Milestone 2 – Rebuilding the main cabin – The Seadog Life

Renovating the bathroom

Owner — Mon, 31 Dec 2018 17:46:24 +0000

Here’s a short video with pictures of the renovation process that was done to the bathroom aboard Seadog in December 2018.

Removing the tarp

Owner — Sat, 07 May 2016 11:15:21 +0000

Yes, it finally happened! The tarp has been removed and the Seadog is shining in the sun. And I seriously mean shining in the sun (see the photo’s).
Next up, I will need to do some small repairs and preparations so that the bowsprit can be permanently placed on the bow of the ship. The bowsprit is now temporarily stored on the cabin roof together with the kayak. Very happy with that kayak right now. See my previous post about my latest kayak trip here: https://theseadog.life/2016/05/22/kayak-trip-to-elburg-nl/
Also some minor tasks still need to be done to make sure everything is completely watertight and safe. For example the roof window and entrance of the cabin might still leak with extreme rainfall.
After the bowsprit has been permanently placed I will have to add some anti slip to the deck beside the cabin as well, because if those parts of the deck get’s wet it’s dangerously slippery.
And of course the next big project will be to get a running engine, so the Seadog can head to open water!
But for now another big milestone has been achieved..

Last (big) varnishing project

Owner — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 08:43:09 +0000

Back in January I finally finished the work on all the hatches of the boat. One hatch still needed some repairs, but the others where already prepared for varnishing a few month before. So after re-caulking that one hatch and degreasing all the wood it was time to get the varnish back out of storage. Because it was still much to cold outside, the hatches were transported to my parents house where I could work more easily in the attic.
After applying 3 layers of specialised teak sealing varnish and another 5-8 layers (depending on the cracks in the wood) of extra uv-protecting two component varnish these hatches are well protected for the coming years and will only need some new maintenance layers now and then.
Because the varnish needed to be sanded between each additional two layers of varnish this project took a while, but then end result is very satisfying. The brass hinges on the hatches of the cabin where cleaned up and polished to give it that finishing touch.
Practically all the surfaces on the outside of the boat are now either vanished or painted (and coated with epoxy) in more than 8+ layers which means there is no reason to keep that tarp over the boat anymore.
Well actually there are still some minor (plus one big) things to do, but more on that in the next post. But one thing is for sure, this summer (or maybe even this spring) the Seadog will finally sail again!

The devil is in the details

Owner — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 10:12:57 +0000

Back in October I finally had some time for the smaller tasks that I wanted to do. The garbage can in the galley was always standing in my way, and that garbage can was also meant as a temporary solution because I wanted to build a new garbage can in the galley somewhere. I decided the best place would be under the entrance so I went to work. First there needed to be a little platform for the garbage can to stand on, because the floor is not flat on this point of the boat. On the upside this means that I can also store stuff under the garbage can, so works out even better. With some extra plywood that was lying around I then created my own personal custom garbage can to place on that platform. It still needs some sanding and paint to make it beautiful as well as practical, but for now it works perfectly on that spot and the capacity of the garbage can has now also increased by a factor of two. So all in all, a very good improvement.
Next, there has always been a space beside the galley that was not accessible because they made it so that the bottom of that space could be flat. So I thought I might break out some of the wood on the side of that space so I could maybe store my shoes there, which where also always standing in my way. Turns out that space was perfect for storing ones shoes, so happy me!
After a little cleaning and sanding I decided to paint that space with some of the white paint I had lying around to make it look a little cleaner.
Another thing that needed to be for a while was fixing the lock of the entrance doors and making it so that the hatch and doors of the entrance could be closed nicely. Problem was the doors were switched (on purpose) when rebuilding the cabin. This needed to be done because the whole entrance was placed from the right side of the boat to the left side. But that meant the lock was the other way around now as well. Luckily with these old locks you have the option of switching the doorpin, so after some pealing around that actually worked quite easily. I wanted to keep this old luck because I want to polish it up like all the other brass on the boat and make it shine like new. But that task will have to wait because winter was coming and it was time to start another big task. More about that in the next update.

