15 years late, but there were no blogs then...

This is the first installment of this blog, but the subject has been an ongoing project since St. Pat's Day 1994, when Bliss was purchased. Currently, the boat is berthed in Barra de Navidad, in the state of Jalisco in southern Mexico.

Bliss is a 1973 Morgan Out Island 33. She's a sloop rigged cruiser with a 12 ft beam, 4 ft draft and is 33 ft in length.

This first post is about current projects aboard the boat, but I will, over a period of time, throw in some of the alterations and additions that have been made to Bliss over the years.

There are some limitations at the moment to the elements that I can post to this blog. The nearest internet connection I have is 1.03 nautical miles to the SE (bearing 170 degrees) and in order to connect, I've hoisted an ethernet bridge to the top of Bliss' single mast using the spinnaker halyard.  Because of the distance, the connection is slow... so photos will be limited for a little while to fewer and smaller.

So, here goes:

This first photo shows the original arrangement of cold storage and single deep sink, 36 year-old formica countertop. Above the sink to the back you can see where I've done some paneling. I've been using luan door skins with several coats of urethane finish. The entire interior was built with the dead-looking plywood laminate you see to the right.

This is the counter cut out to install the new double sink. Part of will reach into the cooler box, but the box is used for dry food storage now. It was too warm for cold storage being situated next to the stove/oven, sink (hot water), and the back wall is the engine room (hot diesel engine). Since the sink is much shallower than the one it replaces, I can fit a small VW propane/12v/110v fridge under the sink if it is properly vented. (Years ago I insulated the engine room and installed a high volume in-line fan to the engine room, but that's another project.)

So the fiddles will come off and get sanded and varnished, the formica will be replaced, and the cabinets against the hull will get the same treatment. The idea is to make more space for food prep and cleanup, make it brighter without adding energy gobbling lamps, and make it more efficient (a double sink uses half the water to wash dishes, half the propane to heat the water, and half the electricity to pump it) and it takes half the time to wash and rinse than a single sink.

Another nice thing is the tall faucet I bought allows me to duck my head under it if I need to wash my hair (instead of doing the full shower). It might even work to bathe the dogs, but I still prefer the cockpit shower for that.

Clockwise from upper left: 1) I'm using the old saloon table for parts. 2) This table part gives me a formica faced edge for the cooler opening. 3)  A wooden backing plate for the faucet (never supplied with the faucet). Without this, the faucet feels weak and wobbly. 4) The "sink hole" patched in with pieces of the saloon table, and ready for formica. Tomorrow, we'll wrap up the sink and start the cabinets.