A little more painting

Its October, and with it have come the low grey clouds, rain, and cooler temperatures to usher it in. It was a beautiful day.

I got a little more painting done on the boat tonight... working on that center section I epoxied a few days ago. Its slow going, painting it with a brush. Hopefully Ill make some more progress on it tomorrow.

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And the painting continues

After the fourth coat of Whidbey White, the dark colors of the wood arent showing through. So, the middle section is basically done... except for the sheers, which will be painted Sea Foam Green.

With this section finished, I re-installed the stainless steel grab handle onto frame #2.

It may be hard to discern the difference in the photo... but thats 4 coats of WR-LPU Whidbey White on the right, and only 2 on the left. I didnt see the point in painting 4 coats in the forward area, as it will be covered by the deck.

The next step will be to either begin assembling the seats, or finish applying the 2nd layer of epoxy to the aft section. Im not sure which Ill do.

Aft section needs a 2nd coat of epoxy before painting.

I also found some Sea Foam Green registration decals online & ordered them. I hope theyll match the bottom paint reasonably well.

These are the decals I ordered. Im looking forward to seeing how they look.

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Laminating the front seat More painting

I decided to start working on the forward thwart. Both thwarts are cut from 22/32" AC exterior-grade plywood. My plan is to laminate 1/4" Meranti plywood onto the top, so that the seats will match the deck and the transom.

My original plan was to stain the sides of the lighter-colored AC plywood. However, Ive changed my mind & now plan to paint the sides Sea Foam Green to match the accent color on the sheers.

The forward thwart is 12" long x 45" wide at the base. (The sides are bevelled, so the top is wider than the bottom). Luckily, I had a piece of Meranti large enough to use, so I dont yet have to cut into one of the remaining sheets.

I cut out the middle section of it, arranging it so that it will have an attractive grain pattern showing on the top of the seat.

Grain pattern for the forward thwart.

Then I turned it over and coated it with epoxy. I coated the mating surface of the AC plywood thwart with epoxy, and stuck them together. Since the whole thing was laying flat, with flat mating surfaces, I did not use thickened epoxy. I weighted the thwart down with concrete blocks and a paint can to get good adhesion.

I set the whole thing on waxed paper to avoid accidentally gluing it to my working surface.

With the remaining epoxy from the batch, I added a 2nd layer to encapsulate the aft section of the boat. I got the port side done before I ran out of epoxy. Once it cured, it was ready for paint.

Half of the aft section with 2 layers of epoxy.

Once the epoxy on the thwart cured, I put the whole assembly in my bench vise for further work.

First layer of Whidbey White painted in the aft section.

Cleat removed from the port quarter knee; quarter knee taped off, and more paint applied to the back.

A light frosting of paint on the underside of the thwart.

A third coat of Whidbey White on everything but the transom.

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painting the deck attach trim rudder tiller

June 2, 2015
Final coats of polyurethane are being applied to the deck.  This WR-LPU goes on best on cold, damp days, thinned a little with water, and applied with a roller and tipped with a foam brush, out of the wind, on a cold day 48F.   The clean up with water and low VOC is worth the effort.

few brush strokes, and high gloss.

June 7, 2015
I made the tiller extension, and attached the rudder hardware today. I am having thoughts about adding an uphaul to the rudder.  The downhaul cleat was added and I just need to add a few feet of small spectra braid.  The tiller extension is the part that connects the skipper with the boat, and I put a little extra effort into this part.  It is about 2.5 long mahogany stick with a small square of mahogany attached to the end.  I had one of these on my Enterprise many moons ago and it was comfortable for many miles.

Fiberglass mast track ramps were made as well, and hatches installed and bungee attached.

The garage and boat got a good cleaning today while the weather was nice.


June 9, 2015  Rub Rails
Fabricated the rub rails and drilled for location on the boat.  They need a coat of varnish and rain is in the forecast, so they are back in the garage.  I may omit the bungs I usually put in so that I have the ability to easily take the parts off and replace or re-varnish off the boat.  Well see...

may leave the bungs off.   

Port rub rail.

Starboard rail.  I gave each end a little profile. 

I decided NOT to have the rub rails meet at the bow.  I think the look is cleaner from an angle.

Nice.

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and a little more painting

The middle section of the boat now has 2 coats of Whidbey White on it.

I think its going to take a third coat, at least, to look right. The dark shades of the wood, and definitely the dark epoxy that Id thickened with mahogany sawdust, are still showing through the paint in several places.

The other news that Im happy to share today, is that I have received both a H.I.N. (Hull Identification Number) and a boat registration number from the state. Soon Ill be attaching the registration number decals to the front of the hull. Id like to find some sea foam green decals that match the bottom paint.

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