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.....