Epoxy, Upholstery, and Stove

OK today is day 3 in the yard. I had a bad headache from all the sun yesterday I think. I normally never get headaches but I my forehead felt a little burnt so I took a couple of baby aspirins about 9am. It still hadn't gone away by 10am so I took another couple and that got rid of it.

So anyway, the upshot of all that was that I really didn't feel like going outside in the hot sun so even though the bowsprit is a priority, I chose an indoor task. Anyway from what I have read, epoxy penetrates into wood better when it is hot so the afternoon is a better time to do that task. So the stove. Firstly, I am scared to death of propane gas explosions so I was ultra careful. I spent $200 yesterday at West Marine, buying a solenoid and a 10 foot propane hose but it wasn't enough. I still needed another part. So I needed to go searching. Trouble is, my 250,000 mile '96 Saturn is idling at 3000 revs. So before I could do anything I had to fix it. Looked up the web for 30 minutes and discovered that the problem was the engine coolant sensor and that all I needed to do was disconnect the battery. So I did that and I was on my way to Ace hardware. It took me 30 minutes to find the part and then I went to the RV center around the corner and bought some butyl tape and I was back to the marina before 10am.

So here are all the parts with the stove upside down to work on.

I wanted to rig it up first to test it out and when I turned it on I could smell gas so I shut it off. At that stage I was going to take it outside however I went over all the connections again and found one that I hadn't tightened down. So I tried it again and success! It worked!

So now I had to run the propane hose through the back of the stove and up into the cockpit.

What a pain that was.

How is one supposed to crawl up in there?

So anyway at least it is working now. I actually am looking forward to brewing my first cup of tea.

By the way, the task is far from over. I have yet to hook it to the fiberglass tanks, in the plastic locker you see on the caprail and there is the solenoid valve to hook up yet.

So anyway on to the next task.....Epoxy. Do I look scary or what?

Now I have never done this before so I laid out all the parts on the ground so if I spilled anything it wouldn't matter.

I had intended to use penetrating epoxy but in the end I just used the ordinary $15 stuff from Home depot. 

So my technique for the drill holes was to pour epoxy down the hole into a container and use a fat brush inside the hole.

I did it twice, letting it dry in between and pouring from the other side on the second time.

Next ..........Upholstery. My cushions inside the boat are wet, with torn backing, moldy and have had it. So I went and saw Dorothy, a Canadian American here at Green Cove Springs Marina and she came and looked at my cushions and said if I reused the foam and ordered the fabric online she could begin work on them. 

So I ordered 20 yards of crypton texture earth light brown ribbed from new toto stores for $275

Hope it looks OK. Ok one last thing........ I have 3 barometers in the boat. Three. Not 2, not one, but 3.

Now only the weems and plath seems to work........so why on earth are the other 2 here? Its not just them but the whole boat is full of stuff.....broken stuff. I am reluctant to throw out junk just in case I need it......but I am fast getting to the point where I am going to clear out half of the stuff in this boat.