If you are not old enough to remember Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, a common theme involved a walrus mustachioed Marlin Perkins narrating as his intrepid assistant, Jim Fowler wrestled with the show’s latest demonic man eater. Jim was routinely thrown into some far flung corner of the earth to capture and tag a tiger, crocodile or carnivorous hedgehog while Marlin coolly narrated for the audience just how dangerous a cornered hedgehog can be. Marlin never seems to get too near the action lest Jim’s screams of terror ruin the narration.
Melissa. Taming the dangerous feral sander in the engine room.
So this weekend, Melissa played a passably good Jim to my Marlin. While Melissa wrestled the wild Andromeda from one to slip to another without an engine, I remained safely at home raking leaves and cleaning the chicken coop. I hauled tree branches, downed after our latest wind storm, while she got to figure out how to fill the water tanks, use the diesel heater, and witness Andromeda in her natural environment away from a slip. I kept my cell handy just in case she needed to confer with me on which valve empties what. In other words, she got to have all the fun while I stayed home.
To hear her tell it though, she barely escaped with her life. Whether it was being crushed tying off Andromeda in her new berth or being asphyxiated by BilgeKote, her life was in mortal danger all weekend as she beat that bilge into submission. Some people have all the luck.
That’s right. That’s Andromeda’s bilge now.
Here’s another action shot of that bilge.
See how it gleams after 2 coats?
Between my domestic chores I did manage to complete some boat jobs. Our garage contains enough boat parts to actually build another boat so there were plenty of projects at hand. One engine related project was to clean and paint the oil pan that will sit beneath the engine.
Two coats of BilgeKote took this
Oil Pan Before
To this
Oil Pan After
Another small project was to clean up some corrosion on the steering pedestal. We figure that once we get an engine in the boat, it would a nice feature to actually be able to steer the boat. With the steering pedestal off, we have an opportunity to sand and paint the base.
Steering Pedestal Before
Sorry, I don’t have a photo of the completed project yet. Please enjoy this photo of Marlin Perkins and his friend while I find some aluminum primer.
Marlin, but not Jim.
Finally, I took on a project to rehabilitate the boat’s Dickinson BarBQue. It’s obviously been well loved but if you’ve seen the prices for new ones, you’ll understand why I wanted to see if this one could be salvaged. I found a new burner and ignitor at Lowes that will replace the old parts and have cleaned up the body with a product called Spotless Stainless. So, after we get an engine and can steer the boat maybe we can grill a couple of burgers to celebrate.
Dickinson Sea-B-Que. Not new, but shiny
Never content to work on only one boat project at a time, Melissa also tackled the quarter berth area. The ‘wall’ in that area had seen better days and she couldn’t take the stress of looking at it anymore. Once again, cleaning the area and putting a couple of coats of BilgeKote on it saved the day. Got to love the clean fresh look of paint.
This wall became…
this wall.
Maybe next time I can be Jim and Melissa can stay home and hold chimpanzees. I have several electrical projects that will require a good weekends worth of work without AC to the boat. I think Jim Fowler would approve.
That is not the bilge I left behind! Looks great!
Man that quarter birth looks so much better, nice work!
Oh she is looking so good! I love that you found a boat worthy of your efforts. She is going to be spectacular!!!
Wonderful transformation. Nice work!
Wild Kingdom – that certainly brings back memories! I’m definitely old enough to remember watching it each week. Looks like you guys are making great progress on the boat.
On a black and white TeeVee set, this was high entertainment for kids in the 60’s. In Tennessee, this show came on Sunday evenings just before the Wonderful World of Disney. We planned our evenings around such fare.
Disney – that was it! I knew there was something we always watched afterwards. Memories.
Wow. Very impressive. You will be experts in just about everything when you are done!
As a side note, if the fumes are getting to you when using bilgekote, I highly suggest purchasing a real respirator. I got Dani one and she stopped coming home high and cross eyed.
Good Idea. I have one but need to buy the correct filters.
I think our boat space is big enough that I didn’t notice many fumes from the bilgekote, actually. The acetone, now that’s another story. But it will be a good idea of have the respirator on the boat just in case.
WOW, great work! It looks fantastic. A side note to painting the wall with bilgekote…Be aware that over time the paint will yellow due to UV exposure since it’s got epoxy in it. It won’t become YELLOW, but it won’t be super white like it is not either. It might end up a nice warm color.
FYI for future reference.
Love this progress!
The paintress has spoken!
Actually, I hope so. It’s really bright!
It for sure will yellow a little and it doesn’t take that long. I left the doors off the cabinets I painted for about 8 months and now the color inside the cabinet is “softer” than the new bilgekote I have painted in other areas. It’s very fine though just like that. If you want it to yellow if possible let as much UV in as you can through portlights or whatever.
Nice paint job all over!
That quarterberth wall looks like one of the walls in my head area. I removed the head/tank and now have a bit more cleaning up to do but already looks much better than it used to.
Much of the hidden spaces on my boat was painted with an unknown yellow paint that I’m looking at using white bilgekote to brighten it up and give it a newer/fresher look.
You won’t be disappointed in this stuff. But, as always when painting, the prepwork is a bitch!