Day 194 - Sand and paint

Sand and paint...

I may not like doing it, but I'm getting lots of practice.

First, from yesterday, here's the back side of the fuel fillers.

That black line in the bottom photo represents the height of the seats.

So today was all about a lot of sanding and painting. I spent five hours sanding the epoxy work around the front windows from yesterday, the underside of the roof forward of the windows, both the inside and outside of the extension of the sides that leads into the rear deck, the bits and pieces above the side windows and below the roof edge, inside the front windows and the area just behind them, some work cleaning up the edges and bottoms of the shelves in the rear deck and part of the rear cabin wall on the deck side.

Five hours later it was time for painting. The tops of the shelves, sides, those bits above the side windows, cuddy roof, front windows front and back (which was a mistake, duh, need to glue the windows in first!) and that area in the cabin.

Then the last coat of paint was put on the hull. Why is it the last? Because I pulled the tape, that's why! :-)

Pooped I am. I need to fill pinholes and add one more coat of primer, then I can begin with the white paint on the topsides. No more sawdust for a while!

8 Hours

Day 193 - Sittin' in the boat

Another good day.

Started out filling the last of the pinholes up at the bow. The last coat of paint will go on the hull tomorrow. And I mean it this time. :-)

I spent a good chunk of the day sanding. Bleagh. Sanded the front and back sides of the front windows and up under the front roof of same. Sanded around the base of the radar mount. Sanded the edges of the sides windows. Sanded the sides. Sanded here, sanded there, sanded everywh... Uh, yeah, anyways...

Also made some sawdust today. You might remember from a couple weeks back I cut and built some fixtures for holding the fuel fillers. I had cut one side off each one as I had planned on mounting them on the sides, but changed my mind and decided to mount them in the back. Well, I cut and glued new side pieces on them today. Then after some thought and measuring I cut holes in the back wall for them.

Remember the old adage measure twice, cut once? See above. :-)

Brian showed up about this time and I put him to work again on the battery bays. First he gave everything inside a really good coat of white paint. While he had the white paint out I had him paint the underside of the roof outside the door too. Then came the really messy part. We installed the sides of the splashwell and he put in a fillet of peanut butter all the way around the inside seams. There were places you just can't see or get to with any tools, so he got to use his fingers! Said it reminded him of playing with Play-doh. After he finished up the inside, he pushed peanut butter back into any gaps from the outside.

While he was working on that I finished installing the fuel filler fixtures.

Hmmm... No pictures of the back side, or the finished product. I'll get those tomorrow.

Now way back when I installed the forward windows I put peanut butter and fiberglass on all the seams. Except when I got done I had one strip of fiberglass left and couldn't figure out where it went. I can't tell you how many times I looked at that, but yesterday I finally saw it. It was one of the vertical seams. Now I know it sounds crazy, but I never saw it. So today I fixed that by putting a strip of fiberglass over that seam and painting epoxy over the rest of the front and back sides of the front windows.

Then I started measuring the inside for the seats on the port side. I drew some lines, made some measurements and spent some time just thinking. I can't draw this stuff in a CAD program so I've got to draw it in my head.

Brian finished up about this time and I headed off for some dinner.

Afterwards I came back and put another coat of epoxy on the front windows.

Then I went and borrowed a chair from the house that's just about the same size as the seats I'm going to install and set it in place for the forward seat on the port side.

Then I sat it in and looked around in amazement. And got the biggest smile on my face. The view from the boat is going to be amazing! The middle vertical between the side windows is just behind your shoulder and the bottom of the window is below my shoulder which leaves an almost completely unobstructed view. It is awesome! And it's just as good from the seat at the back! Once again all that planning months ago is paying off. Yay!

3.5 Hours - Brian
9 Hours - Me

Day 192 - Hull painted!

I think. After a couple days off because of work I was able to get back to it today.

My friend Kim came over and started filling all the pinholes in the sides. At one point she commented that it would be simpler to just completely coat both of the sides. I offered a six inch putty knife and got a dirty look in return. :-)

While she filled pinholes, I was busy making epoxy to coat the last of the uncoated wood on the outside of the boat and some peanut butter in strategic places, painting primer on the unpainted wood and peanut butter inside the battery bays in the back of the boat, primer on the faces of the edge of the roof and the underside of the roof outside the door, sanding the inside curves of the side windows smooth and fair, sanding the roof of the cuddy and the bow pulpit, painting primer on same.

After a dinner break I smoothed the spackle on the hull and applied what I hope is the last (sixth) coat of paint. One last critical look tomorrow and if it's good then it's done! While I had the maroon paint out I applied the first coat on that roof edge.

