Tag Archives: bathroom upgrade

Final Touches on Sugar Shack

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There were just a few more final touches that we wanted to make on our boat.  We still had a lot of canvas projects and we needed to replace our bathroom accessories in our two heads (bathrooms for my landlubber friends).  The bathroom accessory update is on the second half of this blog post – scroll all the way down.

Matt and I were so excited to buy a second hand LSZ1 Sailrite machine from our friend Chris.  But then fifty million projects took priority over our sewing projects and it sat for several months unused.  We finally broke it out to learn how to use it.  We decided to start with a vinyl cockpit table cover (to better protect the teak) and it was a good first attempt.  Then the sailrite sat for several more months as we focused on more important boat repairs and upgrades.  That was the final straw. We decided to ask Kim from Masterpieces in Canvas for some help with our canvas creations.

Here is a list of “final” projects:

  • (2) Cockpit table covers (1-vinyl for Matt’s work bench & 1-Salueda for guests)
  • (2) Aft cushions to go over line the bins and around the wenches on the transom
  • Redo our exterior cushion covers in a darker, vinyl fabric
  • (2) Sets of 3 pockets (mounted on the aft of the boat for storage)
  • (2) Recycle bags
  • (1) Remote wench control bag
  • Cover for our Man Over Board Horseshoe

These projects are not urgent and are not necessarily needed.  However, all of the pieces are old, ratty, and in need of a refresh or make over.

Transom Seating

Our transom spans across the back of the boat.  This is where we store our lines and where we have our working winches.  However, inevitably, we have people over and they always sit on the hard, uncomfortable fiberglass.  And if you sit over the line holders your rear end sinks into the holes.  We have wanted to add seat cushions here since we bought the boat – 13 years ago!

When we bought Sugar Shack in Turkey, we replaced all of the interior and exterior cushions.  We saved the outside foam (from the cushions) because we thought one day we might use them for the transom seating.  I will be honest, I thought we would use them a lot sooner than 13 years!  But here we are doing them now.

Matt cut the foam around the wenches, pad eyes, and stanchions.

Then we handed them off to Kim to cover.  This is more than a “final touch” and we are so excited to finally have this project done!

Cockpit Pockets

The boat came with these nifty pockets in the cockpit which collect all sorts of junk and treasures.  Spare lines, small tools, cleaning supplies, bungee, SUP fins, etc…

The stitching is coming out, the bungee is dead and they are just looking tired overall. Matt has wanted to design them a little differently so that the bungee can be more easily replaced.  

Additional Bags

We have several recycling bags where we put glass, plastic, aluminum, and cardboard.  In addition, we put smelly things that might stink up the house.  We also have a small bag that holds the main wench remote holder.  All functional, but need replacing.

The new recycle bags are just as big and wonderful.

Line Bags

We keep our main sheets inside two bags that hang off the life line off the transom.  They came with the boat, so they are at least 13+ years old.  The bags are functional, but too big for the space and we are often fidgeting with them.  Plus the fabric is torn and they are just ready to be replaced. 

We were going to ask Kim to remake them, but we ended up finding store bought ones Ronstan Line Tail Bags (large-RF3912) for a very reasonable price.  The final price with tax and shipping was $68 per bag.

The new line bags are smaller and far more functional.

Table Cloth Covers

We currently have a gray vinyl cover over our beautiful teak table.  It is our work cover that Matt uses when he works on projects and it gets super dirty.  We decided to make a dark vinyl cover and a nice salueda cover for when guests come over.  So, one will be a working cover and one an every day cover.  Kim made this awesome velcro piece underneath to keep the cover on during high winds.

Exterior Cushion Covers

We really do love the new light gray salueda exterior cushions.  However, they show dirt so easy and they do not clean as well as we had expected.  As people sit down, the back of their legs rub against the side panel and crease (seam where the top and side panel are sewn) leaving dirty marks that just don’t come out.  This just after a few months of use.  So, we decided to recover them in a dark gray vinyl that does not look or feel like vinyl!  We are hoping this will be our final recover project.

The new cushion covers turned our really nicely.  We are hoping we have better luck with these without “sticking” too much.  This is a nice touch to the boat and really looks classy.

More Sun Shades

We love, love, love our new cockpit enclosure.  However, we noticed that our sunshades needed to be expanded to cover the corner areas.  We have a giant sunshade off the transom and one for each side.  But there is a giant triangle of space between the side and the back that needed to be covered so we had Kim make us corner sun shades.  This should be the final “shade” project for the cockpit.

Man Over Board Cover

Our man over board cover was looking incredibly bad.  So bad that I did not even take a photo of it before it was tossed.  But we have a new one and it looks bright and bold!

Rail Protectors

As you know, I painstakingly varnished 90% of the exterior wood while we were on the hard.  So, when I saw our jib sheets rubbing on the cabin top hand rails I about flipped my lid.  I immediately went about making rail protectors so the jib sheets won’t ruin my varnish!

Just when you think you are done, you find more things to update and beautify.  Man we need to get out of New Zealand as it is costing us a fortune.  Well can’t really blame NZ as we’ve needed to do these updates for some time now.  We add a few more final touches to our beautiful home.

