The phifertex fabric arrived for the shade curtains on Thursday afternoon via UPS...who always deliver in these parts later in the day...soooo....I couldn't start anything new so close to dinner time:(
That's the long brown box right there. It has to be out of the way or we will trip over it on the cockpit deck.
Let me digress for a moment....
I think I told you that the shower (master, that is) is in pieces, didn't I ? I am rather reluctant to show any photos of it here...perhaps I will show you when it is all looking gorgeous again!
We had struggled to find a suitable 'fabric' for the inner lining of the shower box where the wood had rotted out. Would you believe we couldn't buy the plain fiberglass wall board that shower enclosures are made of..why?
Anyway...we had to improvise. It occurred to us that sign board...you know, the kind that sign writers use for their signs, would work. It is a sandwich of tough plastic and aluminum. It has a white surface that should work well for the inside of the shower....we hope.
Waz has been in the bowels of the shower installing the board. We did the measure four times, cut once routine...we don't have any extra board!. First though, we had to figure out how to cut the stuff. It was decided, by our collective experience with such things, that we would buy a plunge router to do the job, and we also needed a work table, now that we had given the old inefficient one away to the airconditioning man...who will return and give us a good rate ($) for further work on the units he regassed...but I am digressing again..merde!
So, it was decided, after letting our fingers do the walking on the computer/google, that we would make a trip to Fort Meyers, one hour south of here, to the Northern Tool Company to purchase the table...which happened to be the only one in stock, and though it was already on sale, being the floor model, we asked for another percentage off...no box and no instructions!!! So..they took an additional 10% off:)
We visited Home Depot on the way and bought the Plunge Router. Onwards then to the Northern Tool Company. It took a bit of figuring out how to break the table down (it was on display), but we finally got all the parts put away and checked out.
By the time we got back to the boat it was late afternoon, so it was too late to do anything.
Tomorrow!
While Waz got his 'stuff' together out on the dock, finished measuring the space to be covered and got cutting, or should I say, 'routing', I was trying to set up the sewing machine et al upstairs on the fly deck. Before I could do that, I had to open some windows but before I could open the windows, I had to clear the space of the 'stuff' we had stacked there and covered with a HUGE tarpaulin prior to leaving on our trip. I needed Waz's help to do some of this, so it was well into the afternoon before we got started. Did I tell you we had a lovely breakfast first??:)
There I go...digressing again! lol.
Poached eggs on zucchini, ham and cheese with avo and campri tomatoes...absolutely delicious!.
(By the way...If you want to see any of these photos larger...just click on the photo and you can scroll through them all. To get out of that mode, click the X on the top right corner to get back to this blog, or hit the 'esc' button top left of your keyboard!)
As we often only have two meals a day, breakfast needs to be satisfying!
Where was I?
The windows? ah, yes. The windows on the fly deck were filthy, so they needed to be soaped and washed before rolling them up. This was done but again it was time consuming and I would have expired if they had remained closed. Hot day!
Here's the thing...There is nothing like necessity to get us motivated to do get us to DO anything!
The foil over the window has kept us cool until now...and with the curtains drawn closed, the heat stays out...mostly.
BUT....we cannot see outside and cannot open the windows to take advantage of the breeze!
So, I had a brain-wave. Why not make shade curtains that clip to the hand rails over the outside of the window? These would be made with the same fabric that the back curtains on the boat are made from.
Phifertex (The fabric) had been ordered online, along with clips and webbing...sturdy webbing! It is for the outside, so it needs to be.
As one who likes to be prepared, I made all the clips and straps at once. Saves time ultimately!
The idea is to make 9ft long curtains that are 24" deep, clip them top and bottom, and they are secure and provide shade for the salon windows, while allowing breezes and some added privacy. Problem is...we have to undo them to move along he side of the boat, if necessary. We don't need to do this a lot, so figured ...what the heck!
Mission accomplished, me thinx!
The true test was first thing this morning. There was a little sunlight coming in the open window, but not enough to cause serious heat. Perhaps because the temperatures were lower this morning??
I had made the port side curtain first, because it was afternoon already and we needed it there first. I cannot take more than sideways photos of that one without being out on the water, or across the canal on the neighbors side. The pilot house door is open....which has created it's own 'thang'..but more on that later...port side!
From inside it looks like this...we can see out, but are shaded and have some privacy.
So...with the rear windows taken care of, it was time to take care of the forward windows and door.
The pilot house door created a momentary challenge, but we got around that one. The forward challenge was different to the rear one. Clips only on the bottom because the top needs to be fixed with tenax fasteners. There is a nipple attached to the boat over which a fastener is pushed to keep the covers attached. These curtains needed to be longer because the hand rail is higher than the rear windows, so we don't have a view out the windows, but we do have cool and breeze. Cant have everything!
Looking forward down the port side.
The curtains were finally finished mid afternoon and more clips were purchased...I have clip fever, obviously!:) I had seen other places to put them, and where we had previously failed to affix things as perhaps they should be.
JoAnn's is just down the road, fortunately, so another trip there, along with a trip to the local Ace Hardware for some caulking for Waz and the shower.
The rear curtain had been held down by bungee cords, and I had always thought this was not efficient, but it worked to keep the tarpaulin on the back seats at the same time, when it rained. With clip-fever, I decided to remove the curtain and attach clips.
(The curtains have been scrubbed 'clean', but still look dirty...fabric is actually camel colored)
Now the top end of the back curtain (which isn't contained in a track) is clipped to the top side of the port/stab'd rear side curtains to keep them together so that when it rains, the water doesn't flow inside, the way it used to...thus.
It looks like this...on the outside...left overlaps right...
At the same time, I needed to secure the side rear curtains to the hand railing so that the new clips at the top, holding the back and rear side curtains together, didn't pull the side curtains off the railing at the top. It might all be a bit confusing, when you cant see the big picture, sorry! Anyway..THAT works too:)
Everything is much neater and works much better and with lots less fuss.:)
Following a dinner of crab cakes and cole slaw on the fly deck (having cleared all the sewing stuff off the table), we sat out back on the fly deck with a chocolate/mint flavored coffee and watched the sun go down:) We haven't don't that for a while, and it reminded us of why we love living on the boat...best views in the world!
We took a walk after the dishes were done, and the last of the orange was hanging in the sky. It was cool and lovely.
It is always so satisfying to finish a project, but there are always more to complete.
I am going to renew the windshield reflectors tomorrow. They have been on there for 18 months, and though they still do their job, they could be more efficient.
These are the photos of when I first made them. I will just sew the new panels on top of the old.
After that, I have some bags to make to contain the window covers when we take them down for moving.
We have no information about Waz's Green Card yet, so we are in a holding pattern! ho hum!
That's it for now...time for bed.
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