Last night Ace and I went down to the yard and I was able to roll on a coat of primer to the hull above the water line. Working solo it only took 3 hours, not bad. Even though the primer is white, the hull is looking smooth. So far I think all those hours with the long board paid off.
Ace isn’t much help down at the yard. He’s learning the word yuk, he found all sorts of stuff to put in his mouth, used sanding discs are a favorite!
Tonight we’ll head down and use the random orbital with 220 grit on the primer and then wash the hull in preparation for painting tomorrow.
The weather this weekend is looking great. It’ll be nice to put this task behind me.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
This has little to do with boats.
We need a name for the dog and want to use something nautical.
Much to my surprise, there is a good list of names online,
http://www.better-living-ideas.com/nautical-pet-names.html
We like Ketch, Pilot, Clipper, Bear, Echo and Ace. We came up with Ace in the car, it had more to do with his one descended testicle but don’t tell anyone, he might get upset.
Any thoughts?
Much to my surprise, there is a good list of names online,
http://www.better-living-ideas.com/nautical-pet-names.html
We like Ketch, Pilot, Clipper, Bear, Echo and Ace. We came up with Ace in the car, it had more to do with his one descended testicle but don’t tell anyone, he might get upset.
Any thoughts?
Paint prep
This weekend was pretty crumby weather wise and so we bagged our camping trip and adopted a dog instead. This little guy comes home tomorrow. I hope he doesn’t get seasick. 
There was a small break in the rain yesterday so I got down to the boat and faired in the filler at the bow. So, now I’m done!
I’m gathering materials tomorrow, I’m going to go with a primer coat. The Pettit Easypoxy http://www.pettitpaint.com/ can be applied without a primer, but I still have some fine scratches from the long board. I could just sand again with a finer grit, but I don’t want to. Also I think I’m getting too worried about these little marks. I spent some time inspecting other boats in the yard and even the ones that look great from 5 feet still have blemishes once you get real close. Either way, a coat of primer, and then some love with the 220 grit either on the orbital or long board and I’ll be ready to roll and tip the paint, This Weekend!!!
I’ll be sure to take pictures along the way. It’s really optimistic to be done by Sunday night but I’m trying. Alai is heading out of town Thursday morning, so the dog and I are going to pull a couple of long nights and try to prime the boat Thursday and block it Friday.
There was a small break in the rain yesterday so I got down to the boat and faired in the filler at the bow. So, now I’m done!
I’m gathering materials tomorrow, I’m going to go with a primer coat. The Pettit Easypoxy http://www.pettitpaint.com/ can be applied without a primer, but I still have some fine scratches from the long board. I could just sand again with a finer grit, but I don’t want to. Also I think I’m getting too worried about these little marks. I spent some time inspecting other boats in the yard and even the ones that look great from 5 feet still have blemishes once you get real close. Either way, a coat of primer, and then some love with the 220 grit either on the orbital or long board and I’ll be ready to roll and tip the paint, This Weekend!!!
I’ll be sure to take pictures along the way. It’s really optimistic to be done by Sunday night but I’m trying. Alai is heading out of town Thursday morning, so the dog and I are going to pull a couple of long nights and try to prime the boat Thursday and block it Friday.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
I thought I was done
Last night I got down to the boat to fair in the last couple nicks in the hull. I thought I was done and was getting ready to celebrate when I remembered I still needed to address the point of the bow.
There was a superficial crack in the gel coat that ran vertical along the bow that needed some attention. I used the dremel to widen the crack, used the unthickend West epoxy to wet out the gouge, then mixed in some 407 filler and spread that into the gouge.
So, as of last night I'm almost done.
I should be able to fair in last nights epoxy tonight and then I can celebrate! It's been a long sore couple of weeks.
Over the weekend I was able to make some good progress on the sanding, as well as get a coat of paint on the cabin house and decks. I'm hoping to get another couple of coats on the cabin house this week so I can install the windows to keep rain out. Every few days I have to run down to the boat and put the tarps on. It'll be nice not stressing over tarping for weather and messing up fresh paint.
Almost there!
There was a superficial crack in the gel coat that ran vertical along the bow that needed some attention. I used the dremel to widen the crack, used the unthickend West epoxy to wet out the gouge, then mixed in some 407 filler and spread that into the gouge.
So, as of last night I'm almost done.
I should be able to fair in last nights epoxy tonight and then I can celebrate! It's been a long sore couple of weeks.
Over the weekend I was able to make some good progress on the sanding, as well as get a coat of paint on the cabin house and decks. I'm hoping to get another couple of coats on the cabin house this week so I can install the windows to keep rain out. Every few days I have to run down to the boat and put the tarps on. It'll be nice not stressing over tarping for weather and messing up fresh paint.
