To start the week, we cleaned up ants. Monday morning, we realized that ants had colonized inside our most important appliance on board, the coffee maker. Kyle and I took it out on the back deck and removed the top cover, then water pan that goes down into the water heater. Wires were disconnected and we were able to drain all the water within and the ants came with it. We flushed the water heater element the best we could before we put it back together and ran vinegary water through the whole system to ensure it was fully cleaned out.
The rest of the week we worked on our 2 projects, the entry doorstep and replacing the AC in a stateroom. At the beginning of the week, we started cutting the wood to glue and screw together to form the framing of the step. By the end of the week, the step was finished and coasted with polyurethane before it was bracketed back to the wall. As we were getting ready to bracket it, we realized they the floor was not level and there was a very noticeable gap between the top of the step and the bottom of the diamond plate on the wall, it was not pleasing to the eyes. We needed to find a way to hide that, so we put a shim under the outboard side of the step to raise it and make it level. In the end it came out very nice and is more study and will be longer lasting than the previous step that was made only out plywood.
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The previous step after it was removed from the door frame. The glue holding each veneer together to form plywood was gone and being held together by finishing nails. The third photo is the space where the step fits and brackets to the wall. The fourth photo is the finished step and shows the cambre of the deck that we had to work with to make the step level.
The AC project by the end of the week was put on hold while we are waiting plumbing pieces to be shipped. In the process of getting ready to attach the AC mount to the wall we were referencing my AC to see how the plumbing and wiring was set up. In the process of that, we realized the pipes were poorly insulated and there was standing water at the bottom of the mount with lots of mold growing. We spent the afternoon cleaning that up and reinsulating the pipes. We finally got back to prepping the mount by adding a hole in the back for the hoses and wiring, the condensation drain, and the electrical shut off switch. The last hours of the work week, we finally attached the mount onto the wall and the AC is now ready to install upon arrival of the needed pumping pieces.
I also had a birthday on board at the end of the week and it was celebrated with cake, Krispy Kreme donuts (which I’ve never had before), and ham croquettes (not mozzarella sticks).
