Starr Refit Blog #13 – Weeks 21-27
Weeks of February 20 to March 30 – We are ready to Splash!
March 30, 2014
We are ready to splash!
We have been working on Starr for Six months of what feels like 24/7 of attention to detail. My crews start at 6am and knock off at 6 pm. Dana and his crew have been working 6-7 days a week. Randy and Dave have been working 5-day weeks, but with long hours. I am totally burnt out, but I couldn’t be working with a better team of guys and I am really happy with the quality of the work!
Here is what has been done since my last report seven weeks ago (February 9).
Eric Dahlbeck is one of the finest wall covering installers I have ever come across, and has finished all of the interior walls. Eric worked for 33 man-days.
Master wallcovering expert Eric Dahlbeck
Compound curves in the galley, very hard to do.
Most of the wheelhouse electronics are in place.
A simple Pilot House dashboard layout
We replaced all of the countertops in the bathrooms with marble, and added a granite countertop in the cockpit.
Architectural Stonewerks did a great job.
Master vanity marble countertop
Will and Joe from Architectural Stonewerks
Randy has been working his tail off jumping from one challenge to the next. We are installing invisible screens with a detail that we have never seen before that hides the screens behind 1/8 inch aluminum shrouds with custom radiuses. The shrouds are covered in the same wall coverings as the adjacent walls and the profile is only 2 inches out from the walls. Aaron McCrum from S3 Maritime had to build a custom dye to shape the shrouds. This guy is a creative problem-solver and master at both stainless and aluminum metal work!
Aaron McCrum of S3 with a solution for the shrouds to hide the new screens
The shroud covered with wallpaper
The shrouds hide the screens beautifully
While removing the electrical cover plates I found another switch partially fried from the large load from the large halogen lighting load, combined with a loose connector screw. This convinced me to replace every light in the boat with Imtra’s LED lights and new Vimar switches as well.
DANGER: another burnt switch and a potential fire.
Jerry Truax and his team from Imtra have gone out of their way to be of assistance.
Imtra Rep Jerry Truax, and Vice President of Sales, Chip Farnham.
In the Lazarette we installed an extra set of Victron invertors. Good work done by Brothers Marine Electric, Jim and Corey Kalderstad!
New invertors
In the Engine Room Dave modified the existing Sea Chest by turning it 90degrees from facing aft to now facint starboard. This now gives us easy access into it’s hand hole for cleaning. Everyone is really tired
Dave is wiped out
Outside we spent a lot of time mocking up the locations for the new FRP staple sockets. This is a detail that I have never seen used before. I wanted the staple sockets to be 7 ½” deep and firmly fiberglassed into the transom. I should be able to use these staple sockets as “auxillary towbit” pockets. In other words, these glassed in sockets should be able to handle substantial side-loading, whether it is crab pot haulers, or a small boat davits and supports.
A mock-p for the new staple socket
Another mock-up for the staple socket
We installed three new Freeman Hatches in the expanded swim step with watertight storage compartments.
(Freeman Hatch is now named AdvanTec)
http://www.freemanmarine.com
https://www.advantecstore.com
These hatches are my early gift to Sharry for our 50th Wedding Anniversary (in August). I think that they look like “jewelry” and thought she would appreciate them instead of a gold or silver something.
The expanded swimstep with new AdvanTec/Freeman hatch, (Sharry’s new jewelry.)
AdvanTec/Freeman has come up with a new panagraph type of hinge that takes up much less space. It’s a beautiful piece of engineering; however, it looks like I’m one of the first to use it because they couldn’t give me any references to talk to for feedback on how well it functions!
New hinge design.
Stay tuned on this one!
I’m a little worried because I’ve only had the hinges for 2 months, and AdvanTec tells me that I have only 10 months left on my Warrantee. We already have design problems: when the hatch opens it hits the teak on the deck, and their engineering department is working on a design solution. I trust that they will solve this issue before my 12 month warrantee has expired.
The new teak decks are beautiful.
New teak cockpit deck
New teak side deck
Dick McGrew, Naiad’s Pacific Ocean Technical Manager, put Starr’s stabilizers back together. Dick lives just up the street in Ballard and took a break from one of his big stabilizer installations, a recent job that has stabilizer fin shafts 8 inches in diameter!
Dick McGrew is finishing up the install of the new stabilizer shaft.
We had our old prop checked out and Kruger Propeller told us that it was very tired (no surprise of around 70,000nm of running since we bought Starr in 2000). Our new prop is beautiful!
Thank you Ed Scripps
The paint work is finished; Sharry said that she isn’t sure that she likes it. The paint finish is so shiny that she can see her face in it and she says that she doesn’t want to look at herself that often.
Don and Dave and our beautiful paint job
Starr is really beautiful
Beautiful from all angles
The paint glows
The top deck is painted and the mast ready for hardware.
Tom Moore, IMT, with a new roll of wire, ready to install nav gear on the mast
The newly painted Novuraina cradle is ready to be hoisted onto deck
WE ARE PREPARING TO LAUNCH!
Raise the curtain on the NEW STARR.
It’s Curtain Time!
We are ready to SPLASH!
At the end of the day our last day at PacFish we to to see Doug Dixon, the General Manager of Pacific Fishermen’s Shipyard to say “Good bye”. This has been a great place to do work on Starr!
THANK YOU DOUG for making this such a good experience!
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