I can’t believe that it is only four years since I started the Downeasteryachts.com website in Sept of 2009. So much has happened in the last 4 years that 2009 feels like forever ago. Even though it has only been four years a lot has happened for all of us. Some of our familiar faces have sold their boats and are no longer around, while new owners that bought those boats have shown their faces and are now sharing their experiences with us. In my personal life I have put thousands of hours into projects on our DE38 and you can expect to start seeing write ups of many of those over the next year as I get time. I also now have a lovely two and half year old daughter that keeps us hopping.
The website has grown considerably over the last four years. I believe we have about 300 pages of content on the website not including whats in the forums. We have 232 registered members on the forums now and between them there are over 1700 posts on the forums. Website growth with new articles on this or that has been sporadic due to time constraints on my part and on lack of submitted articles from other members. I have a handful of members that have allowed me to copy stuff from their blogs or websites and you will once in a while see, when I get some free time, a spurt of posts go up from one or two members. That is usually me getting a chance to go out to their websites and copy a few of their pertinent posts over to the Downeaster Yachts website. It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain the site. I think I have spent a couple […]
A major project from the past year or so has been the restoration of the teak cap rails on Windsong. I had hoped the rail was just fine and could be left alone, but with each piece of hardware that got removed from it, the more I realized how damaged it was. On top of that, there were plenty of leaks under the cap rail where sealant had dried up and became useless. I eventually came to the conclusion that it had to come off, get restored, and re-bedded.
The first step came with removing the rails from the boat. This happened some time ago, as they needed to come off before I even started the deck restoration and painting. It wasn’t until I removed them that I had realized the extent of the damage. I had originally feared that they were unsalvagable in many spots, and I would have to replace the wood all together. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. As with any project, I took my time doing research and figured I could restore the teak and make the original rails last for much longer.
Just to forewarn, I did a pretty poor job of photo-documenting this project. I have a few, but I didn’t photo the restoration like I should. This is in part to the fact that I had my Dad help me out with the initial restoration and repairs to the major problem areas. He took the rails to his garage to work on while I concentrated on other projects. When I got them back, all of the repairs were done and I had forgotten to photo the problem areas to begin with for before and after pics.
The process for the restoration was initiated by the works of Don […]
Using reflectix and vinyl we created a cover for the top of the fridge. This is a super easy and cheap project that improves fridge efficiency significantly . Ventrally we will do the same thing behind the kitchen utensil holder on the front of the fridge. If you slide your hand between the reflectix and the top of the fridge it feels very cold. However on top of the vinyl covered reflectix it is room temperature.
This is a link to the the insulation. We have used it to make ducting for our window ac unit to vent it down through a top hatch into the salon. We are gradually insulating the cabin walls and overhead with it as we do projects that expose those areas as well as the above project.
Reflectix BP24025 24-Inch by 25-Feet Bubble Pack Insulation
We replaced the hanging rod in the closet on port side in the v-berth with three Cedar shelves. It has increased usable storage space by about a factor of four.
Bronze eyes and bungee cord that secure vesa monitor mount in the closed position while underway. This is the monitor on forward Salon bulkhead.
Main monitor at chart table. I fabricated a stainless monitor mount that allows monitor to be used at the chart table, from the helm or allows it to fold up into the overhead out of the way.
The mount that I fabricated is pretty simple. It just uses stainless tubeing of the correct sizes so that one tube will fit inside another to allow it to pivot horizontally and vertically as well as slide from port to starboard.
304 Stainless Steel Round Rod, Unpolished (Mill) Finish, Annealed, AMS 5639/ASTM A276/AMS QQ-S 763/ASTM A276, 0.5″ Diameter, 72″ Length Stainless Steel 304L Seamless Round Tubing, 1″ OD, 0.76″ ID, 0.120″ Wall, 12″ Length Stainless Steel 304L Seamless Round Tubing, 3/4″ OD, 0.51″ ID, 0.120″ Wall, 72″ Length For mounting to the monitor I welded a piece of angle to the tubing and for mounting to the boat I used some flat bar and welded the tube to that. One one end I used 1/2 inch solid bar as a pin for one ind of the tube so that you can take the whole thing apart if needed.
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