Work Day 11 - August 6, 2011

OH MY GOODNESS! Semper Fi looks AWESOME!! She is absolutely loud and proud today with her new striping and her USMC emblems! And check out the back railing and Lance's ribbon bar! Stylin' and profilin'!! We also picked up the engine cover. Lance did a fantastic job of building a new cover and Junior at Classic Upholstery did a superb job of matching the dress blue slacks for the cover design. Joel with Texas Sign Guys created the detail stripes, the USMC seals and the "Semper Fi" logos next to the doors. On hiccup was the the vessel name logo that Joel created was in the wrong font. He is fixing and we should have that installed in the next two weeks. Can you believe how different she looks? I am just amazed. Also, check out the rear engine cover with the embroidered USMC Emblem. She just looks sharp. We also installed the rear vents, two cup holders on the engine cover and the deck gas fill nozzle cap which technically isn't on the deck but on the side of the boat. Take a peek at the video.....you won't believe how great she looks! Thank you Joel for an AWESOME job!!!

Work Day 10 - July 31, 2011

Nuts, nuts and more NUTS! And bolts, too :) Today was the day that we worked for several hours drilling holes and bolting on the railings so that next weekend we con install the stipe details to Semper Fi. She was all tight and ship shape when we finished about 3:oo pm, just in time to head inside to cool down and have some dinner and frosty beverages. Can't wait for next weekend when we finally get to add some artwork to her clean palate!

July 20, 2011 Update

There have been several people who have asked for updates on the boat construction. There has not been a lot of manual labor going on right now. We had a friend of my nephew, Joel, come by and give us a quote for the vinyl for the boat. We should be starting that project in another week. The engine cover should be completed by next week and we will install that when received. We have not started the console yet but I have a feeling that will begin tonight :) After we have completed the console, we will have Veada ship the bimini top and we will install. Seats should be in around August 18th. So far, so good :) All we have to do is pick out those two fishing chairs up front for the men. We are definately at a slower pace right now but as soon as the engine cover and console are finished and installed, I imagine Lance will be taking Semper Fi out for her first test drive. WOO HOO!!!!

Work Day 9 - July 10, 2011

It's ALIVE!! HAAAhhhhHAAAHhhhAAAAhhhahha! Oh my GOODNESS! Semper Fi is looking GOOD! :) She has beautiful new blue carpet, the rails and panels are all painted and installed and all three doors open! LOL! What a day. Hotter than heck and pulling tape off all the rails (thank you Nora!!) and drilling holes and lining up all of the holes on the railings and the deck trim caps. It took all of this morning to align and drill holes, about two hours to lay the carpet, we used Contact Cement, and then we took about an hour break. Nora made an awesome chicken dish and then back out to pull off tape and paper from the rails and panels and line up with our drilled holes. We used new spacers that were much larger than the ones we pulled off the boat during demolition. I really like it higher, and nice new stainless steel screws. She looks like a boat:) Can't wait to get our engine cover back from Junior at Classic Upholstery and get our seats from Veada. Next week will be building the console. It is coming together very nicely! We have a quote coming in from Texas Sign Guys, a friend of our nephew, for the vinyl. Hopefully we will have a good quote and be able to get that all together, too! Although we have vacation this week, we worked soooooooo hard. I am tuckered out and look forward to getting back to the office! :)

Deja Vu! July 9, 2011

Well, not much to talk about for today except more of what we did on July 8th. Second and final coat on the panels. Looking good :) We received our vinyl from Veada and took the engine cover (all three pieces) to Junior at Classic Upholstery. Loaded up the railings and panels so we could take out to the pontoon tomorrow. Rested up after a week of very hard labor and scorching temps! More tomorrow!!!

