this is a test

Sans Souci now lives in Squalicum Harbor in NW Washington State, U.S.A. Here she is returning from an early evening cruise on Bellingham Bay. 

During the refit, the interior was completely torn out and replaced. The hull interior was sprayed with urethane foam, then painted over to seal it, for insulation.  This view aft shows the new saloon arrangement. There is a dinette table behind the compartment that lowers to create an extra berth. All the lighting is 12 v. halogen, with 110 v. power available for appliances. 

In the Travelift being repositioned prior to installing the ports, finish priming and painting. 

A new 60 gallon fuel tank was fabricated in place in the lazarette. Here it is being pressure tested prior to completing the installation and welding on the deck panels. The new stainless rudder post is just aft of the tank. The hydraulic rams have yet to be attached to the rudder post. 

Some areas were so badly rusted that new sections had to be welded in. The original rivets are also visible here, to left of the new plates. 

Here is a view from aft showing more plate detail.

The 3/16 inch steel plates were cut into 16 inch strips, then welded into place over the original hull plating. This view shows the welds after being ground out. A horizontal strip has been welded along the top of the new hull plates and finishes slightly above the waterline.

After nearly 50 years of service in Europe, the British Isles, California, Alaska, and Washington State, Sans Souci was badly in need of work. The hull plating was dangerously thin, the decks were rotted out, and the interior was getting pretty shabby. She was hauled in '95 and spent three years on the hard getting a major refit, inside and out.

This photo shows the bow section with the ports removed and some of the original rivets being ground down and welded up. The new plating below the waterline is in place and the seams ground.

Sans Souci is a steel-hulled canal boat, built in Belgium just after WWII and launched in 1947. She measures 54' overall length by an extremely narrow 9' 8" beam midships at the wheelhouse. She weighs in at 28 tons as measured by the Travelift scales. The tabernacle-mounted mast pivots down onto the foredeck for low bridge clearance, not an issue on Puget Sound, but certainly was on the canals where she originated.

The hull is constructed of riveted steel plate, with a poured concrete ballast, common in those days. After nearly 50 years of service, it was time for a major refit.

 Here is a photo of Sans Souci, as she looked in her slip a year or two after the refit.