3 Hours - Kim
8 Hours - Me

Day 191 - Maroon, white and primer

That was the plan for tonight, along with epoxy, peanut butter and sanding. Almost all of them got done. ;-)

Started out this morning by coming in very early and filling more pinholes. Hopefully I've got them all, another look tomorrow morning will tell.

Tonight I started by doing some relatively messy peanut butter work. The panels at the rear of the deck needed to be reinforced at the joints so I reached inside and where I could get to I applied a fillet.

Those black things are the battery trays. They've been laid in and two bolts dropped through their holes to push the peanut butter into shape.

Sanding was next and I hit a lot of areas. Up around the radar mount, around one of the forward window frames, around the bow pulpit, the edges of the side windows and the face of the window thickening strips, and all the way around the edge of the roof. Then I grabbed a extra fine grit sanding sponge and lightly sanded the hull knocking down the high spots.

Last for the night was wiping down the hull with a tack rag and putting on paint coat five.

3.5 Hours

Day 190 - Can't keep up

Well, another day with an amazing amount of progress. Brian came over again today and I managed to keep him busy for a lot longer than yesterday. It's hard work trying to manage work for two. :-)

First thing again was getting another coat of paint on the hull.

About the time I finished Brian showed up. I handed him the white paint and told him to paint everything that was brown and off he went with a vengence.

In addition to these areas he got all the pieces for the work in the rear deck area and the vertical support and the bottom of the cabin deck piece. He also trimmed the fiberglass over the conduit holes.

Meanwhile, I wiped down the top of the cuddy (which hadn't been done yet) and the area around the radar mount. I also did make some sawdust, but I took the table saw outside and set it up on the tailgate of the truck. :-) I cut some pieces of conduit and got them installed.

Then I made a run to Fred Meyer as I wanted something to set the tanks on for a little bit of abrasion protection. I picked up two rolls of the perforated foam stuff used to line drawers.

Brian finished his painting so I set him to work on the vertical support. Those are a little tricky to install as there's no support and you have to not only put peanut butter on the edges that make contact, but you then have to put fillets on the sides while keeping it from moving while you're pushing against it.

I was working on the rear deck installing the panels and battery shelves. I had some gappage (technical term :) that had to be filled with peanut butter, but they were mostly a pressure fit. No fillets yet as I want that peanut butter to set up.

Brian went off to take care of his dog and get something to eat and I did some cleanup and organization then did the same. After Brian returned he started working on epoxying the edges of the deck panel and making peanut butter while I worked on getting the first tank installed. I had to cut the straps to length as 10' was a wee bit much, but otherwise I'm very pleased with how they worked out. Each strap has a working strength of 550 pounds which is plenty and they're adjustable, so as the tank swells I'll loosen the straps.

When I finished, Brian and I lifted the deck into the boat, peanut buttered the long edge, set it in place and screwed it down. Brian then went to work pushing peanut butter into the gap next to the hull. Tomorrow that will be filleted and fiberglassed.

I spent some time reconfiguring the lights. Originally I had all four running the length of the shed. I reset the middle two so there is one on each side of the shed, about eight feet up and right in the middle. While this has made a huge difference in the amount of working light it has also exposed all the issues with the paint on the sides. :-)

Brian left for the night and I put another coat of paint on the hull (number four). I'll come in early tomorrow morning to spackle the last of the pinholes, yes, there are a few left, and then restart the hull painting tomorrow night. This will also let the paint catch up before I get back to the every twelve hour schedule. Plus I can make some sawdust tomorrow night as the paint will be strong enough for me to be able to run a tack rag over it before painting.

8 Hours - Brian
9.5 Hours - Me

Day 189 - Lots o paint day

Today was a huge painting day with a little epoxy and fiberglass work thrown in.

I took a gazillion (translation, 21) photos today, so suffice it to say that there will be more pictures and less words tonight. Brian Goettler came over today, doing his first fiberglass work and painting. The boat also got two coats of paint today, one first thing this morning and one last thing tonight.

The cuddy got another (and maybe its last coat) of paint by Brian.

Brian also epoxied, filleted and fiberglassed the joint between the hull and the inside side decks that the gas tanks sit on.

While Brian was working I disassembled the hinges and latches from the panels on the rear deck. All the parts and pieces got a coat of epoxy on their inside sides.

I found more pinholes in the hull sides near the top so I filled them with more spackle.

No, that's not the real color! But it is a reddish purple. I think I'll like it!

