BOATING TIPS -- JANUARY, 1997
Interior Fixtures

Joe Coons

Happy New Year! I'll begin this new year's columns picking up the saga of the complete refurbishing I'm doing on my 43' Tollycraft, SKYLARK II.

One of the projects I've put on the list is to replace the faucets in the shower with a mixing valve, and this project reminded me once again of the old adage, "Before you buy a "marine" part, see if there isn't a similar, "civilian" part! In specifying the new faucet, it looked like a beautiful "Whale" faucet designed for boats would be perfect, so I ordered one. Wrong! It turned out to be rather awkward, with, among other things, special British Pipe Thread fittings. And the list price was $150! So I went back to the drawing board. A trip to Thiel Plumbing (my favorite plumbing parts place because with the parts, they'll give you lots of advice) brought forth a standard Delta faucet that fit perfectly, and cost less than half. I'll try to remember the "old adage" from now on!

First Mate Judy has been agonizing during this time about our redecorating, but we're really excited about our color choices. One of the big decisions here was selection of a carpet. To keep the boat from being gloomy, we wanted a light, neutral shade, but we were worried about keeping it clean. So after we had samples in hand, we proceeded to "spill" coffee, then red wine, then clean motor oil, then dirty oil on it! Between each "accident", we cleaned it. The carpet we chose was made of Olefin fiber, and each successive spill came right out with just soap and water, so we're going to have a light carpet after all.

Lighting has been a concern. I've been entranced with the beautiful new halogen lights that are on megayachts; a brokerage-boat customer of mine a couple of years ago put in halogen track lights which were great, but expensive. Yet the usual boat ceiling fixtures look like they came out of a cheap camper. Village Lighting to the rescue! They stock a terrific little showcase lamp at less than $20 including the bulb, which though rated at 20 watts (draws only 1.7 amps) is much brighter than a similar tungsten bulb. And it runs on 12 volts, too. They only require 3/4" to be flush mounted: really tiny at about 2-1/8" diameter. I'm putting a 3/4" "collar" around them to shield my tender eyes from the light unless I'm looking straight up . . .

Peter Lamb, an "old pro" who has done a lot of work for BYC members, is helping me with cabinetwork on the boat, and we're rebuilding the mattress supports on the bunks. During our trips to Alaska, we've been amazed at the amount of condensation we've gotten under the bunks from our hot bodies' warming the mattresses, which are against relatively cold support panels! Two people in our aft berth could easily soak the bottom of the mattress with at least a pint or more of water every night. And a couple of times the hull sides that form the outside wall of a few cabinets would stream with water, even though there were no leaks.

The solution to the hull walls is easy: Put a layer of insulation between the hull and the hull-liner fabric, with the vapor barrier toward the inside. Dick Montag steered me to a great, thin insulation (like Bubble Pack) that Sash and Door sells, and we'll be using that. For the berths, Peter is building a slatted/slotted arrangement, so that air can get under the mattresses to keep them dry. At the same time, since space permits, we're expanding the aft bunk from a trapezoid to a standard-size queen. At last, we can use fitted sheets!

Well, by the time you read this, the boat will have been hauled, and the bottom, engine room and fiberglass work will be underway. We'll report on it next month!

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Last updated 8/20/97 by SCR