Finishing Touches
Several finishing touches to our boat refit were finished during our last two months in Georgia. This final phase completes most of the projects that were left of our refit goals. Of course, that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a project list ~ this is a boat after all! From here on out, it’ll be just routine upkeep and maintenance (“just”).
The great thing about completing these projects is that they finally turned our beloved Dolphin 460 into Reach ~ it’s official now! We knew it all along, so now everyone else can see for themselves on our hulls.
In addition to adding the boat graphics, here are the other projects knocked off this Fall, both big and small. It’s been quite the year in so many ways. Now that we’re back out cruising, Mark can take a break from the list for a change.
Design and install Boat Graphics
Repair [spare] autopilot compass
Replace engine exhaust elbows x2
Replace Phifertex Shades and line bags
Design and make Saloon Tables
Add strip lights to head & saloon
Install Portable Freezer
Design and replace Saloon Hatches*
Design and install New Sails*
*(these will get their own blog entry)
A few of the above were quick wins, like the gimbaled flux-gate compass repair (replacing Tantalum capacitor), installing cool (& useful) strip lights, and replacing engine elbows.
Boat Graphics
We each liked the dolphin riding a wave graphic that originally came on the boat (seems appropriate for a Dolphin 460) , but needed to change the name. We also knew that original graphics often leave an impression in the gelcoat that can be seen even after careful removal, so why not make this part of our new design?
Designing the Reach name was easy. We used the same Zapfino font that we had on the Manta. For both the name and dolphin with wave graphic, we decided to use a drop shadow to give it all a bit more depth.
The fun part was picking colors. We ended up with a nice color palette of smoky blues and charcoal grays in our living space that needed an accent color. Looking at complementary colors, we found that a nice cherry red fit the bill in decorative pillows, so…..
I was excited to see our new boat name in this bright color! The Reach name used a gray drop shadow and the gray dolphin has a cherry shadow.
Mark found a local sign shop Nitro Signs for the printing, while he removed the rest of the original graphic and prepped the surface. The expansive font and thin letters made this a bit challenging to install straight and without wrinkles.
It all worked out reasonably well, even from the dinghy. There was one letter that got a kink in it and Chris from Nitro even came and did his magic to help straighten it out.
We added the Mystic CT homeport on the stern and found it too big, so Chris made us a smaller one to install when we have the right conditions.
Phifertex Shades
When researching Phifertex colors for new cabin top "eyebrow" shades, we learned something non-intuitive. The darker the color, the more visibility due to decreased solar reflectivity. We could barely see out of our original white shades.
Also in this situation, darker colors don't equal more solar heat transferrence, according to specs. The bottom line from Phifertex is that both colors have equal heat transference, but you can see out of black better because it is less reflective.
We ended up choosing black, Suntex 80 for our saloon shades and the gray for our line bags.
The shades and our new line bags were made by the multi-talented Laura on our sistership s/v Elpis @To sea with new eyes. She also made all of the beautiful cabin top and cockpit shades on Elpis.
Laura did a fantastic job and we are so grateful that she could squeeze in our project. The line bags turned out great and match the charcoal gray of our cockpit shades.
We love the look of the black sun shade! It really cuts the heat in the cabin while being able to see out just perfectly.
Saloon tables
After the redesigned settee was installed, the oval saloon tables didn’t fit in the new space. We knew we’d need to make new tables, but one thing we liked about our former setup was the nesting cocktail table underneath the big table.
We decided to stay with wood for the new tables to match our interior that is accented with with Brazilian carpentry, and found a local woodshop to work with in Brunswick. Unique Moldings & Doors was a family business that had a selection of woods from all over the world to choose from.
They were also great to work with and the brothers helped us choose a Honduran mahogany with a Brazilian teak trim.
Mark designed the tables to fit in the new space. We re-used the two original table legs that can be in an up or down position. The use of two legs will also be much more sturdy than a single leg, so we wanted to make use of both.
The adjustable legs allowed us to keep with the cocktail table concept, so we made a nesting smaller table to stow under the larger one. The brothers let us pick the individual pieces of wood and select the order in which they were assembled. We just loved the grain and color character of the Honduran mahogany.
After the brothers finished cutting and gluing together the table, Mark did the finish work (Thanks Brenda & Steve for use of your shed!). He wanted a matte finish to highlight the color of the woods, but used a product that didn’t work well, Totalboat Envy. Mark was very disappointed in how it applied and looked ~ “it was by far the worst finishing product I’ve ever used”. In the end, he used a high gloss varnish to get a decent look, but wants to resurface and redo this finish work in the future.
Even if not perfect, the tables look wonderful and make the saloon look and feel like home, which is all that matters.
Portable Freezer
Now that we’re ready for long term cruising again, we (me) decided we needed additional freezer space. Reminiscing back to our fishing days, I also wanted to be sure to have enough space for all of those dinners that Mark is going to catch for us.
Our current, make-shift pantry area is in the former bunk bed space in the port hull (I guess there is one more refit project on the list… but staying at the bottom for now). Using plastic bins for storage, we could fit a portable freezer here at least temporarily.
We purchased a cheap freezer from Alpi-Cool, as opposed to the name brands like Engel or Dometic, for now. At under $300, it was probably about 1/3 of the price of the other options. Even if it doesn’t last we can always go another way once we eventually redesign the whole pantry/storage area.
Mark made a handy slider for the freezer, so access is easy. It has a 52L capacity, a nice supplement to our 90L Isotherm freezer , 130L Isotherm fridge and small Vitrifrigo drink fridge.
