Closing in

Closing in on the finish

- of the priming at least.




The wind has continued to blow which limited my painting options. Yesterday, was the only near windless day and I was able to put a coat on the decks and cabin top. The lack of wind really helped the primer lay down flat and I had a LOT less roller stiple than my first attempt at priming with wind. There is still some dark spots on the edges so the edges are not quite done. I had to remove all the gel-coat earlier and the underlying resin is quite dark. In addition, it is tricky to sand the round edges smooth enough without 'point loading' the sandpaper and cutting too deeply. I am going to carefully try to hand sand and prime just the dark spots. At the same time I will prime the last areas left unprimed- the non-skid portions of the cockpit.

The deck and cabin top only have a single application of primer and you can see through it but priming really wasn't necessary to begin with. I just wanted to protect the surface from the sunlight. I have been worrying about the raw fiberglass exposed to UV radiation when the tarp is off but now that is a non-issue.

My plan yesterday was to do the deck and hull but I had a few drips when I rolled on primer along the outer edges of the deck and I couldn't clean them up properly while they were still wet. Not wanting to create more work for myself later I decided to postpone the gray primer on the hull for another day.

That was just as well because when I went home for lunch I was asked to take a family member to the doctor's and that resulted in an afternoon of doctors, hospitals, more doctors, waiting rooms, more driving, and finally getting a restaurant meal in exchange for my efforts.

Any progress is progress.

I applied the first little bit of varnish to my boat. I got tired of looking at my sad little stemhead 'breasthook' piece of teak so I varnished it along with the teak trim around the forward hatch. It gives a taste of things to come I think.



Today, I had some plans (too much wind for priming and rain is coming this afternoon) but when I got to the boatyard I found my supplies of colloidial silica were quite low and the shop I can usually rely on has stopped opening on Saturdays. I have been trying to reduce my level of inventory since my housing situation is becoming more uncertain and I don't want to get stuck moving a bunch of supplies or having to rent additional storage to handle it. Boat work needs lots of storage space and inventory. I could do some piddly projects on the boat but I decided to clean up my act around the home instead.

It is getting there...