Winter Boat Jobs, Part 1

With Maunie safely ashore and nicely wrapped up in her winter covers, we are taking the opportunity to work through some winter jobs. Many are just routine maintenance - oil and filter changes on the engine and generator, flushing their cooling systems through with antifreeze and draining down the fresh water system, for example. However, we are also bringing bits and pieces home to work on; in particular we have taken the more easily-removed items of woodwork from the cabins to sand and re-varnish. It's also a great chance to sort a few niggling things that we've not yet addressed; this little project is a good example:

This small panel sits beside the main companionway. The black box with the rotary knob is a long-defunct, 12v dimmer switch for the pilothouse cabin lights and the cheap rocker switch above it has become corroded; it's been annoying us for a while so it's definitely more than time that we replaced them.

The problem, of course, is that the veneered plywood panel was left full of holes once the switches were removed. Buying a small piece of marine plywood of the right thickness and surface finish proved tricky, so the solution was to get some new teak veneer to re-face the existing wood, before fitting a new and rather sleeker switch:

The veneer we chose has a self-adhesive backing so applying it was pretty straightforward.

It needed a stain to try to match the colour before we added a few coats of satin varnish but we are very pleased with the final result.

Illuminated push-switch fitted, the panel is ready to go back to Maunie

There are plenty of similar jobs to be done this winter but each one brings the boat back into fine fettle. Other tasks on our to-do list include:

Refinishing the floorboards - probably applying a laminate teak-and-holly stripe-effect surface, rather than re-varnishing the worn and stained wood surface.

Running repairs to the sprayhood to extend its life for a few more years

Cleaning the upholstery

Re-varnishing the saloon table

Re-varnishing cabin doors and bulkheads

Cleaning and repainting the insides of lockers and bilges

Getting the gas system professionally checked and certified

Updating our safety systems, with the liferaft requiring its 3-year professional inspection and service and our lifejacket emergency beacons just returned after servicing and the fitment of new long-life batteries.

It's all part of the fun of boat ownership, they say, but it keeps us busy!