Fixing some nasty leakage

Owner — Sat, 19 Sep 2015 10:43:33 +0000

Back in September I already posted the short video of the work that was done to fix some nasty leakage that was creeping in from the side and top (deck) of the boat. Because this meant I had to totally dismantle and remove the bed from its place this also meant I could redesign and clean things up around (and under) there.
This whole project took almost two weeks to finished which meant I had to sleep on the couch for a while, but it was certainly worth it!
I also had a small vacation in those weeks for a few days while helping my parents sail their new boat to their new home, so I did have some leisure time in there as well.
If you want to see my parents new boat check out this post:

Vacation time aboard a “Wadder”

And to see the full story about the leakage check out the video and the pictures below:

Rainwater leaking inside of the Seadog

Owner — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 10:48:15 +0000

The Seadog has been leaking rainwater from somewhere along the hull of the ship for years now, but back in September I finally went searching and found the problem.
And it was a big problem!

Down the hatch!

Owner — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 09:59:45 +0000

As stated in the last update the next step was to also sand and varnish all the hatches that are on the boot. The main entrance hatch was in need of some serious repair, because the teak top appears to have been leaking and the wood underneath started to rot. All the rotten wood was removed and I just filled everything up with an epoxy filler. The hatches of the roof window on top of the cabin just needed some extra caulk here and there and the same goes for the other hatches. After sanding the whole lot, they where ready to be varnished. But it turned out that it would take a long time before that finally happened, because there where a few other problems to fix first. But more about that in the next update.

Adding of the hand rails and vanishing of the outside teak

Owner — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 18:27:11 +0000

In the end of July and beginning of August when the weather was still hot and sunny all the teak that was not yet varnished was finally sanded and was treated with 6 layers of 2 component sealing varnish for teak. After those 6 layers another 2 layers of extra UV-filtering varnish was applied for the finishing touch. Because one needs to sand between the layers that are applied the whole endeavour took (even with some help of my father) more than two weeks. But one the upside after all this work, applying more layers in the future (about 2 layers a year) will seem only a minor task compared to this.
The teak hand rails where now also finally placed back onto the cabin roof and treated with the same varnish layering.
As one can see in the photo’s the handrails, the cabin ceiling window, the entrance and side beams of the cabin are now truly looking as new. The next step will be to also sand and varnish the hatches of the entrance, the cabin window and the hatch on the bow, but those will first need to be repaired and will then be varnished in the wintertime.

Portholes placement

Owner — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 09:27:31 +0000

Back in June I decided that it was finally time to permanently place all the new portholes in the side of the cabin. I kept on postponing this task because I was not sure how to go about it. The cabin wall was thicker then the brass portholes, so that created a problem.
I finally decided I would just use some more caulk between the portholes and the porthole rings on the outside of the wall. As I excepted things got a very messy, but with some aceton and cotton cloths for the finishing touch the end result was better then I had hoped.
Also the glass of one of the two bigger portholes was broken and needed a replacement glass. Luckily my father found a round glass plate somewhere at a second hand boat shop that had the exact measurements that where needed for those portholes for only 5 euro a piece!
This was also a good time to clean and polish those two old big porthole so the caulk would adhere better and also to make them shine as new.

Repairing a teak hand rail

Owner — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 12:00:28 +0000

Preparation is the key to success

One of the teak hand rails was partially broken. To fix this issue the epoxy was taken out, to safe the day once again. Teak can be tough to repair because it’s a very greasy kind of wood. That is why most glues, paints or varnished don’t really bond well to teak. By first degreasing the teak with acetone and using a special diluted kind of epoxy that really impregnates the wood one can overcome this greasy problem. After the first impregnation layer was applied and became sticky enough (after an hour or so) a next layer with a more “glue like” character was made with a special kind of epoxy filler. This makes the epoxy thicker and thus easier to apply, plus it fills the gapes better.
After the epoxy has dried enough (about 2-6 days) it could be sanded and varnished with a special kind of impregnation 2 component varnish which is specially made for teak. After 5 layers of this 2 component varnish, two more layers of extra UV filtering 2 component varnish fill be added for the finishing touch. I plan to do the same with all the other teak outside, with exception of the teak deck.