Big Update (from Christmas holidays)

Hi all, its been ages since I have posted anything so going to give a bit of an update on whats been going on over the christmas holiday break. Emma and I had a month off work and managed to spend 3 weeks on the boat mainly working but did get out for 4 days (see next blog on that one). We worked pretty hard for near 3 weeks solid and dad came and gave us 2 weeks as well which was much appreciated! cheers dad. I am not going to write a huge description of what we did but here is a summary list of everything we managed to get sorted: (in no particular order, just writing as I remember)
1) Solar panel and wind gen stainless arch replaced and welded up (by me with TIG welder)
2) Solar panels and wind gen mounted and reconnected to the system
3) Replaced old hatches just in front of mast
4) Reinsulated ceiling spaces with 10mm polystyrene as the old stuff was so badly done and may as well not have been done at all
5) Re-fitted ceiling panels and made new ones where old ones had cracked or were filthy
6) Re-sealed chainplates as leaking
7) Fitted new 10mm smoked acrylic glass to small hatches over front head and front berth so you can see through it now
8) Replaced huge wrap around windows in gally/saloon area with new 10mm smoked acrylic as old ones were so crazed and leaked around the million screw holes someone had used to fit them
9) Built a sealed gas locker for the 9kg bottle with a drain overboard
10) Replaced separator boards in anchor locker as old ones were soooo rotten
11) Moved C80 chartplotter to chart table and re-routed all cables to that
12) Fitted new Raymarine E125 chartplotter to under bimini
13) Installed full seatalk ng networking within the boat so now the new chartplotter talks to the tri-data instruments, autopilot and to a degree the old plotter. Such a huge improvement
14) Finished off the dinghy davits which makes raising and lowering the dinghy a breeze now (although not sold on the blocks I have used - stay tuned for a better result)
15) Full repaint on the deck including all white, non-slip and blue stripe including filling all holes and years of wear and tear
16) Clean along the waterline to remove all the algee buildup
17) Seal around companionway door (where timber meets fiberglass) as this always seemed to leak
18) Replace raw water inlet hose (between seacock and strainer) as old one was getting so dodgy
19) Clean engine bilge out really well and fit new bilge pump
20) And probably one of the biggest jobs was replace the starter motor, as when we went to leave (were supposed to be on the water a good week), we turned the key and nothing happened. Turns out the old one had been submerged....a lot! and was so full of rust. Problem is ours is a special one and counter rotating so it had to be sent to Auckland, a new one made and then sent back to us which we then fitted. Works good now though! and thank heavens we were not out and about when it decided to stop working!!

Preparing the hatch surround

Rebuilding anchor locker separator

As usual: shit everywhere!

Freshly painted cockpit, looking good!

That bag is just some of the rust out of the starter motor!

Adding the windgen before the storm comes through