Several Projects Underway

Having GR home for *good* is an amazing sigh of relief for us. It seems that over the last few months we have done more projects than in the past year we have owned the boat. Since our change of scenery he has significantly cut down his travel time to and from work AND now he will no longer have to leave for charter trips! A recent change allows him to only work Monday - Friday with no trips and weekends are just for US; meaning more completed projects aboard Felicity! (clap, clap, clap)

When I last wrote about our head project we had just begun painting, well painting is complete. We are now in the process of researching products and prices for flooring and counter tops. On Friday, we were able to go shopping together at a couple of the local places to check out laminates. Then we measured the floors and counter tops in all three heads and came up with our numbers. After some comparison we have narrowed it down and have two winners! Alas, the ordering is on hold because we have a much BIGGER project underway at the same time!

Did I forget to mention on fuel system is currently inoperable? Hmm, yea well, something we have struggled with since the beginning is the fuel system. A pretty serious issue to have is we want to actually "cruise". By far, the longest hold up of this progress has been traveling (for work). GR did an amazing job re-configuring the entire manifold and even added a fuel polishing system. Felicity, built in 1968, has mostly been untouched and much remains original including original fuel valves and copper fuel lines. Of course, this was state of the art equipment 44 years ago but time and technology have advanced rather quickly and it's time to adapt! We were able to remove the old manifold, prep, paint and install the *new* manifold. Designed by GR using bronze shut off and elbows etc, he had the panel made by Ward's Marine. Here's a picture for now but I will go more in depth in another post.

Fuel Manifold from 1968

Fuel Manifold from 2012

Small advances were made including the addition of a hand crank pencil sharpener! (Yes, I am old enough to remember these) This little addition makes life just a little easier and astheticallly, it brings a little vintage feel back to the engine room!