Middle cabin project begins

Ms. Bettencourt's center cabin, the area that provides interior access to the rest of the boat and from which the vessel is operated, is in need of major refurbishment. The overhead and bulkheads were painted when the new top went on more than a year ago, but the dashboard, the seats and the deck can only be described as nasty.

The dashboard is the trickiest part of the job, since all the electronics, other instruments, controls, gauges and switches must be removed before the surface can be prepared for repainting. That part of the work started yesterday and was finished today.

Tracing, disconnecting and tagging electrical and antenna connections was a tedious task. This photo shows the electrical panel and the underside of the dashboard. All those colored tags will help me get everything back where it goes at the appropriate time.

I was able to lift and block up the main instrument cluster and the engine shift and throttle controls without having to make major disconnections. That's a feature I'm glad I thought of when  Ms. Bettencourt's instruments and controls array was restored about 10 years ago.

So, here's what it looked like this afternoon, following removal of the steering wheel and everything else that needed to move. If you click to enlarge this photo you will be able to see how I have the main instrument cluster blocked up with wood scraps so I can clean, sand and paint under its edges.

While this doesn't look too bad from a distance, the following shot, closer in and from a different angle, reveals why refinishing is a priority.

Enlarging this picture will show some of the cracks, dings, dirt, epoxy splats and other imperfections I expect to fix in coming weeks.




Re-doing the dash will also present an opportunity to play with the placement of communication and navigation devices that have been added around the steering area piecemeal over the years.

Ms. Bettencourt won't be going anywhere until all this is refurbished and reassembled. There's a lot more work to be done in the middle cabin, but the dash is the most difficult and the rest should follow fairly rapidly.