to our night time privacy if at a dock. It is amazing how much cooler it is inside now. We plan to only use these while at our dock and it has kept the inside cooler with the help of a small portable AC unit.

These window shields are made for car windows and really do block out the heat as well.

Galley countertops!

The next project, which was to be one of the first to be done, is the galley countertops. After much research, talking to several companies here, so on and so on.... we did it ourselves. We've gone full circle between laminate (mostly known as Formica which is a brand name) to granite to corian to quartz, and now back to laminate and also from dark to light to dark and finally with a light color. I'll spare y'all the details of all our very frustrating discussions with contractors. We chose a laminate from Wilson Art in a light marbled color. And we would like to add that Jeff Sessions, Kitchen and Bath Design Consultant from the West Ashley Home Depot, was invaluable with his advice and support on doing this project.

But first.... the demolition 

This is the day we put the hammer and chisel on the tile. There is no turning back now!

We had always planned on doing the demo work ourselves and it was a bit tougher than we thought. There must've been a ton of glue under those little blue tiles and in the grout.

We had to chip away at the glue and tile backing left on the tiles.

All done, wood filler applied, sanded and prepped. It was pretty bad under those tiles.

The first template is made! This is the island over the refrigerators. We started with this one as it is the easiest. We are making templates out of poster board.

Taking the saw to the 1st piece! 

Prepping the surfaces with glue

Working in the galley area

Installing new sink and faucet

DONE!

(The white pipe coming out of the window is our vent for the portable AC/dehumidier which sits on the stove when the boat is not in use. Not pretty but a pain to remove just for the pic.)

Before photos

Salt water wash down.

And then, simultaneously with the galley project, Bruce was working on creating a salt water wash down option for the bow hose connection. Along the ICW, we cringe at the amount of our fresh water it takes to wash down the caked on pluff mud on the anchor chain. We worry that we will use all our fresh water on the chain and not have enough for us to shower. So that was accomplished and we have both fresh water and salt water options. No pics of that as it is just valves and stuff. 

The next project is to put a fresh coat of appliance paint on the refrigerator doors. The fridges are fine, just a bit pitted from exposure to salt air and with a $3-4 can of appliance paint, they look good as new. 

Now that the fall weather has come, it is time to enjoy Summer Breeze again and plan our winter/spring cruise trip south.

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