In early February 2012, I was feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work ahead of me.
After taking a break for a couple weeks, I decided to just start at the front of the boat and work my way aft.

This page shows work that is being done in the V-berth and forward head.

 Insulation, ceiling, paint, bow-thruster, additional water tank, and much more.

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This pic shows the Bow Thruster fully installed and the auxiliary 47 gallon water tank. NOTE the door openings for access under the v-berth.


The v-berth area always seemed to be dis-organized and very difficult to access.
So after a lot of thought I decided what items should be stored up there and how could I make best use of this area.

I installed a two blade bow thruster and then decided that since we will be carrying 400 feet of 3/8" triple-B chain, it would be nice to store some of the chain a little farther aft to get some weight out of the bow.
I opened up the bottom of the chain locker and made a sort of "skid plate" that ran from where the chain falls into the bilge cavity all the way back to the v-berth bulkhead. In use, we will hand flake the chain back into this locker. As much as will fit. As we start moving around in various anchorages, we'll let the useable part of the chain just fall back into the original chain locker. The only time we will need to hand flake chain back to this new area, will be prior to making an offshore passage.

In this pic you can see the bottom of the chain locker as well as the protective tube for the forward scanning sonar cables coming from the transducer.


 This shows the shelf that sits on top of the chain locker. This is where I plan to keep some of the lesser used sails. The mizzen staysail, twin downwind sails, storm jib and spare mizzen sail.

 


During our shakedown cruise in the Sea of Cortez, we discovered that someone had made a sloppy repair to the stock 200 gallon water tank. The patch began disintegrating and contaminated our water supply. Fortunately we had a water-maker and some five gallon water jugs onboard.
On all of my other boats I have had at least two separate water tanks just for this reason. So I decided to build a second tank into the v-berth area. This is a 47 gallon tank with a clear Lexan top and clear inspection cover to access the tank for cleaning. This will allow for easy inspection of the tank without tearing stuff apart to gain access. The blue tubing is connected to a "Y" valve that allows me to select which tank the water-maker will fill

 

The top loading v-berth lockers were deep enough to allow me to set a 4 inch deep shelf for the top loading locker. This was done with cedar. I have used cedar in all of the hanging lockers and many of the smaller lockers to discourage bugs and keep things smelling fresh.

Under the bed area I opened up the bottom of these lockers and installed doors for access below this shelf.

Before installing the wainscot panels, we insulated the entire hull with one inch foam insulation.

 

Before installing the ceiling panels, we made patterns to fabricate some cross-members under the fore deck.
The deck seemed to flex a little bit when standing up forward. A total of three beams were fabricated and glassed to the underside of the deck. Then 3 inches of insulation was installed.

 Originally I used 1/4 inch ply paneling covered with vinyl upholstery material. Later I replaced these with wainscot panels like the side panels in the v-berth.

 

 When installing new overhead panels (pic on left) we used solid sheet paneling instead of the original Vinyl headliner that most F-41's have. I also made reinforcement beams to add additional support to the deck. These were laminated, curved beams that were glassed into place. Three in this cabin. This afforded me the opportunity to add 2 1/2 inches of insulation overhead. On some of our hot Texas days we can already see the difference in the temperature thanks to the insulation.
The sides of the v-berth have wainscot panels with one inch of insulation behind them.
 

All cabinet doors were removed, stripped, re-varnished and new cane installed. One inch of insulation will go inside these lockers.

 When I repaired the main bulkhead and repainted the forward hanging locker, I recalled how stuff used to just disappear in this locker. So I blocked off the back of the stock drawers under here and added a top loading locker so nothing could vanish again.


While the hanging locker door was off I re-varnished it and did some etching on the mirror
 
 

 

The forward head was always a dark and dingy place.
A previous owner had applied Mahogany stain to all of the teak. This made the head even darker inside.
There was no holding tank either. Some of the cabinets were rotten and smelly.

In re-doing the head I made a holding tank from polyethylene. The design allows for a closed system when in port and no "y" valve to switch for offshore.
The tank has a concealed fitting in the bottom  where a 1 -1/2 inch hose passes thru the bulkhead and to a seacock in another compartment. To empty the tank (without a pump-out station) I simply open the seacock and everything drains by gravity. At sea, we leave this valve open.
The oak counter tops had dry-rot and had to be tossed out. In addition I wanted to have a shower area here for our gusts.

I decided to install another berth up forward so when our grandkids visit, there would be plenty of room.


Counter top removed. NOTE holding tank to right.
 

Using this fiberglass shower paneling available from Home Depot. This is glued in place and then all the edges are sealed to prevent water intrusion behind the paneling.
The entire compartment will get this treatment making a nice shower area and a very light and open feeling in this very small compartment.


I decided to change from the oak counter top to something totally different.
I did a bit of free-form work here using Blue Gum wood (Eucalyptus) and the use a Stainless Steel mixing bowl for a sink. This pic shows some tiles that I am considering for a back splash.
The counter top was treated with two coats of reduced West System epoxy. Then sanded smooth and three coats of clear AwlGrip were applied.
 

 Forward head nearing completion.
 

 

 

Forward head ceiling with four inches of insulation.
 


May as well make the toilet seats match everything else!

 

 
   
 
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