The Stone Age built in 1974 in Nanaimo, B.C. a 60 ft. ferro cement sailing vessel. We purchased her in October 2004. At the time of acquisition she was rigged with mast and sails, with some deck hardware in place, and two Mercedes engines installed and in working condition. The interior had a plywood sole throughout and two cabins had a bunk set up, and some of the hull was insulated, other than that it was a bare hull. Since that time we have installed and electrical system, water system with hot water and a shower. We built the galley almost immediately, and made a temporary saloon. The hull is now almost completely insulated, there are places that need to be redone behind liners that we will be getting to in the near future. We are in the process of building a holding tank for the aft head which is halfway completed. There is still a lot to do, follow along with the progress and watch her get finished and ready for her world cruise.
The one thing we have come to realize over the past few years is that when opportunity shows itself, you must dive on it. The kids were away for a week over New Years. This left the whole bow of the boat available for a complete tear out and get some major work done. Kingsley has already got his floor finished and his port hull re insulated and lined with pine. So this week was put aside for Charlotte who has been very patiently waiting for improvements to her cabin. The day the kids left we took everything out of Charlotte's cabin and buried Kingsley's cabin.
The bunk is aft with a partition forward and a clothing hanger on the aft bulkhead.
Everything removed and the bunk and supports reshaped and reattached forward.
Varnish the back of the pine for mildew protection and then glue and brad them up.
Shape the edges and around the port to fit. All glued up and brad nailed in place.
Cutting out all the pieces for the closet and drawers.
Put in place and some on site shaping the conform to both the hull and bulkhead.
Closet and shelves with drawers below framed in.
Red cedar cut, shaped, glued and brad nailed to the forward bulkhead.
Relaxing after a long days work. The top coat varnishing begins.
A lot of things have to be done on a boat before you start to really get to see major improvements. There is the plumbing making the water tank, then running the lines, and electrical, figuring out where you want stuff before you even start, not to mention the fact that we live in the construction site. A lot of planning so when you get to do and see what you have done at the end of the day it is very exciting. We have owned and lived aboard Stone Age for 3 years now. And we nearly have our very own complete and fully functional dinette.
John standing in the future dinette.
Screwing in the listings for the hatch lids. Marking where the listing needs to go for the back rest.
Back rests in place, cushions cut and mostly upholstered.
The very usable and almost complete dinette ready for the party .
We had 11 people on board for our solstice party and 9 of us were able to sit around the temporary mini table. Not bad for boat dining.
