Soooo, I switched gears and put a second coat of semi-gloss white on the cabin overhead liner.
This time I doubled up the amount of thinner, twice the recomended amount, because I had trouble with brush marks on the first coat. It definitely came out better but I still have some slight brush marks on the saloon cabin liner. The aft overhead liner was the last part I did and I suspect the thinner might have evaporated a bit which contributed to the brush marks. The vertical surfaces and the surfaces under the side decks don't show any brush marks. My reasoning for doing the top last is that I had a chance to work out my technique under the sidedecks where no one will ever look. Now I think I can start with the part that is most visible. In the forecabin liner I used a foam roller and did not tip it out afterwards. The foam roller leaves lots of little air bubbles in the paint but they virtually all went away before the paint set up. The layer was completely even though I can see roll marks faintly. I definitely need a third coat to cover everything and I hope I can refine my technique just a little bit more.
With the second coat of paint on the overhead liner I switched to cabinet making. The forward lower panel on the V-berth has bothered me for some time. I usually just leave it up so it looks finished in the pictures but actually it has simply been resting there. To do the job properly, I had to build a little framework around the edges for the panel to attach to.
That framework is actually made out of some sticks I found in my basement that were used to hold up vegetables in the garden at least 30 years ago. My grandfather's aunt used to rent the place I am in now so there was a lot of very strange stuff down there When I was cleaning out the basement I found these sticks and they were just too nice to toss out. They look a bit like mahogony but I really don't know what they are. Good wood - I only know that much - and I finally found a good use for them.
Here it is with the panels all up.
The rectangular cutouts are for fake drawer fronts. I have held onto the original Triton teak faced drawers thinking I might use them somewhere. After four years I am convinced I will never use the drawers but I felt the drawer fronts were too nice to toss out. So, I have busted the drawers apart and I will mount the teak fronts to the beadboard panels for show. I think they make for a nice look. The forward middle panel is cut in the middle and is hinged to fold down so that I can access the top of the water tank as well as the tank outlet and the small area behind the tank. On the starboard side, I cut into the panel to expose the storage area I built last year. The two water fill hoses run through this area under the V-berth too so I needed to gain access at some point. Once the deck is painted I can finish up the water fills. As for the port side, I just cut out a rectangle for the drawer front. The holding tank is right behind the panel and there is nothing to access on that side. I just thought it would look funny not to have its own drawer face. It would have been much easier to cut out the hole before I mounted the panel. There wasn't enough room for a saw blade behind the panel and bumping into that heavy stainless steel tank isn't good for saw blades either. I ended up using my drill and a wood chisel to make the cut and it was rough. Today I had to 'fix' the paneling a bit with some epoxy. It will all get painted when I am done...
And then I glued in the two brackets that will hold the interior panels under the galley. I can't finish the insulation or interior panel until I have the cherry plywood to make the galley cabinet fronts. Hopefully this fall, but my money supply will dictate when that low(er) priority project gets done.
Rain clouds ended my day early but I also managed to sand down the decks where the non-skid will be with 220 grit sandpaper. I had a single coat of white 545 primer on the non-skid areas that didn't cover very well. I had hoped to put more down but ran out of material. I have been holding off on this sanding because I had hoped to go back and work on the cabin top some more. Every time I am on deck with a paint can I spill or splatter a bit so I didn't want to sand until I was finished with the deck and cabin priming. With my time window running short and the weather continuing to cause problems I decided to make the best of the sunny day and knock off this obnoxious project. I found that I still have bad feelings about sanding and I am not quite ready to love it again.
Finally, I found a special tool every deep keeled Triton owner needs to buy. I found this at CVS and it makes reaching down into the deepest parts of the bilge a breeze. And only $10 too! Sorry for the funky picture. The lighting was funny and I have tried to fix it by playing with Adobe photoshop with only limited success.
Any progress is good progress. There might be a weather window this weekend for the final hull primer application. Or maybe I will just send it up to the painter's 'as-is' and let him fix it all for me :-)
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