Now we’re cooking!

Today I hauled out the 8” disc sander, pronounced by Paul as “a piece of shit,” and when I’d figured how to stick the disc on with the adhesive and start it up, I could see what he meant.  It was hopping all over the place—perhaps it was my ineptitude but if I’d held it any tighter I would have worn Jeffie down to a nub.  Even though I’d taken most of the paint off with a heat gun, the bondo was still there, and lots of chips, and I nearly choked to death.

But I got the first sanding done, with the help of the detail sander and the little 4" hand sander, and then . . . priming!

And boy do you see all your mistakes and “holidays” when you prime.

But it looks scads better and the wood feels better—it was kind of drying out.

I sanded off the paint on the stem brass.  Ain't it cute? I'll polish it next.  Paul says I have to row out to the mooring and polish it every day.  He's such a card.

Still waiting for the Dutchman and the keel caulk (both above my pay grade).  Nora still beavering away on the deck.

Still have to get the stern paint off, and then re-bondo the topsides to make it smooth.

Will this ever end?

But wait! Time for more epoxy!

Just when Nora and I thought we were ready to get out the big guns (8" disc sanders and white paper suits) Paul comes along and starts poking holes in poor Jeffie.  Granted, they were holes that needed poking, and now I am filling them up properly (if one can properly fill a hole instead of replacing the entire plank, but wouldn't that be a treat) and in the meantime Nora continues to chip away at "her" section (the deck).

Then it's time to screw some loose planks in near the stem, and after the first sanding of the sides . . . more bondo!  Apparently one has to make the sides "fair," and in some places, the  only way to do this is to cheat.
So be it!

Today it is raining so no sanding for us.
We only have to strip the stern, and then the topsides are free of the heat gun.
Poor thing looks quite "shabby chic" now . . .

Caulked and ready to sand (for the 5th time)

Today I am on the prowl for 8" sanding discs. The hull sanding will send me straight into the pulmonary ward, I am sure.
Nora has been scraping the deck.
Paul promises doing something technical to the place where the hull meets the keel and the stem.  It involves cotton, and a tool that looks like a hoof pick.
Apparently it is an art, and though I have become an Acolyte epoxy and caulk applier, I really need the hazing ritual and the secret handshake to repair this particular seam.
Which, since it's the part that keeps the thing afloat, is probably a good thing.

It’s hell on a manicure

  Today Paul showed me how to caulk the spaces between the bulwark and the first rubrail/rail strake.  There were some honking big cracks. Which I filled. Then you have to go over the caulk with paint thinner to feather it in and make sure the caulk gets in the cracks.

 Even though I wore rubber gloves the thinner wore right through them--thank goodness I did not like my new nail polish.  Now there is just a little more epoxying to do, thanks to some holes I missed, and Paul has to make a Dutchman for the big mother all holes, and then it’s time to prime the top.

Paul has some gold paint which I am going to paint the lower rubrail with, instead of sanding it down and varnishing it—I will never get all that black paint out.  Paul is being genial but you can tell he does not think it is a great idea.  “It’s a WORK boat!” he keeps telling me.  Well, yes, but a work boat can have a little sparkle.

Nora came over today and scraped the deck a bit.  I was heat-gunning more green paint, and realized that the boat should be re-named the Bondo Brown—the hull is 1/3 epoxy, and do you know how hard it is to get paint off of epoxy without shearing off half of it?

But here it is (on the side I did not heat-gun today), caulked and bulwark/sheer strake sanded.  This had better end soon!

 

So *this* is what boat people do on Saturdays . . .

I spent about 5 hours today sanding the bulwark and the sheerstrake, then the rail caps, and then, finally, primed the rail caps because if I didn’t they’d curl right up again while I wait for Paul and his epoxy,  Which should be coming tomorrow.  Hopefully he will also have the little wood plugs and the Dutchman for the starboard side.

I am not cut out for this.

What kind of idiot spends this much time on a boat?  Plus, I’m not even 1/8^th of the way done! 

Well, to be fair, this black section was really bad.  The green paint will practically peel off, and I don’t think there will be a problem sanding—exept when I die of dust poisoning. And the bottom is no problem; I painted it in November and lived to tell about it.

The deck will be a nightmare. Especially the interior side of the bulwark.  No sander can get in there, and I'll probably fry my nose off aiming the heat gun at the right spots.

Louisa stopped by and took this fetching photo of me. I have 3 sweaters on, I'll have you know.

Here is the rail cap all primed.

You can hardly see it but it is there, and I am dizzy with pride.

I still can't decide whether I should get the rest of the paint off the bottom rub rail and varnish it like the fancy owner had it before.  Paul thinks I am out of my mind.

I’ve been told a “helper” will materialize tomorrow.  Which is a shame, since I’m going on a bike ride.  She can help herself to the heat gun.

I must remember to build a shrine to Steve, without whose heat gun I would be nowhere.

The big sanding weekend . . . and the new boat part term for the week

Well, I have heat-gunned the bulwark down to the second rub rail below the sheer strake (I finally learned, from cousin John, what that second bit of black is).  The first plank below the deck is the sheerstrake.  How about that. (and the "spell check" in MS Word wants to call it the "deerstalker.") I also learned that the vertical piece of wood at the stem and keel where all the planks come in is called the rabbet.

I am going to make my own diagram of this and post it here because apart from the site where this came from, (http://lumberjocks.com/mattd/blog/11166) the Internet has diddly when it comes to showing all these parts.

Tomorrow (with all  my invisible helpers) I am going to sand this entire area, so that Paul can come with epoxy and wood plugs and then I can sand again and then prime it, per Maynard Bray's orders in the Sand And Paint Bible.

But Sunday I'm going for a bike ride.  Jeff Brown is a co-dependent boat!


Wait!  Hold on!  Before I ended this I went for one last search--and here is the best diagram so far, which actually includes the sheer strake:

 http://www.ijinmarine.net/apps/blog/the-construction-of-life-boat

Tender

1 . Keel
2. Hog piece
3. Keelson
4. Bent frame, Timber
5. Garboard strake
6. Shell planking
7. Bilge rail
8. Seating plank
9. Filling piece
10. Topside planking
11 . Sheer strake
12. Capping gunwale
13. Gunwale
14. Rising
15 . Side benches
16. Thwart
17. Lower cross scat
18. Stanchion
19. Gang board
20. Buoyancy air tank
21 . Tank cleading
22. Bilge stringer
23. Life line
24. Life line handle
25. Lifting hook
26. Ring bolt
27 . Stern post
28 . Check piece
29 . Tiller
30 . Stem
31 . Thwart knee
32 . Mast clatch
33 . Rubber piece