Work Day 8 - July 7, 2011

It was a long, long, llllllloooonnnngggggggg day. Bright and early this morning we got up and started taping off railings for the big paint job. 2 rolls of tape later and only 3 rails done, I stepped out to go to lunch with all of the girls from the office. Lance broke for lunch and ran an errand....sneaky guy....I was hoping that I wouldn't have to come back and tape. Silly me! Back I came and picked up where we left off...tape...paper....tape....paper. I went to doc visit and Lance went to pick up more tape. No, really, more tape. So now we are 4 rolls into taping....big rolls....but we are getting close. Hey, it's only about 8:30 pm so we broke for dinner, cooled off and relaxed for about an hour. Now it was time to do quality control check on all of our work - the more time you spend on taping, the less you care about how well you covered :) We fixed a few "oversights" and got out the cans. Dupli-Color Olympic White. Ahhhhh, it just sounds bright and clean :) It took about an hour and a half (maybe more) and 9 cans to cover just one coat on all of the panels. WHEW! It was about 11pm when we finally got the garage aired out enough to close it down for the night. We have to find more cans of paint since we used all we had so that sounds like a morning project to me!! I outta here!! P.S. - There is an ugly rumor going around that tomorrow might be carpet installation day. Not sure since we didn't actually finish painting today but for sure on Saturday. Then we can install rails and I might be able to give you an idea of what this boat is really going to look like!!!

Work Day 7 - July 6, 2011

We started at daybreak today hoping to get a lot more done during the cooler hours. We had a fun filled morning of scraping, sanding and power washing the rails and panels. Yep folks....that was our day. And my arms feel it! :) Every square inch of the rails and panels have been scraped, any adhesive removed, acid washed, sanded and pressure washed!! WOO HOO!! We took a mid-day break and ran to Willis to order the binnacle shifter and ran back to West Marine to pick up the vents for the engine cover. Albert with West Marine was a great help and even let us know that the speakers we were drooling over go on sale the 14th! Thanks Albert! Afterwards, it was back to sanding and pressure washing. Everything is ready for masking and painting tomorrow. We got through right before the sky fell open with some major wind and rain for about a whole 5 minutes! Just enough to make it really good and muggy :) I'll take the rain, though. We need it! Lance will be working solo for part of the day tomorrow as I have a lunch date with the girls at the office and a doctors appointment later in the afternoon. By the way, we are looking for 2 missing gallons of marine carpet glue that was sent out about two weeks ago so, if anyone sees them..........

Quotes and Running Errands!!

A very busy day and we didn't even touch the boat until about 7:00 pm tonight! :) We started the morning getting a quote for the vinyl decals. We stopped at The Sign Group on Louetta and spent some time with Tom going over the particulars and color choices. It takes about 30 - 45 minutes to go through the measurements and samples. Next we stopped by Louetta Upholstery. DO NOT EVER GO TO LOUETTA UPHOLSTERY!!!!! My goodness but the staff was very rude and didn't even want to talk to us about upholstering the engine cover unless he had the whole boat!! We explained that we were refurbishing Semper Fi and he told us that he couldn't help us and walked off!! Just left us at the counter with our mouths hanging open and went to the back. So, save yourself some time and just pass that place right by!! Next we went to see Chris at FastSigns in Conroe for a second quote on the decals. He spent a lot of time with us and went through the different grades of vinyl and which would be our best choices. He needed a little more detailed measurements than Tom at The Sign Group so as you can see by my picture, Lance and I got creative with our decal measurements :) HO HO HO!! We are trying to track down Chad with Conroe Boat Doctor to order our new binnacle shifter but he left early today! Hey Chad! Get to work!! :) Chris at FastSigns recommended another upholstery shop - Classic Upholstery - on 105 in Conroe. We stopped in and saw Junior at Classic Upholstery and he was super friendly and really took a look at the boxes, gave us some advice and gave us a great quote! We have read some good reviews on his business so we are excited that he is going to upholster the engine cover. We stopped by some local Military Surplus stores looking for a 10" - 12" embroidered USMC emblem patch but did not have any luck so we had to order online. Junior said he would sew it on for us prior to covering the back! :) WOO HOO! We picked out our auto paint color for the railings. Olympic White! We picked up a couple of cans and have more on order. I am not even going to guess how many cans this is going to take!! We came home and worked on the decal angles and completed a test paint on the small railing. So far, so good!! We had a major 20 minute wind and rain storm so we had to close up shop and decided to use the time to clean up the garage and start getting prepared for the tape and paint job!! Quite a busy day and not much to show for it on the boat. Some days are just like that.......

