J & R Boat Storage · Placida, Florida

It started with
a mushroom.

We expected a few months of updating. Then Kimber opened a cabinet.

A leaking chainplate had let water in, and Kimber found a mushroom growing inside a cabinet. That discovery changed everything.

“We were going to rip the entire interior out and build it back from scratch—without the mushroom.”

Cabinetry, wall coverings, ceilings, floors: everything came out. We kept most of the original layout, but rebuilt the interior ourselves. All of it.

Main cabin during Kopelia’s interior refit — The interior rebuild, from our refit photo collection.

01 · Below the waterline · Greg’s first major project

Back to bare
fiberglass.

I knew Kopelia needed bottom paint before we bought her. During the survey haulout, I photographed the uneven surface: chunks of old paint were missing in places, while other areas carried twenty or more layers.

It became the first major project I tackled. With a power sander and 60-grit paper, I sanded the entire bottom back to bare fiberglass. It took a month. I went through four sanders.

Then came about a week of fairing and sanding to prepare the hull for its new coating. I applied four coats of epoxy barrier paint, alternating gray and white, with more fairing and sanding between coats.

Finally, I applied four coats of bottom paint: red, blue, red, blue. What had looked like a repainting job at the survey became weeks of work rebuilding the finish from the fiberglass outward.

Close-up of Kopelia’s bottom at the survey haulout, showing rough red and dark paint with patches missing. — Survey haulout, before purchase: the condition of Kopelia’s bottom made this an obvious early project.

Before-and-after comparison of Kopelia’s hull-bottom work — Stripping, preparation, and a fresh coating system.

A month under the hull.

The changing colors show the layers I worked through. The dust-covered suit shows what came with the job, every day for a month.

Kopelia on stands with green canvas, a ladder against her side, and patches of old paint across the bottom. — The scale of the job: working across the whole bottom, one area at a time.

Close-up of the hull bottom showing uneven blue paint, exposed red and dark layers, and small pale patches. — Blue, red, and darker layers exposed as I worked through the old bottom paint.

A broad view of Kopelia on stands with contrasting red, blue, dark, and pale areas below the waterline. — Different areas of the hull show the layers I was sanding through.

Greg wearing a full-face respirator and a hooded protective suit coated in sanding dust. — My everyday look for a month: covered in sanding dust.

Ready for the first coat.

The old paint was gone and the fairing was finished. Now I could start building up the epoxy barrier coating.

Kopelia on stands with her bottom sanded and faired, pale patches across the hull and blue tape along the waterline. — Fairing and sanding complete. After a month removing old paint and another week preparing the surface, the bottom was ready for its barrier coats.

The first gray barrier coat covers the aft portion of Kopelia’s bottom, while the adjacent faired surface remains visible. — The first gray epoxy barrier coat going on. The four-coat system alternated gray and white, with fairing and sanding between coats.

Then, above the waterline.

After applying the first red coat of bottom paint, I turned to the upper hull. I faired and sanded that surface, then repainted it white.

Kopelia on stands with red bottom paint and pale fairing patches across the upper hull, surrounded by ladders and scaffolding. — After the first coat of red bottom paint, I faired and sanded the hull above the waterline before repainting.

Kopelia’s freshly painted white hull above a red bottom, viewed from the bow with yellow scaffolding alongside. — The upper hull repainted white, with the first red bottom coat still visible below.

Purple, gold, and a fresh blue bottom.

Sunbrella Concord is the color of our canvas, not a paint color. To match it, I sent a scrap of the fabric to George Kirby Jr. Paint Co. Inc. They custom-matched the purple paint perfectly, bringing the canvas and painted trim together.

After repainting the upper hull, I applied three more layers of bottom paint: blue, red, then blue. That completed the four coats. Then I added the purple trim and gold cove stripe.

Kopelia on stands with a smooth white upper hull and blue bottom paint, before the purple trim and gold stripe were added. — Three more coats—blue, red, then blue—completed the four-coat bottom-paint system.

Kopelia’s white hull finished with purple trim along the upper edge and waterline, a thin gold cove stripe, and blue bottom paint. — With the bottom paint complete, I added the purple trim and gold cove stripe.

The butterfly on her bow.

Kimber loves butterflies, and purple is her favorite color. I had drawn our butterfly when we first bought Kopelia. To transfer the design to the hull, I sent my artwork out to have a Mylar template made. I taped the template in position, traced the outline with a pencil, then removed the template and painted the butterfly purple.

A purple butterfly painted on Kopelia’s white bow, between the gold cove stripe and purple waterline trim. — My original butterfly artwork, traced onto the hull using a Mylar template and then painted purple by hand.

02 · Rebuilding our home

Same boat.
A fresh start inside.

We retained most of Kopelia’s layout, moving a few things along the way. Starting over gave us the chance to rebuild the spaces we would live in, from the main cabin to our aft cabin.

The work was ours from beginning to end. Four years of remodeling and updating turned the boat we bought into a home we knew inside and out.

See the main cabin rebuild →

See the aft cabin rebuild →

Aft cabin in Kopelia’s refit photo collection — Our aft cabin, one of the spaces rebuilt by hand.

03 · The galley

Kimber wanted
a “real” refrigerator.

The biggest layout change was in the galley. The original arrangement had top-loading refrigerator and freezer compartments, with a cold plate in the freezer and spillover cooling into the refrigerator.

Greg cut out the refrigerator box and installed an upright fridge/freezer combination. He rebuilt the separate freezer box and fitted it with a new compressor and cold plate.

Kimber got her refrigerator. Greg got two separate refrigeration systems and the backup he wanted.

See the galley rebuild →

Upright refrigerator, stove, wooden counters and sink during the galley rebuild — The galley refit.

Work underway in Kopelia’s galley — Rebuilding the galley around life aboard.

04 · Behind the walls

Every wire.
Every hose.

The systems mattered as much as the spaces we could see.

Wiring

Greg pulled out every old wire and replaced it. Every system and component aboard was installed by him.

Plumbing

Every old hose came out and was replaced as part of the rebuild.

Through-hulls

The old fittings were removed and replaced with new bronze through-hulls and seacocks.

That firsthand knowledge became a driving reason for developing the CVMS.

05 · Learning on the water

Launch. Learn. Improve.

February 2025

Back afloat

We launched Kopelia after her refit and began shakedown trips between our marina in Gasparilla and our home in Venice, Florida.

June 2026

Back to J & R

We returned to the yard for improvements before full-time cruising. The main additions were dinghy davits with solar panels and a hard dodger with additional solar panels.

October 2026 · planned

Home, full-time

Next comes moving aboard and settling into life afloat along Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Back to barefiberglass.