There is something quite satisfying about the little jobs.

The ones you can start and finish in a day. The ones that are not structural, or even maybe necessary, but they certainly make things look looked after. Often times these are the finishing touches, the last 10% of the bigger job that you didn’t quite have the energy or enthusiasm to bother with after the big job was complete.

The last few weeks have been all about the little jobs for me.

It started off with the fan over my bunk stopping in the middle of the night, leaving me confused and sweaty in the dark. The fix was simple enough – take the fan apart, unsolder a few wires from the worn out motor, solder them onto a new motor and put the fan back together, sit under the now working fan to cool off after the job.

Then, on a morning that was calm and overcast, I decided to tackle the solar panels.

This might not seems like a small job on the surface but it was certainly a simple one. Steve had already done all the hard work when he built the new hard top last year in the yard while I still in Canada. His design included some proper solar panel mounting brackets which are strong but incredibly simple. Steve sourced and ordered our new panels before he left, thinking they’d arrive with plenty of time for him to install them. Or course, they showed up three weeks after he left.

However, since they are the same physical size of the panels that he built the bimini around,  all that I had to do was unplug the existing panels, unscrew the mounts, carefully take the old panels down and then do everything in reverse –  carefully put the new panels in place, screw down the mounts, plug them in. TADA, job complete! Not only are the new panels a slightly higher wattage, but their split cell design is more efficient when partially shaded, so we are making more power and for more hours of the day, even under high clouds.

Next I installed some new grab rails.

I had to remove the ones off the walls to paint the bathroom last month, and since the chrome ends were in bad shape (they were here when we bought the boat so who knows how old) we decided to order some new stainless steel ends. Of course they were ever so slight different, which meant I not only had to cut some stainless pipe but also drill some new holes in the wall…and that meant filling, sanding and patching the paint in the bathroom as well.

While I was at it I added two grab rails to the galley counter both for safety underway and to make it easier to lift the  countertop off when we need to gain full access to the engine. I was able to get all four cut from one old stanchions that Steve scored off a catamaran in the yard last year. So a feel good upcycle as well.

The galley was looking so slick with the new counter jewellery

So, I decided it was time to address the damage on the sliding cupboard door veneer. I used some iron on edge banding to fill in the missing veneer and when it didn’t fall off after a weeks use, I tackled colour matching it to the original wood. Of course, using a wood stain would be the easy way, but then that wouldn’t be boating, would it. Wood stain isn’t sold anywhere in Kudat, nor does anyone I know on boats have any…believe me I checked.

After falling down a rabbit hole on DIY wood stains and having no good results with rubbing coffee on my galley cupboards (who would have guessed…)

I the bright idea to sub in my old oil pastels for those colour correction sticks you can buy for furniture restoration. It took a few tries and isn’t perfect by far but I am happy with the results, and since the chances that anyone other than Steve and I are going to in the galley are low, I’ll call that a win.

To finish the look I scrubbed the cupboard doors, mixed up a batch of DIY wood wax – 1 part beeswax to 2 parts cosmetic grade coconut oil, melted over a double boiler and then poured into a jar to cool – and gave the doors a polish. The end results are very satisfying, the door looks so much better and the clean and wax means they slide easier now too. I’ll have to put that on the every few months general maintenance list…

I have been long meaning to refresh the varnish around the galley hatch

Then I noticed that the trim in the bathroom was looking a sad beside the fancy new paint job. And while the brush was wet I decided to it would make sense to fix a few dings in the corners of the walls and to address the trim in the cockpit above the companionway as well.

The vanish in the cockpit was too damaged to save, so I broke out my palm sander and took everything back to bare wood. It looked great except for the gapping screw holes.

A few years ago, while we were chasing a leak in the galley we removed the teak trim in the cockpit. Of course it wasn’t the culprit of the leak, but the teak plugs that we had removed never got replaced.

This kind of detail catches my eye, so I finally decided to do something about it.

Using a special drill bit and a piece of teak trim that we’ve had tucked away since San Diego, I made some new teak plugs and proceeded to spend the next few hours fitting, trimming, and sanding them into place.

With only slightly bruised fingers – awfully hard to hold a wee little plug and bash it into place without damaging your digits – I then brushed on the first coat of varnish.

I am not the kind of person that wants to be doing varnish work every season. Nor do I think it should be absolutely perfect, or that it will stay looking amazing because we touch the wood work daily, and drop things, and just generally live in the space. But I do find it a very soothing and pleasing task and I love watching the wood transform after the first couple coats dry.

Five coats later and the bright work is now bright again.

These kinds of little jobs might not be necessary but they make the boat look and feel a little more polished and cared for. Rather than just getting cleaned up and ready to slog again tomorrow, I get to sit back with a well earned beer and admire the results of my work. Little jobs are a great way to lift my mood and boost my confidence when I am flying solo. And everyone needs that once in a while.

Love,
H…&S