Bathroom Accessories

We have two heads (bathrooms).  In each head we have hooks, cup holders, toilet paper holders, dish holders, and towel racks.  None of these pieces were stainless steel and they have since turned green, spotted, pitted, and turned icky in general.

Matt and I searched all over New Zealand and the U.S. for 316 stainless bath accessories.  It is a lot harder than you think!  We found 304 and stainless plated but nothing else in NZ or the US.  Until we stumbled across Drench in the U.K.  We found all of the pieces we needed in 316 Stainless Steel. Hopefully these beauties will last us a life time!

And the new bath accessories in the port bathroom:

It appears starboard bath accessories are worse off than port which could be because we leave our escape hatch open and the salt air gets to these pieces more frequently.  Perhaps, maybe they are just 23 years old and tired?

And Starboard bath accessories:

These updates make me so very happy!  

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog took place during the the months of March and April.  We remove part of our standing rigging to do repairs – check it out here.

Ceiling Panels: A New Hat

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The original ceiling panels on Sugar Shack are made of corrugated PVC.  They are well over 23 years old and were in need of replacement.  We had replaced the salon ceiling panels in 2016 and it was beyond time to replace the panels in all of the cabins.

We took some of the panels down to fix the leaks a few months ago.  It is a very long, time consuming, and uncomfortable project.  Matt has to carefully remove the old ceiling panel without it cracking, tearing, or disintegrating.  I then come in and remove all the glue and sticky residue which requires me to work upside down.  Not a comfy position to be in for days on end.  

To remove the glue I use multiple tools to scrape it off (scraper, knife, pick, brillo pad, acetone, elbow grease).  Once I get the majority of the glue off I get to work on the sticky residue which is much harder to come off.  I use sand paper, brillo pads, and glue gone.  It has to be smooth and clean in order for the VHB tape to stick.

Complete Chaos onboard

Each cabin has been exposed.

Office and Guest Cabin

Office and Guest Cabin

The main guest cabin (port bow) had some serious issues.  Once Matt removed the panels, the frame sort of collapsed.  Evidently the 5200 (glue) that was applied 23 years ago lost its stick.  So, Matt had to create new supports and reglue the frame prior to beginning work.

Guest Cabin

Guest Cabin

Normally it takes two people to put each panel up.  One holds one end while the other peels the tape and secures the panel.  However, Matt was able to do the ceiling panels all by himself.  He used everything at his disposal to get these panels up.  The green is just a protective cover and will come off once we are done.  I was in the states and unable to help him so he set up the GoPro to take time lapse photos.

Office Ceiling

Office Ceiling

And the finished Office with nice beautiful ceiling panels and new lights.

Completed Office

Completed Office

And the completed Guest Cabin.  Keep in mind that when we have guests we actually put bedding, towels and a little lovely decor out to make it more welcoming and homey.  But since this is just a “hey we finished the ceiling panels” photo I did not do all of that.

Master Bath “Head”

He also worked on the master bath which has a combination of corrugated pvc and fiberglass.  Unfortunately, we cannot remove the fiberglass panels so we will have to sand them down and paint them but that will be a project for another year.

In the photo below you can see where Matt is installing the new pvc panel and replacing the gross light fixtures that turned green from the salt air. He also removed the old shower head.

The updated bathroom or “head” is looking good.  We replaced all of the ceiling lights, the shower head and trash can. I bought a new scale, rug, and full length mirror.

Master Bath (Head)

Master Bath (Head)

There are not many times I need a full length mirror, but I’ve wanted one for years.  It keeps me honest.

New Full Length Mirror and Shower head

New Full Length Mirror and Shower head

On to the Master Bedroom Ceiling Panels

Back to the ceiling panels.  It was a really long project with us living in chaos and mess for months!  We finished the port side office and guest cabin and the starboard master bath but we still needed to work on the master cabin.  Once we had the ceiling panels off we needed to address the leaks.  Yep, we have a few leaks.  Some were from joints that needed new glue, some from worn out fittings.

The elbow fitting and hose were just old and warn. We had to replace them in all four corners of the boat. All the water from the deck flows to the four corners of the boat and into these drains.  They all were replaced with new drains and new hoses.  But of course to get to them you had to remove years old thickened epoxy

Master cabin and leak above bed

Master cabin and leak above bed

We install the new drain and hose, replace the thickened epoxy and start working on leak under the bimini.  Lucky for us we can do this outside rather than inside.  So, we put our new ceiling panels and new lights in the master cabin.

New Lights

Since we had all of the ceiling panels off we decided to upgrade our lights.  The current lights stated that they were stainless but we found out later on that they were not as they turned green and speckled.  

We found a great lighting store that sold stainless steel framed lights and white ceiling lights that fit our holes perfectly.  We ended up buying 4 small and one large stainless steel lights for the salon and galley,  But for the cabins, master bath and hallways we bought 15 white ceiling lights.  They look super sharp!

I must say that it is glorious having the ceilings completed as it was a mess along with all of the other construction projects.  

Events from this blog post occurred from November 2022-May 2023.  Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind schedule.  In our last blog post I shared our brand new stainless steel counter tops – they are spectacular, did you see them?