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!

HAPPY JULY 4TH! I hope that you were able to enjoy fireworks where ever you are as the South Texas skies are dark this evening due to drought conditions :( Several communities tried to makeup for the fireworks ban by having laser shows but now sure how that went. All I know is that for July 4th, 2012.......The Sockwell and Cucksee clans will be on the S.S. Semper Fi in the middle of Lake Conroe waiting for the exciting annual fireworks display over the lake. BUT! For this year, we were happy to enjoy the families getting together, celebrating Caities birthday....HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!.......and eating, eating, eating ....OH! and did I mention eating?? :) We had a wonderful time but did take about 30 minutes our of family festivities to do a trial fit of the new engine cover on Semper Fi. She is soooooooo excited to be getting new "clothes". And it was tailor made and fit like a glove. Lance and I took vacation this next week and have a very busy week a head of us. Enjoy your 4th of July and your freedom!! Goodnight Chesty....where ever you are..........

Work Day 6 - July 3, 2011

What a day! We are working at Leaflet today. We did a lot of manual labor removing all of the 27 year old decals from the aluminum panels on the railings. The decals are toough to remove but we are having the best luck with the 3M Wood Grain and Stripe Remover. It leaves some adhesive resideue which we will need to remove but is better than anything we have found so far to use. Lots of elbow grease and my elbows have had it! :) Also, we worked on building the engine cover. The engine cover doubles as a seat and a drink holder. It doesn't look like much now, but it will be covered in vinyl and be the focus on the bow of Semper Fi. We stopped by to get a quote to have the engine cover upholstered at a place in Conroe. They were reasonable but we will be gatherine more quotes on Tuesday. We will be spending tomorrow, July 4th, with the family at KC's so we might be taking the cover to see how it fits! Onward and upward!!!

Work Day 5 - June 26, 2011

We decided to take it easy today. We got the front angled piece of decking on the boat. We fiberglassed each joint and around the motor housing to make sure that no water can get in between the marine board to compromise the decking. It was a very sticky job but went smoothly. Or as Lance said...sssmmmmmooootttthhhhh. Lance wasn't feeling well and I think we wore KC out :) so we called it a day early and enjoyed a nice frozen margarita from BOB (battery operated blender). Well, KC and I did. Lance was a good boy and had water. All in all we are making good time. We have a busy vacation week ahead of us building the engine cover and the console. We will be visiting Chad to pick out our new shift control and stopping by the to get quotes to cover the engine housing and on vinyl letters for the boat. We have grandkid duty this Saturday and Monday is July 4th so I imagine we won't work on the carpet until Tuesday. She is all snug and covered and is taking a bit of a nap till Mom and Dad wake her up! Hope she is a morning boat!! :)

Work Day 4 - June 25, 2011

Here we are at another scorcher day. We worked hard at the Leaflet workshop all week building a "cradle" to hold the new gas tank. Time for us to put that baby in and run the fill, vent and fuel line to the engine. Took quite a bit of engineering "know-how" but after a couple of hours and a lot of not so nice words, she was in, welded and bolted in place! :) Next project for the day was to start to lay the decking. We started from the back and worked our way forward. I'm trying to learn all of those nautical terms...forward, aft, port and starboard but...it's not working very well. LOL! We got all but the very forward piece of decking in and we were done for the day. It doesn't take long to get too hot to work or waste a day making 15 trips back to the hardware store of a supply store. We were excited to get the carpet delivered today but - no glue! They sent to carpet but not the glue. Oh well, we have time. We ordered the seats and they are 8 weeks out from delivery.

