Odds & ends, tips & tricks:
As I am working my way around the cabin, the list of things remaining, while still lengthy, is decreasing day by day as I whittle away at the small tasks between the big ones. One thing I finally got done was dealing with the door handles. this took up way too much of my precious time! I salvaged the old (original) Perko door handles - but - I have never really been happy with them. They are the style with a normal handle on one side and a twist/pull ring on the other. I know they are that way for a reason - to keep from snagging clothing and/or body parts as you pass by the open door. I don't think they ever actually saved any of my clothing or body parts; I do remember them rattling an awful lot, though! To me, it seems like a solution for a rarely, or barely, or non-existent problem.
My salvaged handles presented me with two additional problems: they were all pretty pitted and corroded and would not clean up well, and a few needed some replacement parts. Big but coming - Perko sells these same handles new, but they don't sell replacement parts for them. Bummer
. I thought I could replace the ring pulls with a handle that matched the opposite side, but no joy there. The only viable way was to buy new latches and replace the new ring pulls with my old handles. At ~$95 - each! And I need 4 of them. Time for Plan B: my new online hardware best friend didn't have anything I liked but I did eventually find these:
The handles are some oddball Chinese brand, made from some type of unidentifiable material, may or may not last a full season, but they were the best bang for the buck for a non-mortised semi-low profile door latch. They were marketed for RVs, so I do have that going for me!
Not too hard to install and adjust:
And they are currently doing the job I hired them for - keeping the doors closed! (Edit: I had not yet cut in the door striker in this photo)
Now for a tip: As all you guys know, sawing plywood cross-grain just about always will create tear-out at the cut edge (on the up-stroke blade side). Up to now, I had never found a solution to this, other than trying to cut the piece so that the tear-out is hidden on the inside, or is covered with a trim piece. Well, I found a solution! While I was cutting and fitting the fiddles for the aft bunk I was at a point where I needed to permanently mount the bunk planks, but I wanted to cut in some hatches for storage first. Problem: I had already coated and finished the plank, and there was no way to prevent tearing up the finish at the edges of the openings.
Light bulb on! I scribed into the plank at the cut lines with my oscillating saw:
You don't have to go deep - just enough to get through the top lamination. Then plunge cut the corners and get the rest of the cut with the jig saw. Presto, no tear-out!
I just wish I had thought of it years ago!
Finally, some cathartic action. I've been bouncing around the boat doing electrical work at times, recently lots of AC wiring and connections. My electrical "tool box" had reached a point of embarrassment, so I took an afternoon, turned up the music, rocked gently with the waves, and did this:
Amazingly satisfying!
Next up, fiddles (I promise!)
Cheers,
Mark
As I am working my way around the cabin, the list of things remaining, while still lengthy, is decreasing day by day as I whittle away at the small tasks between the big ones. One thing I finally got done was dealing with the door handles. this took up way too much of my precious time! I salvaged the old (original) Perko door handles - but - I have never really been happy with them. They are the style with a normal handle on one side and a twist/pull ring on the other. I know they are that way for a reason - to keep from snagging clothing and/or body parts as you pass by the open door. I don't think they ever actually saved any of my clothing or body parts; I do remember them rattling an awful lot, though! To me, it seems like a solution for a rarely, or barely, or non-existent problem.
My salvaged handles presented me with two additional problems: they were all pretty pitted and corroded and would not clean up well, and a few needed some replacement parts. Big but coming - Perko sells these same handles new, but they don't sell replacement parts for them. Bummer
. I thought I could replace the ring pulls with a handle that matched the opposite side, but no joy there. The only viable way was to buy new latches and replace the new ring pulls with my old handles. At ~$95 - each! And I need 4 of them. Time for Plan B: my new online hardware best friend didn't have anything I liked but I did eventually find these:
The handles are some oddball Chinese brand, made from some type of unidentifiable material, may or may not last a full season, but they were the best bang for the buck for a non-mortised semi-low profile door latch. They were marketed for RVs, so I do have that going for me!
Not too hard to install and adjust:
And they are currently doing the job I hired them for - keeping the doors closed! (Edit: I had not yet cut in the door striker in this photo)
Now for a tip: As all you guys know, sawing plywood cross-grain just about always will create tear-out at the cut edge (on the up-stroke blade side). Up to now, I had never found a solution to this, other than trying to cut the piece so that the tear-out is hidden on the inside, or is covered with a trim piece. Well, I found a solution! While I was cutting and fitting the fiddles for the aft bunk I was at a point where I needed to permanently mount the bunk planks, but I wanted to cut in some hatches for storage first. Problem: I had already coated and finished the plank, and there was no way to prevent tearing up the finish at the edges of the openings.
Light bulb on! I scribed into the plank at the cut lines with my oscillating saw:
You don't have to go deep - just enough to get through the top lamination. Then plunge cut the corners and get the rest of the cut with the jig saw. Presto, no tear-out!
I just wish I had thought of it years ago!
Finally, some cathartic action. I've been bouncing around the boat doing electrical work at times, recently lots of AC wiring and connections. My electrical "tool box" had reached a point of embarrassment, so I took an afternoon, turned up the music, rocked gently with the waves, and did this:
Amazingly satisfying!
Next up, fiddles (I promise!)
Cheers,
Mark
