Sunday, 2 September 2018

From our “When will I ever listen?” department: Don’t Go Looking For Trouble, Part II


Well, I can’t say we have been idle over the past two weeks, but it’s been so hot that you could fry a catfish on this miserable deck, so painting is taking a while.  Plus, a few days ago I was minding my own business, sanding away, and bang! I nearly fell down a hole into the bilge.  I exaggerate, but that was rot hole #1, and forgetting Bruce’s admonition when I first started this 4 years ago (“Don’t go looking for trouble”), I went and found 2 others before the day was up. 
I'd like to say it's not as bad as it looks, but I am afraid it is. Note the horrid hole at the stern--already gooed up at this point.

 So sanding stopped, out came the epoxy, then the lovely West Marine 2-part resin and red powder goo, then more sanding, then the gutter caulk (hey, why not), for the new space around the combing, 
all sanded--you can't even see the hole. One down, who knows how many more to go
    then because caulk is nice and squishy, why not just stuff it into the big ol rot holes on the inside of the railing/bulwarks which I thought we’d taken care of back in April in the boathouse.  But noooooo, this is at the stern where we did not look (fear, I suppose). Actually, I did look, and sort of hoped it would go away, but alas it did not, and this is why the phrase “new transom” sometimes passes Paul’s lips in a whisper as if he were invoking a demon.  However, there’s enough resin and red powder mix up there to keep even the most determined wave from breaking through. And I did not do so bad with the rail rot.



Meanwhile, the foredeck is not looking too shabby for the first coat, after the pounding we gave it this spring. Paint hides a host of character defects.

I am getting rather sick of this.  It is, after all, September.
 
I am eager to try “frostbiting,” though. Jeff should be swelled up by then.

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