When is it time for a boat renovation? Well, here’s what we decided. When Barefoot Gal was 19 years old her interior badly needed an update. She just looked tired. Well, maybe a bit beyond tired.
Boat Renovation Needs
The upholstery and foam were simply disintegrating. The teak had layers and layers of teak oil, which had turned black with mold — except where the previous owners had pictures on the wall; those places were much lighter. What should have been a gorgeous teak counter was stained with engine oil. The varnish on the floorboards was peeling and wearing off. Two floorboards had been damaged by water and had rotten places. The clock was severely tarnished and the barometer no longer worked. Even the throw pillows were falling apart.
Previous owners had done little to take care of the boat’s interior. I’m embarrassed to show how bad it was.
Priorities
We knew about all these problems when we bought Barefoot Gal four years ago — it was part of the reason that she was within our budget. It had always been part of our plan to renovate the interior, but the priority was to take care of the mechanical systems first. We ended up with a surprise partial engine rebuild that shot the budget our first winter, and the next winter we geared up to go to the Bahamas. Then Dave had some medical issues arise that we had to deal with. Last winter the Keys were recovering from Hurricane Irma. Finally, this summer was time to start tackling the inside . . . and it hadn’t gotten any better since we’d bought the boat.
Lots of plans to be made: what exactly did we want? What was the budget? How much of the work would we do ourselves?
Easy care was a major priority. Longevity another, as labor — both our own and hired — would be a major part of the cost. We wanted the interior to be light. And we wanted it to be comfortable and fit our lives. Oh, and dog-friendly.
In upcoming posts, I’ll detail the decisions we made, why we chose the products we did, how we went about the whole project, DIY tips for the portions we did, and then show how she looked when we completed the work.
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