svcharm: 2023-10-21 Sewing dinghy chaps

Well, we went to do some laundry, and the washer gave up on us. Could not get a cycle to finish. So wet still soapy clothes in a bucket, Dean hosed them off with the nice cold dock water, and threw them on the boat, the Kris wrung them out and hung them on the lifelines to dry. - Guess we need a new washer/dryer.

Dean rinsing out the clothes. Notice the jacket, it is chilly.

The weather is chilly, so we are quite happy to be at dock, where we have power to run our little electric heater.

45° for a low - BRRRRRRRRRRR

Kris continued working on the dinghy chaps project. Patterns made - checked, fabric cut, checked, more patterns, more cutting, sewing, checking and repeat. Dingy chaps are a pain to make - hope they turn out OK.

Kris laying out material for the chaps. Funny, did not realize how much gray I had in my hair until I saw this photo.

We searched for a used washer/dryer, but no luck, so went ahead and ordered new ($$$ ouch). Now we had to get the old one out. Unfortunately, the washer/dryer was installed when the boat was built. They install them before they put the deck on the hull. The washer/dryer is 22 5/8" wide, while our doorways are only 18 1/2" wide. That means we have to take the frames off the doors, and then we have 20 1/2". That means we are still 1/8" too narrow. No worries - the washer is junk - so we can take it out in pieces, which is what we did.

All 185 lbs of it.

185 lbs of broken washer sitting on dock. The dark grey pieces are heavy weights (lead?) that keep the drum from banging around.

Frames off the doors in the starboard hull. Washer is located in the forward V-berth cabin.

Dean now had to shave some material off the door openings. Taped off the area, and he used the vibrating saw and sander to give a little more room.

Meanwhile Kris still working on dinghy chaps

These are all the protective vinyl cutouts that will go on to the chaps. Each one is two layers thick. Took a full day just to cut them out, and sew them together.

New washer/dryer arrived. Used hand cart to take it from truck down to dock, then rigged up some lines running to the boom, to lift it onto the boat.

Dean working on taking all the parts that stick out off the new washer to make it "thin" enough to get through the doorways.

And Kris still working on dingy chaps.

Checking fit up for the 167th time (OK, maybe it just feels that way)

Got all the extra bits off the washer, and got it through the first door, then down the stairs and then - no further. Guess we need to sand a bit more off the doors.

Washer sitting at base of stairs. You can see the doors on our wet locker were removed as well, so as not to scratch or bang anything up while moving the washer in.

Our boat looks like a disaster area with the washer parts sitting around and the sewing project going on.

Dean got to sanding, and we got the washer through both doorways, with only a minor scratch on the washer. Now to put all the bits back on we took off to move it.