Easy on the eye.

Cabin Improvements , the first part.

There was a small (haha) problem of a leak  in the forward hatch. I took this problem to the local boatyard (Belmont Boatworks) to be fixed. Of course when you start taking apart a 30+ year old boat,  you had better be prepared to find some problems you did not anticipate. Removing the forward hatch exposed plenty of wet, rotten core in the cabin top  that had been soaking up rain water for the past few years. Once all this wet stuff ( resembling contents of a hamster cage) was pulled out, there was a 3ft x3ft area needing to be filled, this area also included around the mast step- an important place to have strength  (more inner beauty). The great void was filled with an epoxy mixture to give both strength and protection from moisture. The hatch was replaced and fiberglassed into place. So no more leaking. Good. But down below there was a cabin that still was dark and not very beautiful. I wanted MORE!
    The day when i tore out the brown, drooping vinyl head liner was a very fine day, indeed! I gleefully tore at it and chopped it with scissors. I'm so lucky that it was not held on  with glue! I had wanted to tear that thing out since I had bought the boat but was unsure how to cover the fiberglass over head. Dan Miller at Belmont said he knew just what i was looking for and he designed a traditional solution. He milled out custom v- match douglas fir boards to fit  SAGA's overhead. Bryden, the primary carpenter working on SAGA, measured and cut every board perfectly to fit the curves of SAGA's overhead. I told Dan that I would like to participate whenever possible in the work, although I have little experience doing any carpentry.   Dan had  me do all the priming and painting of the boards; no small task. He also was clear with me that I  had to " do it right." He told me all i needed to know to do the job well.  This was a great opportunity for me to participate in the work and to learn some basic skills in painting and woodworking. Things as   basic as using the proper paint, covering all surfaces and  sanding properly between coats of paint are important in achieving the desired final product.
And so I did all that painting and sanding and more painting on every board. It was fun and it looked great when i was finished! Very satisfying!
Bryden then installed the overhead, fitting and  screwing  each piece into a frame of  stringers that were screwed  to the interior of the cabin.. The bronze screws neatly lined athwartships on the fore  and aft running overhead boards.
The result was a beautiful white, traditional looking  overhead. The cabin looked twice as big with the bright color and linear effect.

But you know, it really needed some nice looking trim...