Projects, Upgrades & Maintenance « Downeaster Yachts.com

The Ergonomics of Living on a Boat, Spice and Tea Racks

We have been living aboard for a year now. It has highlighted some of the drastic downfalls of boats and storage. The Downeaster 38 has a huge amount of storage space, however it isn’t particularly of a shape or size to make efficient use of. We are gradually rebuilding all the storage compartments etc into better shapes to hold particular goods both efficiently and securely. One such project that I just finished day before yesterday was tea and spice racks.

I like to drink hot teas and being me go a bit overboard on the acquisition and storage of lots of different loose leaf teas. I have about 40 plastic containers with O ring seals with tea’s in them. At the house it was no big deal, I had a cupboard that they all neatly stacked in. On the boat there is no cupboard the right size and being that it moves they would fall over anyways and end up in a big jumble. In real life I found that a big jumble just due to the shape and size of the storage areas available was how things stayed.

I also like to cook and tend to have about a dozen spices, oils and other condiments that I use on a daily to weekly basis, with another 20 or so that I use weekly to monthly. Again, can we say jumble. I could never find what I wanted.

This state of affairs both in the teas and the spices tended to leave me a bit grumpy and irritated at having daily usability issues. If something is bad enough that it is affecting my outlook on life then it needs to be fixed. What to do though? I really didn’t like the cabinets as a solution as small stuff gets hidden […]

Tondelayo Updated

David Gill of Tondelayo sent in some pictures of his current projects. I have to say they look nice. Below are a short description by him and pictures of each project. If you have questions I’m sure you could get him to talking about it on the forums 🙂

Hi Scott,

I thought I’d send you an email with a few photos rather than trying to upload them into the forum. These shots show how to make a “steam box” to steam bend timber. It’s really easy. All you need is a heat source eg gas burner, a pot joined to some Stormwater pipe and away you go. Note that I used standard PVC pipe which loses it’s integrity above 60 degrees Celsius and it still worked however I believe it’s possible to get better quality pipe that will handle the steams elevated temp. Also, make sure you have a hole at each end to allow the release of the pressure that builds up. The trick is to get your timber finished to the desired profile before bending. I was working with hardwood and trying to bend it along it’s width which is probably the hardest possible technique but I still got results. (I went through a few prototypes prior to succeeding.) Happy to discuss further if anyone’s interested. Here’s some shots of Tondy’s floor. It took a lot of elbow grease to sand it back to bare timber before applying 1 coat of a mould inhibitor then 3 coats of Feast Watson Floor Clear Polyurethane. The good thing about this product is that if I want to tidy it up in a few years it just needs a clean and a light sand then you just put a fresh coat straight on. A word for the wise, If […]

Universal Diesel 5432 engine part numbers for common parts with some crossover numbers

Diesel Filters

Universal 298854 Car Quest-86390 Kubota 70000-43081 Wix 33390 NAPA 3390 AC TP807 Purolator PER-262-F Motorcraft FG72 fleetguard # ff5226

Fram P-7514 Fram P-3726 Big-A 538 Baldwin BF940

Oil filter universal part number 299584

Impellers Category: Manufacturer: Universal Part Number: 295628 Description: OBERDORFER IMPELLER

This part number is for the impeller alone. Universal kit 200209 includes this impeller and the gasket necessary for installation.

The following part numbers are generally considered alternatives / replacements for one another:

Universal 295628 Universal 200209 Globe 815 Oberdorfer 6593 Westerbeke 17556

Stories of s/v Valkier,DE38:All the shit that accumulates #3 Composting Your way to Odor Free by Scott Carle

To see why we went composting read the articles that precede this one. All the shit that accumulates 1 http://downeasteryachts.com/archives/1366 and 2 🙂 http://downeasteryachts.com/archives/1707

After the previous experiences we installed a natures head composting head. The following composite article is a compilation of the installation and two years of usage and a few answers to questions others have asked us.

Installation

We installed the “Natures Head” composting toilet this past weekend. It fits perfectly side to side (read “it is a tight fit”) to get it in the head compartment you take the top section off the bottom section. This is just a matter of unclipping two clips,one on either side of the unit and then sliding the top section left 3 inches or so as you lift it up to disengage the rear hinge. At that point both pieces will easily fit through either of the head doors.

Here is a few picture of the two stainless angle pieces that hold the unit to the floor. The first shows how we marked where to set the mounts. We put the head in place and them made sure that we had room on either side for the crank to turn on the right without hitting the wall and the latch on the left side of the unit to open as well as being able to slide the top to the left when pulling it off the hinge when removing it. Once it was spaced right we took a pencil and just drew a line around the backside of the angle pieces to mark where they went.

After drilling the holes with a 3/16 inch drill bit we placed the mounts over the holes to double check everything.

And then used 14×1 1/2″ stainless steal oval head screws to […]

Companionway Seat/Table

I first saw this table/seat in a newsletter I get from Steve Roberts of the Nomadnes report (his http://nomadness.com ) I modified it slightly to fit how we wanted to use it, by doing a cutout on the right side as you face it in the companionway. This allows for someone to climb up or down the companionway with the table installed. Our companionway is fairly wide so it still left plenty of space for a usable table surface. In mounting it we drilled holes at every step from bottom to top so that the table could be used for multiple tasks at different levels.

So far we have used it for several things

It has freed up the space over the fridge that normally holds utensils, mixing bowls of ingredients etc.. and has given me much better access to the fridge when working in the galley. Mostly I use it in the top step of the companionway for this. For me it is at chest height. My wife who is shorter might use it in the step below that to be more comfortable for her. I intend to install some removable fiddle boards for when at sea eventually so that we will be able to use it then also. It works as an extra seat in the second from the bottom step. We haven’t created a cushion for it yet but intend to create one that has flaps that fold down and under the table to attach to some velcro or snaps on the bottom of the table. This way the attachment won’t affect the work surface on top when the cushion isn’t in place. I had to replace a filter under the galley sink that faces the companionway. At 6’2″ it has always been a very difficult process […]

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The Ergonomics of Living on a Boat, Spice and Tea Racks

Tondelayo Updated

Universal Diesel 5432 engine part numbers for common parts with some crossover numbers

Stories of s/v Valkier,DE38:All the shit that accumulates #3 Composting Your way to Odor Free by Scott Carle

Companionway Seat/Table

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