columbia 10.7 rehab log entry #11 Varnishing the teak

Varnishing the interior teak wood....

Now that I have decided to lay the new Allure floor, I am going to varnish all the wood with a spar varnish. I am beginning with the lower area of interior near the floor so I can lay the floor and not have to worry about getting varnish on the new wood.

I am going to take a 220 grit sandpaper to all of the teak in the boat and carefully varnish the teak wood panels and trim, giving a light sanding between coats.  This will probably take 4 or 5 coats and I am going to use a low sheen spar varnish...

I am not looking forward to this as it is a job and a half, but it has to be done and will make the interior sparkle.

I will post before and after pics when I get into the project.

Rehab of Columbia 10.7 log entry #12..Interior upholstery

So today I began the process of replacing and reupholstering the interior cushions and bedding.
I was able to save about 1/2 of the foam cushions. I stripped them and decided to reupholster them with a rich emerald upholstery fabric with burgundy accents. it will go great with the new Blond  Ash floors going into the boat.

Check out the photos of the old and new....    1979   upholstery...Bow Chicky wow wow

Stripped down to the foam  with new luan board backing

Reupholstered with the New Fabric

Old and new side by side...

I have to make 3 new cushions from scratch. I will post photos of these when they are finished and when all the new upholstery is in the boat.



columbia 10.7 rehab Log entry #10 The floor

The Floor.

Okay so when I got the boat, the 24 inch x 10 ft sole piece in the cabin was trashed and dry rotted. The rest of the floor in the salon was solid a s a rock but really dirty. One area by the refrigerator looked like someone had spilled a heavy coat of spar varnish on it... I was going to need to sand it down.

                                                           Old Sole in the salon

New Sole inlay

The last owner also let the marine air conditioner pan drain right onto the floor in the v berth area.. So of course it eventually rotted all the carpeting and the wood floor. I ripped that mess out and replaced it with fresh marine plywood. 

Also the last owner tore up the floor directly by the head... why??? I have no idea.  I replaced that piece with marine plywood as well.

I then had my carpenter take the long sole piece out and use it as a template to cut a replacement from marine plywood.. The piece fit perfectly. I cut finger holes in the  access panels.

Now the floor is solid as a rock... One decision that I didn't want to make was replacing the teak and holly floor... I tried to sand it but it was too far gone as it is veneer and wouldn't look fresh.. I decided to utilize a laminate product called Allure. It comes in 4 inch wide and 2 ft lengths.  My carpenter Steve is going to sand the existing floor and install the new blond ash flooring over it.  This is going to make a huge difference in the look for the boat as it will be clean and bright, not to mention it is water proof and has a 25 year warranty...

I am then going to carpet the v berth bedroom area and the hallway outside the head... I will make a runner to go directly down the center of the cabin salon to tie everything  together...

Columbia 10.7 Rehab Log entry #9 Seeing much progress

It has been quite a while since I updated the blog about the rehab of the Columbia. I have been very busy and haven't had much time to work on her.. So read on about the updates...

Ray Marine Autohelm ST3000

The autohelm wasn't working when I bought the boat. The belt was shredded and the wire from the belt was hanging out of the assembly. There was no power to the head unit and the fluxgate compass wires were ripped out by the last owner.  I went on line and downloaded the manual for the Ray Marine Autohelm Unit.

I bought an new $500 fluxgate compass on Ebay for $50.00 and a new belt for $25.00 from Ray Marine.

I installed the new belt and compass. I then traced down the wiring and found the power wires. I hooked them up to the circuit breaker that also controlled the VHF radio. It came on and the visual was bright... The  motor was working but not turning the toggle on the end... I disassembled the motor and cleaned , re greased and repacked the 24 gears. When I hooked everything  back up and turned the autohelm on,.... It worked... It started turning the ships wheel... I have to say this is a huge accomplishment for me because it is a high end unit and would cost over $2000 to replace... 

I have made some great progress on the interior. I decided to hire a carpenter to help me with cutting and installing the v berth, head and hallways trim. As you may have read, I replaced all the headliners in these areas and needed them trimmed out.

See the photo below of the v berth remodel in progress

 

Before any remodel it was gross

Then I stripped the v berth down to the fiberglass



 As you can see, I placed new carpet on walls, new headliners, new trim.. Its almost finished  Just need to recover the cushions and buff the wood out.

I then painted the main cabin headliner to a flat white... WOW what a difference that made.

I cleaned out the salon and freshened up the wood.   Now I need to refinish the cushions and curtains
Check out the b-4 and after pics below  

Before I touched the cabin

The wood is now  clean. the cabin cleaned out and the drapes taken down to be remade. 

 The port side settee is cleaned out, the wood is clean and the drapes are down to be remade. I also replaced the backing behind the shelf and it is crisp white..



The port side settee looking back when I first got the boat.  Note the headliners falling down and it was filthy.

Exterior



I haven't touched the outside of the boat except to clean the cock pit and replace the gauges etc...

Check out the pics..

She is in great shape topside and sails like a dream.....