New Portlights....

The original portlights on TIH, although serviceable, were showing their age. The lip on the outside also protruded a little too much, IMHO.





They had been manufactured by a company which is now part of Pompanette LLC

Initially I had not planned to undertake this work for another year or so (remember this is a 3 year project, because I'm stuck in Miami for another three years :-(( ). However, after painting the ceiling of the forward heads' I knew it would be wise to change them now (it might have been even wiser to change them before I painted the heads).



And the Miami Boat Show is coming up, so there might be some deals to be had on new portlights. I am looking at the two portlights offered by New Found Metals;

A complete stainless steel model and this one;

It looks very interesting, more research to follow.

I have heard that the S/S model heats up in the sun and heats the airflow into the boat. Any opinion welcome.

Lavac is in.... +/- a few bits....

I haven't been goofing off, well not totally. Occasionally life and what passes for real work intrudes on my time on the boat. The goal with the forward heads was total simplicity. Easy to use, easy to clean, independent of electrical supply etc. I am looking for a nice retaining clip to hold the top of the hose against the bulkhead, but it must allow for easy cleaning around the hose.

This is known as a hospital saddle. I have not located a source yet.

Measure twice, cut once...a wise policy....

except on a boat its BS. Measure twice, cut four times, shave a bit off, and finally in desperation hammer into place. On a boat there are no right angles, just a lot of wrong ones. The holding tank is going in, whether it wants to or not.

The original location of the sonar from hell, ideal place to put a 13 gal holding tank.

Dry fit, looks good.

Cut the remaining liner to discover that the lip of the forward water tank (which may be removed later) gets in the way.

Lower the floor below the tank, simple, NOT.

Now to run the inlet and outlet hose.

Mock up of Lavac installation

The difference a little paint makes...

Roll and Tip.......

Well, I know the theory. I've watched the video. I told people "just roll and tip". But I never actually did it,,,,,,, until now. Amazingly it works just as advertised. You roll it on, and tip (brush gently holding a dry brush at 45% in one direction only) AND you never, ever go back to touch up any blemishes. How do I know the last part is true......doh!

Still not bad for a first attempt.





I will leave the ceiling in the heads high gloss, but may use a flattening agent for ceilings in the rest of the boat.

Boating aesthetics

If left to my own devices TIH would certainly be heading along the lines of the vessel shown above (Note: I am not being critical of the boat, in fact I'm pretty impressed by the canvas work). My ideal boat would have all the hoses, wires, pumps etc. mounted in the living areas of the vessel and not in lockers, under deck boards, behind liners etc. This would make maintenance much easier. It would also make TIH a "boy boat" and pretty much guarantee that I would be cruising singlehanded.

Imagine my surprise, then, when the boss approved the mounting of the lavac pump on the interior bulkhead (that's a wall, for you landlubbers) of the forward heads.