Sunday, November 15, 2009

On Solid Ground

















On Monday night Tropical Ida came through, The building shelter did not survive. The frame stayed in place but the poly tarp panels were shredded and tattered. On Friday I disassembled the tent. The open area gave me my first opportunity to photograph the boat from the side. Later that evening my brother helped me move the boat underneath the carport where I will finish it. While he was here we taped off an area under the rub rail for the sheer stripe which I painted this weekend. I thought that would be the final task before flipping the hull to paint the inside, but the paint on the transom was damaged in the storm by a flapping tent panel and will be repaired this week.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Top Coat on






























This past week I finished the graphite coat, applying a coat Mon., Tues. and Wed. afternoons. Wednesday night after the last coat had time to stiffen I removed the masking and tape. I allowed it to cure Thursday and sanded the edges on Friday. I then washed and dried the hull, wiped it with denatured alcohol and began taping and masking again. That afternoon I rolled on the first coat of paint, Petit Easypoxy Pearl Gray. I applied the second and third coats yesterday and today. I began painting at noon to give dew in the tent time to evaporate. I am going to let the paint harden for a few days then mask the boat so that I paint the sheer stripe below the rub rail.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Last round of sanding
















Finally, the outer hull has been sanded for the last time. This weekend I sanded the primer that was applied last week. I spent 2 days sanding the boat by hand. This morning I washed the boat with dish soap, towel dried it and gave it wipe down with denatured alcohol. I then began taping a line that I hope will be near the waterline for the graphite epoxy mixture that I am applying to the bottom. Three more layers of tape were applied over the first layer, each one staggered by 1/4" so that each coat will extend past the previous. By doing this I hope to avoid having a high ridge of epoxy to sand down before painting. A layer of plastic was then taped to the boat to keep stray drops and runs of black epoxy off of the sides of the hull. I took a break for dinner and rolled on the first coat, finishing at sunset. In a few hours I will go out and remove the first tape layer before the epoxy completely hardens.