May 30, 2013

Major milestone this week:  the aft cabin is DONE!  Had a nice dock party to celebrate and show off my work to friends and neighbors.  I got a lot of compliments and a good time was had by all.  Spent my first night sleeping in the aft cabin too.  As a result, I found a few minor lighting issues that I corrected this week.  Still need to move clothes and gear to really settle in.

After cleaning up from the festivities, it was back to sanding and varnishing in the doghouse. I sanded all the new Epifanes Woodfinish after the third coat had dried thoroughly and laid on three more.  I also ground off all the old finish from the chart table lid and the little locker lid and laid on the first three of coats of Woodfinish.  I'll use the remainder of the Woodfinish on the lids and accessories, and then sand everything again and lay on a couple of coats of Epifanes Clear.   A lot of work, but it looks a LOT better!

May 23, 2013

Most of the work this week was in sanding and varnishing the teak in the cockpit/doghouse.  Managed to get on three coats of Epifanes Woodfinish on top of the penetrating epoxy.  It's looking a lot better, but many more coats to go....I also started the process for mounting the new stainless cleats for the jib sheets now that the finish work on the cockpit coaming is done.  Ran out of time before I could finish the job, though.  Hector finished the canvas work, including covers for all the clear vinyl windows and a combination windscoop/bug screen for the forward hatch.
Outrigger race last Saturday in Santa Barbara.  Got a ride in a new Mercedes, so no car trouble worries!  Now cleaning things up in preparation for a little party this coming Saturday to celebrate the official completion of the aft cabin.  Finally!  Definitely calls for champagne!

May 16, 2016

Tough week.  Truck broke down three times going to and from an outrigger race in San Diego.  Dealing with those issues precipitated other problems, all leading to lots of stress, lack of sleep, significant expenses and additional things to handle.  Still, I managed to get a few things done on the boat. (Good therapy if nothing else.)
I laid on a total of six coats of Cetol (3 Marine, 3 Gloss) on the teak trim around the cockpit coaming so I can now move on to the rest of the teak in the doghouse, which will be coated with Epifanes varnish.  The labels arrived for the switch panel, so I figured out a way to get them on perfectly aligned, which is a challenge because once the label adheres to the panel, it can't be adjusted.  I made a cut-out template from a piece of cardboard to guide the label placement.  It worked perfectly.   I also attended to a few details in aft cabin such as floor trim and polishing up the aluminum frames for the port lights.
In addition, I showed a neighbor the secret to getting a nearly flawless paint finish using the roll and tip method, and saw my friend Curt's new (to him) boat.

Tomorrow is another day.

May 9, 2013

It was a busy week, but a lot was accomplished.  Bruce, a master mechanic who was once a service manager for a Rolls Royce dealer and has been a marine mechanic for the last 15 years or so, helped me diagnose my alternator issues.  (He wouldn’t accept any payment, so I twisted his arm until he agreed to let me buy him a beer at our local hangout.) The alternator is fine, it’s an instrumentation issue.  I cleaned up the main ground connections on the engine which seemed to help.  I need to replace an idiot light bulb too.  No big deal.  Whew!  Hector came by to trial fit a new scoop/bug screen for the forward hatch and delivered the carpet pieces for the aft cabin to which he had added some matching edge trim.

I did some work too.  I finished the restoration of my outrigger paddle in time for a race on Saturday, glued down the carpet in the aft cabin, finished sanding the teak in the cockpit/doghouse and applied some penetrating epoxy and a bit of Cetol, finished and mounted the pinrail on the shelf fiddles in the aft cabin, and completed the cockpit table with the addition of a modified mount I found in a used marine gear store.  If that isn’t enough, I spent a day taking photographs of a group of pianists for a client of Carol’s.  Been paddling a lot too.  And yes, I’m tired!