Day 68: Deck Primer

After a long day of prep work Tom laid down the primer coat.

Pre paint

Tom spraying

Hatch Lids

Day 67: Varnish and Hatch Paint

The hatches got a coat of grey paint.

Another coat of varnish on the ash gunwale blocks, foot brace and handrails.

Day 64/65/66: Anti-Skid

It was really fun ripping off the tape to see the results.  The Anti-Skid looks great.  The grit zones got 100% grit coverage and the smooth zones stayed 100% smooth.  I didn't go with the star pattern in the grit.  Just keeping it simple.

It feels really rough.  Cheese grater.  Hopefully with the primer and deck paint the sharpness will decrease.

This is the Anti-Skid on the mini hatch lid.

The varnishing continues.  I now thin every layer (just a little) and use a foam brush.  Works great.

All the flaws have been patched, the inner gunwale clean. Next steps are to glue on the gunwale blocks and tape things out for painting.

The epically warm winter continues in Seattle.  I hope it stays this way until we get the paint done.

My fellow river ladies came the the island this weekend and trip plans have been hatched.  All we need now is the spring run off!

Day 62/63: Anti-Skid

For the past 2 days I have been putting down the anti-skid compound on the deck.  I ran out of compound today so will have to add a day to the process.  Kind of a fun process.  Though, its hard to see all that perfectly sanded deck get buried in grit!

Laying down the tape took a little time but also a fun jig-saw puzzle at the same time.  It took  about a half a roll of blue tape to do.  All that is left is to coat the stern floor and stern hatch lid.  Its tempting to lay out a star pattern in the anti-skid... we'll see.  It might look too corney.

The varnishing continues on the gunwale blocks and hand rails.  I've added the footbrace and wine rack to the list.  My last epoxy coat had a problem so I had to sand it off.  Not sure the reason.  It was the first time I used the varnish unthinned.  It looked like it had been aged in the sun.  So now I'm back to coat #3 after a backwards step.

Been trying to figure out how to wrap a cobra oarlock.  After multiple atempts and ridiculously complicated patterns, I've come up with the version on the left.  It works with this small twine... hope it works for 1/8" cord.  This design hold the line so well that I cannot get it off.  It does leave the top 1/3 of the oarlock horn unwrapped though.

Whidbey Island continues to be gorgeous.  warm temps and calm air... It feels like spring, especially as the river trips start to get planned.  Really looking forward to this season... for obvious reasons!

Day 60/61: Sanding

January in seattle has broken the records for warm temps.  Its been great for working on the boat.
Check out Cliff Mass's weather blog.

-The deck has been sanded to 320 grit.
-Most of the small flaws have been patched.
-The edges on the transom and bow fillet cap have been eased.
-epoxy stains have been removed from the interior side of the gunwale.
-Some filleting details for the hatches have been completed.
-Lines laid down for the taping for the anti-skid compound.

My Dad came up and dropped off all 4 oars! wow.
Also, the foot brace, wine rack :), and put on the transom gunwale cap as well as faired most of the bow and transom hatch deck.