Bulwarks need love too

these photos are pre-sanding . . . I'm not that sloppy

a massive bit of rot here . . . but a few gobs of trowel cement and hey presto! No one will ever know the difference

 I always think I’m going to really tackle the inside of the bulwarks and the scuppers and sand the bejeezus out of them so they're all nice and smooth and lovely . . . but then I run out of time—plus, it’s been raining nonstop here so I’m sanding and filling and painting between storms.  Not the best way to work, but poor Jeffie needs to get in the water.  I decided to concentrate o the outboard side this year—boy were there enormous cracks.  Thank god once again for Interlux trowel cement and a detail sander.

I haven’t taken photos of the results yet but I will tomorrow.  Painted all the black, and the “gold” second rub-rail.  Tomorrow: red sheer strake, and the hull.  

That bronze top rub-rail will never stay shiny so I just sanded it until all the really nasty blue bits  (and paint from years ago) came off.   Looks kinds rustic.

I can see now that the inboard parts will be another rush job, as will be the deck.  Sigh.  Where does the summer go?

The 3rd year’s the charm . . . so they say

 Jeff Brown arrived in my yard a little late this year, what with the rain that wouldn’t stop and then 14 minutes of spring that kept Bruce hopping until Jeff and I couldn’t stand it anymore, and convinced him to step away from the travel lift and drag Jeff down to my house for his 3^rd year of refurbishment.

Paul says it takes 3 years of paint on the hull before the planks don't show through and the topsides look all smooth. I am willing to believe that.

There’s a couple of spots of rot on the hull but apart from that, it’s back to business as usual.

See that little dark spot about 8" to the right of the bowsprit chainplate (or whatever it's called)?  That is the hole. Not awful, but still unnerving. Bring on the epoxy!

Sanded and painted the bottom last week—before more rain set in.

 

 Louisa from the Historical Society has a knack of making me look about as dorky as I can get--someday I'm gonna make her photograph me with my hair down and in an evening gown--but still with a paintbrush in my hand.

 Jeff has a new pal—Dave the pilot, who helped us step the mast last year. He took the blocks home over the winter and refinished them—snazzy!  He’s also doing the boom and the jib club so all the spars will be done this year.

 

I still would like to take the deck down to wood but who knows when I’ll get around to it.

Barnacles the size of buffalo teeth.  Jeff no longer has a worm shoe so this is what shows up to party during the summer.

The rudder looks like crap, and I took all kinds of gook out of it, but Paul says he has heard of a new remedy, recommended by "the boys at the boat yard,” wherever that is, it’s not like we have a limited supply of 'em around here.  The miracle unguent is, apparently, (wait for it) Crisco cooking fat. You can fill the cracks with it and it makes a nice water-tight seal between one piece of wooden crud and the other, and it expands and contracts with the wood.  Plus, it’s organic so doesn’t hurt the fishies.  I have my doubts, but who can argue with the boys at the boat yard? Praise be unto them if this works.