Headliner installed

Hello everyone,
A few more jobs ticked off the list over the last few weeks.  The most obvious is a nice new headliner in the cabin.  The old headliner was the original fitted in 1986, and had seen more than its fair share of tobacco smoke.  The new one is made from Laminex AquaPanel and was fitted by Neil the local shipwright.

New headliner (looking aft)

New headliner (looking forward)

The cabin is much lighter with this addition, and with the lights on it's dazzling.  Just as well we went for the white "glaze" rather than "gloss"!  Another difference is the "bling".  Previously the fasteners were buried behind teak plugs, which was pretty but made the deckhead unreachable.  We've used s/s screws in saddle washers which are easy to remove and add a little "bling".  ;)

Other jobs completed recently include:

• Fitted new Plastimo Contest 101 compass (20 year old unit was 1/5 full of air)
• Replaced galley sink faucets
• Stripped discoloured foam-backed nylon liner in quarterberth (will fair and paint)
• Fitted coachroof U-bolts for use as jackstay anchor points
• Fitted deadeyes on foredeck for jib furler and MPS downhaul lines
• Removed spinnaker pole mounting brackets (we've decided to ditch the pole)

Items still on the to-do list include:

• Fit locking foot blocks in cockpit
• Fit new Lifeline AGM deep-cycle batteries and associated switches/sensors
• Replace broken galley sea-water footpump
• Order new storm jib to fit on inner forestay furler

The weather in Darwin has turned wet over the last week.  We've had two good downpours and a few showers - all from thunderstorms.  They certainly cool things down.  The marina basin now seems to contain more fresh water than salt water since the local run-off passes through the basin en-route to the sea.

Hope all's well where you are!