New carpet went into the master stateroom aboard Empire, our 1998 74-foot Hatteras, the very day we filmed this reveal. Trish and I are calling the room about 90% done. I’m tempted to round up until I look at the headboard.
The earlier videos show a much rougher starting point. In our master stateroom restoration episode, you can see how close it’s getting, along with the unfinished business that keeps us from declaring victory.
New carpet, with four surprises underneath
The 30-year-old carpet and padding are gone. Underneath, we discovered four access hatches, which gave the installers some important edges to work around.
They fitted the new carpet tightly around all four. On a boat, those details deserve attention: a hatch is there so you can get back into the spaces below the floor. Nobody wants the next maintenance job to begin with fighting the flooring.
Trish also sealed the tack-strip holes in the fiberglass with Marine-Tex. That’s work the finished carpet hides, but it belongs in the story just as much as the new floor. Once everything is covered, it’s easy to forget the small repairs underneath.
By the time we filmed, the installers had finished the master and were finishing up forward. This reveal caught the room right as that part of the job came together.
Better lighting in the master head
The lighting took a couple of changes to get here. We went from halogens to “candy corn” LEDs, which tend to short out on a Hatteras, then to Hatteras-compatible disc LEDs from Apollo Lighting. Those are now installed on both sides of the head.
And the shower light works for the first time in two and a half years. A working shower light sounds like a small thing until you’ve spent that long without it.
One bulb swap in that head also turned into a four-hour hunt for the fuse box.
The spa tub is still waiting. Its pump doesn’t work, and Trish and I aren’t bath people, so we’ll probably never use it. Still, my view is pretty simple: things that are supposed to work ought to work.
We found a guy who still builds these pumps 30 years later. That gives us a way forward, though the pump remains on the unfinished list. I’d like to be able to call the tub functional, even if neither of us is lining up for a soak.
The headboard is getting a rethink
I don’t like the headboard’s design. It looks dated to me, and I’d rather put that space to work.
Trish and I both read at night, so we’re considering a headboard with shelves for books and somewhere to charge devices overnight. That would give the replacement a useful job beyond changing the look of the room.
Under the mattress are four compartments, separate from the four hatches in the floor. Two house the AC units. In one of the compartments, we also found an electrical outlet with a plug in it.
We don’t yet know where that connection goes or how it turns on. It may offer a way to power the charging shelf. Before we use it, though, we’ll have to trace the connection and confirm the outlet is suitable for the job.
For now, the shelf is an idea we’re considering, with a little electrical detective work attached.
The windows are an important part of what’s left
The windows are thin, roughly 30-year-old plastic. They could break in rough conditions and let a lot of water into the room, so replacing them is a significant part of the remaining work.
The plan is to replace them with modern plexiglass with a ceramic tint. We like the natural light in here and want to keep it while replacing the aging material. Making the stateroom feel closed in would give up something we enjoy about the space.
Those windows are still ahead of us. Fresh carpet makes the room look much closer to finished, but this job deserves attention regardless of how good the interior looks on camera.
So, would you live here? What would you change before calling the room finished?
Take a look around in Would You Live Here? Our 30-Year-Old Hatteras Stateroom on our YouTube channel. Sign up for the newsletter below to follow the remaining work aboard Empire and see what becomes of that last 10%.
