Good on ya, Panda Man! Me own little ship''s termite and worm food as well! But I did own and live aboard a petrified snot boat for a few years too, year round right here in New England!
Many a cold morn, I''d wake up to icicles hanging from the overhead and the top of my sleeping bag covered with ice! The poor ole'' force 10 was roaring away for all she was worth but was really only able to best the outside temperature by 25-30 degrees or so. That wasn''t cutting it on those sub 0 nights! Still, it wasn''t enough to make me think about leaving the lifestyle that I loved! Not for one second!
I finally cured the problem though! I sold that boat and bought the bigger wooden walled beasty I own now. She was heated with a FATSCO “Buddy” coal
stove. No more ice in the overhead for me!
One friend if mine took the problem in a different direction, without selling his beloved. We rough and tumble guys took a walk into a Jo-Ann’s Fabric store. Feeling completely out of place amongst all of those ladies lookin’ at frilly lace and stuff, we walked out carrying a bundle of white naugahide vinal material with a fuzzy backing. A stop at the Home Depot for a coupy cans o’ spray adhesive, and we were ready to go to work.
After cutting out the patterns of the material we’d need, and seaming the edges, we washed the overhead and cabin sides, gave it all a light hand sanding and re-washed with acetone. We taped off the area, hung old newspapers around and coated the area with the adhesive. We laid out the naugahide and sprayed a light coat of adhesive on the fizzy side. After the glue had set, we carefully pressed the pieces in place.
Later on, he trimmed the edges out and made fake deck beams with thin strips of mahogany and some short screws to better hold the stuff in place. The job seams to be working and holding up well.
Although I’m not sure of the process he used, another friend took care of his condensation problem by putting a wooden ceiling and overhead in his boat with commercially available unfinished cedar strips. These are held in place, like the naugahide stuff above, with a glue, fake deck beams and short screws.
Both jobs really dressed up those boats and gave them a nice nautical finish below. Hanging about on the boat with the wood finish, with a cup of hot coffee, some sailing music in the background the glow of the oil lamps reflecting off of the luster of the wood! I’ll tell ya, makes me feel right at home!
Pi
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