Almost there!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Slow Week
Starting off slow this week.
Almost done on the hull sanding. Should be done on Sunday. Yeah!
Then I'll start the painting. Might need a helper when it comes to rolling and tipping the hull.
Any takers?
Almost done on the hull sanding. Should be done on Sunday. Yeah!
Then I'll start the painting. Might need a helper when it comes to rolling and tipping the hull.
Any takers?
Thursday, August 20, 2009
It’s all in the hips
It's been a while since I posted any updates.
The short story is we spent some time working on the house before we jetted off to Michigan for 10 days.
Once we got home I got to work on the exterior. Over the last two weekends and many weeknights I've been sanding and filling the decks and cabin top.
All in all they were in fair shape. I've decided to fill as many holes a possible. All of the hand rails are now filled and faired as are the toe rails. I figure it's going to be a while until I can make or buy toe rails, and who knows if the hand rails will be the same bolt patterns as the old ones. So filled and faired. The overall idea is to get the boat in the water and watertight ASAP. There are some changes brewing and it sounds like the county is going to build a new bridge right where the boat is sitting. Last word was eviction noticed will come out in November. I hope to be sailing before then.
I took the 1st half of this week off work to work on the boat. 5 days of work yielded some finish sanding on the cabin top, a little bit of painting up there and a crap ton of long board sanding on the hull. For real, every muscle in my body is sore. For the last three days, a good 6 out of 11 hours have been working the long board in a figure 8 over and over hundreds of thousands of 8's. But, it's paying off. The starboard side and transom are f-ing smooth. I applied some paint on a small area to check the fairness. If there were any ripples, they'd show since I'm painting it black. The test showed that all the labor has paid off. When I left today I'm a bit over half way done on the port side. Which means I’m 3/4 done with the sanding? I'll be glad when it's done. I've got a picture of what I don't want. Someone went to town with a sander on this thing. You can see ripples from 50 yards away. On the flip side, one light coat of black on Winterhawk and you can see your reflection.
All in this entire project is taking longer, but that's fine. The results will be worth it. There was only one tricky part. That was fixing an old repair. Winterhawk took a bad hit at one time. I was working the fore deck of a 26 footer when we t-boned a 44 footer in 30+ knots of wind. That was exciting. We gouged the other boat, full thickens gouge, right into the interior. Winterhawk had a hull to deck hit that went inboard 9 inches or so, destroyed everything. There was a crush above the port light too. I figure the bulk of the other boat crashed into the hull/deck and the point of the bow came up onto and crushed the cabin. I saved this repair until the end of the topsides prep. By then I was feeling pretty good calculating how much epoxy and filler various tasks need. Then I got to it. The old repair was half assed and weak. No core, they just packed and bunch of filler in and faired it. It was weak. The whole area was cracked and crumbling. I ground out all this crap and did a proper repair. You can download, for free! some good info on everything epoxy related from the West Systems site. I templated for new core, and then made up a bunch of cloth pieces and fixed this up right. Even the cabin top repair needed some cloth.
So, more of the same for the next few days. Buy this weekend I should have all the sanding done. I've still got nicks and cracks to fill on port, then its another 8 hours on the long board to fair the repairs. Then, it's time to paint.
I'll try to add specifics on what and how soon. But for now, here are some pictures.
001 before any sanding, duct tape still there from the boat being sealed up. Note! Use a heat gun to get the tape residue off. This leave only a little bit to wipe off with the de-waxer.
003 topside holes. lots of them.
005 lots of duct tape.
006 ground out the crappy repair
009 note the damage on the cabin top. Must have been exciting!
010 new core
012 a bit of weight while it core cures overnight
019 starting the cloth
022 more cloth
027 I couldn't wait I rolled some paint to see how it looked. Turns out I could see a bunch of scratches. Oops, more sanding. So much of what I read said to use 80 grit. I think 120 is fine, and this route didn't leave more sanding with 120 anyways.
032 no more Winterhawk
033 testing to see if the hull is fair
035 filled scratches and nicks
039, the prior owner went to town on the bottom with a grinder. Ouch. This extended up to the waterline and a little bit above. This took a lot of time to sand out.
040 this is what I don't want. When you sand, angles are better than up and down.
042 1st coat on the topsides and cabin top.
043, a bit of paint on the fore deck
046 more paint, and the old bridge soon to be replaced by a new bridge, right where Winterhawk is sitting.
053 hours of sanding on the plank
061 where I left off today. A fair port side. Well half of it.....
The short story is we spent some time working on the house before we jetted off to Michigan for 10 days.
Once we got home I got to work on the exterior. Over the last two weekends and many weeknights I've been sanding and filling the decks and cabin top.
