Lackey Sailing | Calliope Girl 3

October 30, 2023

Calliope Girl 3

Monday

After spending some undocumented time going over project plans and the general approach ahead, I got started by checking the boat for level in both directions. The owner had made a longitudinal level mark when he had the boat at anchor, using a laser level to make some marks on one of the settees in the main cabin. I used this to check the fore and aft position of the boat now, and found that the boat as blocked was level in this direction.

The owner had mentioned that the settees and the forward berth (especially the forward berth) were not properly positioned, with the head (aft) end of the v-berth lower than the forward end. I confirmed this with the level and checked the settees as well. The forward berth was several inches too low at the aft end.

Next, I used a long beam across the cockpit coamings to check the athwartship position of the boat–slightly off level–and adjusted the stands till the position was correct.

I documented the “as is” condition of the interior before going further.

The owner and I had a meeting scheduled at the boat coming up in a few days, during which we’d work out the final project scope and details, but for now I focused on dismantling what I could, and doing some advance planning and thinking on some of the items on the list. One of these was the galley stove and propane system, and to start I first located the existing propane locker, which was a prefab plastic box installed in the the starboard cockpit locker. As installed, this satisfied applicable requirements, but the owner wanted to consider building a dedicated locker on the port side (above the existing quarterberth), to hold a larger tank and perhaps be more convenient. For now, I documented the existing installation and would investigate the possibilities on the port side more going forward. The main constraint on the new locker construction would be the depth of the locker required, and keeping it high enough so the locker vent (which exits the bottom of a propane locker) would end up in a practicable location above the waterline, i.e. essentially no lower than the existing vent on the starboard side. More on this to come as things develop.

Meanwhile, I removed what I safely could in the main cabin, including a sliding portion of the port berth, hinged backrests on each side, canvas lee cloths, and the various prefab locker doors above the settees and in the galley, which were secured from the surface with screws and removable as is in complete units.