Work Day 3 - June 12, 2011

We were up and at it very early this morning. Nora fixed us a scrumptious cream cheese sopapilla breakfast dish and we were out to the boat. With Semper Fi down to her "bones" she was given a good pressure washing. Lots of dirt dobber nests, cobwebs, spiders, and all kinds of creepy crawlies. After a good bath, we pulled out our "wonder cleaner", JJV's Best. Now, I'm sure everyone has purchased something before that promises it will do all kinds of things so we really didn't have confidence that this cleaner would do all that it said. "Spray on and wash off and your aluminum pontoons will look like new!" But, if it would even do half, then we would be satisfied. Instructions were to spray and leave on 10 minutes. Well, we did just that and......the pontoons looked dang good! We sprayed and left on 20 minutes, and the pontoons shined like the sun!! We were all amazed and very happy! It did take time to do the whole boat but she was glowing when we were done!! Our next project is the gas tank. The original gas tank held 12 gallons and sat under one of the back seats. Our plan is to remove that tank and install a 25 gallon gas tank that sits under the deck between the pontoons. Measurements were taken and a supply list was made. Lance will work on this during the week. Semper Fi was gleaming when we left. Wait! I think I just saw her smile :)

Work Day 2 - June 11, 2011

Hey, have I mentioned that it's HOT! Whew! Well, still working through our controlled demolition. We are working on taking everything off the top side so we can pressure wash and clean the pontoons. K.C. found some cleaner that we are hoping does the trick. The pontoons are polished aluminum but because they are only 26 going on 27 years old, they are oxidized and just lake water scummy. Today we removed the two back seats with the gas tank and batteries that were stored in them, the rest of the deck and EEEKKKK! the console. Lots of wires and steering cables and shifter cables and stuff I don't even know what it is. To give the men (my brother K.C. and my husband Lance) credit, they did label everything prior to cutting wires. The real trick will be putting the new console in :) By the end of the day she was just engine, pontoons and crossbeams. She looked....naked! Tomorrow we try out the cleaner that K.C. found online. JJV's Best. Oh, we did buy one boatwarming present for ourselves. A battery operated Margaritaville shaved ice blender for the boat. We quit early, about 5pm, so we could shower and try out the BOB (battery operated blender). It makes the YUMMIEST Margarita's EVERRRRRR!!

Work Day 1 - June 5, 2011

No lie, it was 105 degrees today - broke the current day heat record. Hot, Hot, HOT!!! And of course we are NOT going to be smart and stay inside and enjoy a movie and air conditioning. Nope! We have to work on the boat. Notice that when I am upset, I refer to her as "the boat" instead of Semper Fi. Well, today in this heat, she was definitely THE BOAT! Lots of manual labor removing the railings, the seats, the chairs and the first 4' of the front part of the deck. You know, when I type out what was accomplished today, it just looks so much smaller than what my body feels like we did! :) Don't let anyone kid you, organized demolition is not an easy task. Decisions on what to keep, what to throw away, what to dismantle and what to keep in one piece. All the while trying to look at the area with a new eye and determine what would work best here or how could this area function better. We spent a lot of time looking over the console. The console is definitely dated and just doesn't have a good flow on the control panel. We threw ideas back and forth but nothing solid yet. She looks a bit of a tangled mess when we stopped for the day but as all we ladies know, sometimes you have to go through a little pain in the process of looking beautiful! Be sure and check out our YouTube below :)

So it Begins......

I guess you could say that the search for Semper Fi started years ago. In fact, probably the first time that I attempted to put myself, Lance and 5 kids on an 18' bass boat. Guess you figured out that never happened. But, after a couple of trips to our local Bass Pro Shop and a flip through a SunTracker catalog and big dollar signs were just staring us in the face. We just figured that it was never to be. Well, never say never. Out of the blue, my brother called and said that he met a gentleman at an anniversary party that was interested in selling his pontoon. He was asking $2,500.00. First question that came up with that kind of price tag, "does it have a motor"? LOL! Well, her deck was soft, the seats were old and worn, the console was outdated but, her pontoons were solid and her engine had been well maintained. We took her out for a spin. She handled like a champ (watch that soft spot there on deck or you'll be swimming to the dock!). She even towed in a couple of jet skiers that were stranded in the middle of the lake. We negotiated what we thought was a fair price and almost fell over when we were told that the trailer came with her! SOLD! We took her to K.C.'s property to have plenty of room for the renovation project now at hand. Welcome Home my lady....Welcome Home Semper Fi!