DIY: THE UPHOLSTERY ON OUR BOAT HAS BEEN COMPLETELY REPLACED

With the help of my daughter Wendy, I have totally replaced all of the upholstery in the Thunderbird.  She was working in an upholstery shop at the time we bought the boat, plus running a part time upholstery business of her own. 

It has only been 10 years since we started this project back in 2003.  First she brought all her upholstery sample books out to the boat and left them on board with me for a couple of weeks, so that I could choose a colour palette that would work throughout and so that I could see it, in that proper setting and in the appropriate light.  (The boat was in our yard on Henderson Highway, at the time. ) Those books were very helpful and she just needed to help me with final choices for accent colours. 

The next thing was, she requested that I draw her some pictures of what I wanted it all to look like.  From those sketches she made her patterns and  proceeded to take all her measurements.  With fabric choices made and measurements taken, I purchased all my upholstery fabric at that time. 


Then on the Easter long weekend, of 2004 with the boat having been moved into hangar 2, her and I spent the weekend on board and completed almost the entire upholstery job. 








The Pilot House Couch -  My Sketch                 And this is how it turned out



The Salon Couch -  My Sketch                         And this is how it turned out


                      









                                                                                       



The Dinette - My Sketch                                   And this is how it turned out

 









All the boat had when we bought it was foam mattresses on the couches and no backs on any of them.  Not only does this look better, it's much more comfortable.  And the skirts on the couches, cover up extra storage under each couch, plus the extra cushions on the Salon couch serve as bed pillows for overnight guests on the other couches. 

Now with what I have learned from my daughters experience I have continued on.  I had to complete on my own,  the arm rest cushions for the Pilot House and the 5 pillows for the Salon Couch.  The new Captains seat in the Pilot House and the Navigator's stool.  

So, my upholstering and sewing is finally finished.  Unless I or someone else thinks of something I still have to sew.  I am done.  All of the entire boat furniture has been re-upholstered. 

And all of the Canvas items that we felt we needed are also finished.  I have made a tonneau cover for our fly bridge area, all new cushions for our back deck, a cover for our dinghy, a runoff cover for the back deck cushions and a small cover for our Bar-B-Q.  So, I am done. 

IT WAS A LOT OF WORK, BUT WELL WORTH IT

 



A BUSY LONG WEEKEND

We had a great long weekend.  We got out to Gimli nice and early, picked up some groceries and got straight to work on our projects.  Our son, Ken came out to help me with the back rest I am working on.  He cut all the lumber for me when we stopped at Jack's wood shop. 

 
Then I got busy with the foam and fabric once we were settled in at the hangar.    
 


Then suddenly it was happy hour and we hurried off to Gimli Harbour, as it was Casey and Sharon's "Splash Day" today and we were invited for drinks to celebrate.  When we arrived there was a real party going on. 

 Gord & Ellie (The Harbour Master & Harbour Mistress) were in attendance, as were Art Wilkes and Keith Pierce, both also celebrating the fact that their "Splash", is approaching tomorrow. 

 



Happy Boating guys. 




So, then it was back to the hangar and back to work. 

The hangar was full of boaters prepping their boats for their launch dates. 

Bob Inkster was fussing with his new Canvas.  "Very nice Bob". 












Dan kept himself busy with his sanding and painting, while Ken helped me with the painting and staining of the woodwork for my back rest. 






It all came together beautifully.  I am very pleased with the results. 

 

So, now we are down to the short list, mostly paint, paint, paint.  We have to rig the boat out with lines and fenders, store the tools etc. and get ready for launch, so, we should be ready to splash by June 1st.  Hopefully, the lake will be ready for us by then as well. 

 

 

 

THE LIST IS REALLY SHORT NOW

 

 

 

 

WORK WEEKEND #4

The plan for this weekend is lots of painting plus  my upholstery project.  Our son Ken has volunteered to come out and help this long weekend, so maybe we can add back onto our list, those things that we were thinking of taking off of the lists. 