Brian headed home and I went to lunch. Afterwards I worked on the conduit that runs to the back of the rear deck. The holes I drilled for installing it lined up so well there was no tension to hold it in place so I slid it all the way forward, coated it with 5200 and then slid and rotated it several times to spread the 5200 into the hole.

Then I worked on the two filler pieces at the back of the inside decks. Their bottoms were coated with epoxy and then primer. Then they were set in place and a strip of fiberglass spanned from the existing deck, across the filler piece, a fillet and up the rear cabin wall.

Since I was back there I epoxied the support strips for the upper deck in place on the rear cabin wall (above) and the front cabin wall (below).

While working in that area I marked where the vertical support would go and the horizontal line between the supports and painted the area with primer.

Took a measurement from the port side, confirmed it by setting the starboard side tank in place and primered that area too.

I cleared the work table off and primered the bottom of the upper deck panel and one side of the vertical panel.

The forward deck was next. Since I can't do much sanding I'll have to get the area around, and the bow pulpit later.

The pieces that were epoxied earlier in the day now got their coat of primer.

I decided to take a break and went and walked the Auke Bay Harbor docks. I've seen this boat before; if it's truly a Tolman, then it must be a really early design. It has some of the hallmarks of the Tolmans, but I'll have to do some checking to see if it really is.

After my walk I assembled the pieces for the rear deck, traced their inside edges and applied primer. I've also discovered that I need to do a little trimming before the parts are assembled. I'll have to take the table saw outside to make those cuts. No sawdust inside!

The last thing tonight was that second coat of paint on the hull. I wanted to see how long it was taking as I'd like to keep this schedule of two coats a day which means getting up early before work. From opening the bucket to cleaning out the paint tray takes 35 minutes. That's doable for this night owl.

3.5 Hours - Brian
10.5 Hours - Me

Day 188 - Chocolate!

A big day today, primer is on! Woot!

First thing this morning I started out by washing the hull again. Then I ran a tack cloth over it. And in the process discovered more bumps and rough spots that got hand sanded and then the tack cloth again. Then it was time to paint!

I've done some more research and decided to try a new technique to see if I can skip the tipping process. The theory is to roll the paint on as thin as possible, but still get coverage. This worked really well. Rolling, rolling, rolling, spreads the paint out and because it drys so quickly (ten to fifteen minutes) I really had to get with the program. I started on the transom to see how it would go and moved around to the port side.

Because I've a natural break in the side with the spray rail I started at the bow, above the spray rail and working in sections worked my way back. I'd roll a section, roll the top and face of the spray rail, and then roll the section again. When I got to the stern I started forward, first using a brush to paint the ninety degree angle between the spray rail and the hull, then the underside of the spray rail then a section.

I did the same on the starboard side and then moved up and painted the shelves and sides on the port side, then the starboard side.

The whole thing went really quickly and the boat has gone from looking like this...

To this...

Wow! What a difference! The primer when wet has the color of chocolate, but dries to a dull brown color and because it's so thin, it does so relatively quickly. Now that dryness is deceptive because while it's dry, it's not hard, so you've still got to be careful about it.

When I went back and looked more closely at the shelves I was surprised to find tons of tiny pinholes in the epoxy! That's bad news because paint won't fill them. So I did a little online research and found a really neat solution, spackling paste! You spread it on and push down hard, then scrape it off and it does a fine job filling the holes. So I took a break to go run some errands, get some of the magic paste and get some late lunch.

Once back at the shed I got to work with the paste. It worked really well and the contrast of the white paste and brown primer made it really easy to see. I used a sanding sponge to smooth it off and another tack cloth to clean it up.

I decided to take a chance on adding a second coat of primer way sooner than I should have, but figured the two coats were so thin I wasn't likely to have problems. Here's the port side shelf after the second coat.

You can still see depressions, but the pinholes are gone. If I find more I'm going to simply fill them with paste and keep right on painting.

I was able to prime everything but the forward deck as I still hadn't finished the bow pulpit so I worked on that. I hand sanded it, wiped it with a tack cloth, coated the bottom and forward deck area with epoxy, made peanut butter for the bottom and fillets and fiberglassed it into place.

That sucker's not going anywhere!

Tomorrow will be really exciting as I'm going to get some paint on the hull. It'll be neat to see the final color going down. I'll also sand that bow pulpit area and get some primer up there. I may have help tomorrow and if so, more paint can go in the cuddy and there's epoxy and fiberglass work to do. Lot's of non-sawdust making activities for the next few days!

8 Hours