All in all they were in fair shape. I've decided to fill as many holes a possible. All of the hand rails are now filled and faired as are the toe rails. I figure it's going to be a while until I can make or buy toe rails, and who knows if the hand rails will be the same bolt patterns as the old ones. So filled and faired. The overall idea is to get the boat in the water and watertight ASAP. There are some changes brewing and it sounds like the county is going to build a new bridge right where the boat is sitting. Last word was eviction noticed will come out in November. I hope to be sailing before then.
I took the 1st half of this week off work to work on the boat. 5 days of work yielded some finish sanding on the cabin top, a little bit of painting up there and a crap ton of long board sanding on the hull. For real, every muscle in my body is sore. For the last three days, a good 6 out of 11 hours have been working the long board in a figure 8 over and over hundreds of thousands of 8's. But, it's paying off. The starboard side and transom are f-ing smooth. I applied some paint on a small area to check the fairness. If there were any ripples, they'd show since I'm painting it black. The test showed that all the labor has paid off. When I left today I'm a bit over half way done on the port side. Which means I’m 3/4 done with the sanding? I'll be glad when it's done. I've got a picture of what I don't want. Someone went to town with a sander on this thing. You can see ripples from 50 yards away. On the flip side, one light coat of black on Winterhawk and you can see your reflection.
All in this entire project is taking longer, but that's fine. The results will be worth it. There was only one tricky part. That was fixing an old repair. Winterhawk took a bad hit at one time. I was working the fore deck of a 26 footer when we t-boned a 44 footer in 30+ knots of wind. That was exciting. We gouged the other boat, full thickens gouge, right into the interior. Winterhawk had a hull to deck hit that went inboard 9 inches or so, destroyed everything. There was a crush above the port light too. I figure the bulk of the other boat crashed into the hull/deck and the point of the bow came up onto and crushed the cabin. I saved this repair until the end of the topsides prep. By then I was feeling pretty good calculating how much epoxy and filler various tasks need. Then I got to it. The old repair was half assed and weak. No core, they just packed and bunch of filler in and faired it. It was weak. The whole area was cracked and crumbling. I ground out all this crap and did a proper repair. You can download, for free! some good info on everything epoxy related from the West Systems site. I templated for new core, and then made up a bunch of cloth pieces and fixed this up right. Even the cabin top repair needed some cloth.
So, more of the same for the next few days. Buy this weekend I should have all the sanding done. I've still got nicks and cracks to fill on port, then its another 8 hours on the long board to fair the repairs. Then, it's time to paint.
I'll try to add specifics on what and how soon. But for now, here are some pictures.
001 before any sanding, duct tape still there from the boat being sealed up. Note! Use a heat gun to get the tape residue off. This leave only a little bit to wipe off with the de-waxer.
003 topside holes. lots of them.
005 lots of duct tape.
006 ground out the crappy repair
009 note the damage on the cabin top. Must have been exciting!
010 new core
012 a bit of weight while it core cures overnight
019 starting the cloth
022 more cloth
027 I couldn't wait I rolled some paint to see how it looked. Turns out I could see a bunch of scratches. Oops, more sanding. So much of what I read said to use 80 grit. I think 120 is fine, and this route didn't leave more sanding with 120 anyways.
032 no more Winterhawk
033 testing to see if the hull is fair
035 filled scratches and nicks
039, the prior owner went to town on the bottom with a grinder. Ouch. This extended up to the waterline and a little bit above. This took a lot of time to sand out.
040 this is what I don't want. When you sand, angles are better than up and down.
042 1st coat on the topsides and cabin top.
043, a bit of paint on the fore deck
046 more paint, and the old bridge soon to be replaced by a new bridge, right where Winterhawk is sitting.
053 hours of sanding on the plank
061 where I left off today. A fair port side. Well half of it.....
Monday, June 15, 2009
Time out
I've been spending lots of time working on Alia's house. The floor has been refinished, new gutters are almost done. I've also been putting in some hours on the Westerly. She's nearly "done". Just need to finish up the companion way doors. But, she's officaially for sale.
Call now for the Friends and Family discount!
http://westerlypageant.blogspot.com/
Check it out, spread the word.
Now things are sorta less crazy with the house I'll plan on getting back to Winterhawk. I'm planning to finish up the settee and galley and then start the bottom paint. If she is not in the water soon, she won't be this year. I'm not going to be one of those folks who spends years in the yard. Boats are for sailing!
Call now for the Friends and Family discount!
http://westerlypageant.blogspot.com/
Check it out, spread the word.
Now things are sorta less crazy with the house I'll plan on getting back to Winterhawk. I'm planning to finish up the settee and galley and then start the bottom paint. If she is not in the water soon, she won't be this year. I'm not going to be one of those folks who spends years in the yard. Boats are for sailing!
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