The first stop will be the upholstery shop to pick up some items, then it's off to Jack Watt's to use his woodworking shop to do that carpentry stuff I need for my back rest.  Then on to the hangar for the long weekend. 

Being a Long weekend, I've also got to plan some extra meals for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. 

This weekend on the BCYC calendar, Saturday is also listed as the "BCYC Icebreaker Day".  I'm sure when our Marina calendar was sent to the presses, there was no idea that the spring of 2013 would still have ice on the lake on the Victoria Day, long weekend.   The "Ice Breaker" that they had in mind was a meet and greet, but I'm sure all most of us can think of, is that "Ice", that has been just outside the harbour.  Well, it is what it is, and we will deal with it as we always do.. 

FOUR DAYS, WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH A LOT

 

 



GIMLI HARBOUR IS OPEN AND READY FOR US TO LAUNCH, BUT THE LAKE???

I keep the Gimli weather cam on my computer, so I can see what's happening with the lake. 

(Except at night)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone is very excited about the fact that the ice is gone out of Gimli Harbour and the lake is starting to clear of ice,  so far.  

Having grown up around this lake, (and we will not discuss how old I am) I know that , it has been known to be pushed by the wind over to the opposite side of this very large lake, then low and behold the wind changes and the next day the ice is back.  So I'm not going to get too excited until we are sure that, this is the end of it.  

We will know for sure, when we start seeing the professional fishermen coming and going.   

MEANWHILE WE STILL HAVE THINGS TO DO

 

SOME BOATS ARE LAUNCHED ALREADY

The ice was still solid on the lake, when we were there on the weekend, but a couple of boats have been launched at the beach already.  Glen Wright has launched "For Now", (always the first boat in the harbour).  I'm sure he will start living on board immediately, Glen is always anxious to get the season started.  Marge Homenick's "Teddy Two", has also been launched.  I guess this is the official start of Boundary Creeks boating season. 

 The rest of us with larger vessels are still waiting for that damned ice to clear out of Gimli Harbour and off of the lake as we all have to be launched in Gimli and make the 12 mile cruise down the lake to get to Boundary Creek Marina.  Even though Dan and I, have a steel hulled boat, I don't much feel like playing "Titanic" with icebergs on the lake. 

AND SO WE KEEP OURSELVES BUSY  AND PRAY FOR HOT WEATHER

 



THE TO DO LISTS ARE GETTING SHORTER

Well, we are finished work weekend #3 and we are assessing our to do list to see what are the "has to be done" items and what can be postponed till later.  




My canvas sewing projects for this year are completed.  I finished the dinghy cover on our second work weekend.  And the run-off cover and the Bar-B-Q cover, were easily completed on this our third work weekend. 

So, next weekend I will move on to my upholstering tasks.  I still need to re-upholster my navigators stool and complete the back rest for the Captain's seat.  The back rest requires assistance from Dan as there is carpentry involved.  So, I'll see if he can fit me in amongst his other tasks. 

I also want to make some more custom fitted sheets for our custom made mattress in the forward stateroom.  The other sewing projects I have are much simpler and should go quickly. And some of these jobs might even wait until after our launch if time runs out. 

Dan's fibre glassing is finished as well, and he re-installed those taps and also finished some of those oil and grease projects I mentioned earlier, so now he will move on to the yearly painting.   


We give the old girl a new touch up on her paint job almost every year.  

SO THAT WAS OUR WEEKEND. 

 

 

WORK WEEKEND #3

We have picked up most of our project supplies;
canvas, wood,  taps, bungee cord, etc. and we are getting back at it for another weekend of working on the boat.
 


As usual, we will hit the road Friday morning and work on through Sunday.  I've also planned another crock pot meal, as last weekend's turned out so well, and was really convenient.  This weekend it's going to be a nice big pot roast with vegetables.  Yum 


No internet at the hangar, so I will blog again when I get home on Sunday.