Ready for Prime Time?

Not quite, but getting closer (at least the cabin top and sides).  I did 2 sanding sessions over the weekend, 3 hours on Saturday, and another 3 on Sunday.  With the temps being as warm as they have been (high 80's) I only have so much working time in the boatshed before I feel like death is imminent.  So I've used the past few mornings while it is still cool to get the cabin top and sides sanded down.

The first thing I did was longboard the recored cabintop followed by the sanding down the bore holes I refilled the other day with the random orbital sander.  Finally I went around the whole cabin sides (except for the cockpit area), and sanded off any loose paint.  There was a lot and I'd say that 3/4 of the sides are down to bare glass and the rest is down to the primer.

I still have to clean the butyl goop around the small port openings before I can get those sanded to well (it just gums up the sandpaper).  Also, the area along where the deck meets the cabin sides has to be sanded a little more closely.  I'll be knocking those spots off over the next few days.  The primer should be here tomorrow, so I hope to get the first coat of primer on the cabin top and sides before we go to Maine for vacation next week.

Longboarding Fun

Spent another hour yesterday fairing the cored section of the cabintop while I wait for the epoxy to fully cure on the forward section with all the bore holes.  The 17" longboard I made a while back is probably a bit on the short side for this section because it's a large area, but at the same time, the curve of the cabin dictates that I really only move in one direction (or slightly diagonal).  I probably should have a flexible board for these sections, but I think it will be ok as long as I'm careful.

I really like not having the power tools on and the constant 'shhsha shhsha shhsha shhsha' of the longboard is soothing.  The only downside is that I get really sweaty because it's reasonably hard work and there is no dust collection other than periodically firing up the shop vac.  The result is that a lot of the dust ends up sticking to me and I end up looking like a big yeti.

Once I knocked down all the high spots on the section I mixed up 12 oz of thickened epoxy and spread a thin coat on some of the low spots.  I think it's looking pretty good now, I don't know if I can get it much more fair at this point because of the color inconsistencies in the core make for lots of illusions. It's not perfect, but getting close. The Primekote should be here on Monday, so I am going to prime that section before I try anymore fill/fair cycles.  I'm hoping that getting a solid color (white) down will make it easier to spot high/low spots.

I may start the second round of longboarding the side decks in the next few days, but given that the temps are expected to be close to 100 today and tomorrow, I think I will stay out of the shed or plan on some early morning work.

Slower Than Snot

I've spent way too much time on the original cabintop (the only section that wasn't completely recored) this week.  I thought it would be the easiest part of the whole boat, but the old paint ended up being harder than granite and I stubbornly thought I could sand through it with 40 and 60 grit paper.  I even tried a flapper wheel with 36 grit paper to no avail.

Since I'm planning on using a 2 part LPU paint, it can't be applied over a 1 part paint and since I'm not sure what the old paint is, I figured the safest bet would be to get rid of all of it, but short of busting out the angle grinder (I just don't want to go there), it just wasn't coming off.

After speaking with an Interlux rep. for the second time this week, he told me that I can do an MEK test to determine the suitability of the underlying substrate.  Basically you soak a rag with 2333N (Interlux brushing reducer), place it on the substrate (deck), and tape a bag over it so the solvent can't evaporate.  Leave it for 24 hours and see if the underlying paint blisters or cracks.  If it does then it has to be removed, if not then it's fine to use as a substrate for a 2 part primer.  So I ordered a gallon of Interlux Primekote primer and a quart of 2333N Brushing Reducer to perform the test.  Hopefully the test will come out positive (I don't have to grind it off) and then I can move forward with at least thinking about priming.

On the fairing front, I continued longboarding the recored section of the cabintop (yep gonna need more work to make it fair) and did a final fill on the holes that I did my test bores on at the beginning of this project.  It feels like I'm barely moving along and just making more dust, but I guess it's going in the right direction.

Pullin Port

Spent an hour or so today pulling ports in preparation for cabin top sanding and paint prep.  I had pulled one of the opening ports a few years ago when I started the project so I knew how beefy those were, but I didn't realize how heavy the solid bronze frames on the fixed portlights were.  I was really surprised when I took out the last screw and I felt their full weight.

Now that I know how they were put together, I can say with some certainty that many of the leaks I had below decks were not necessarily from the soggy deck itself.  The fixed portlights were sealed with a thin (and very brittle) bead of silicone that no doubt leaked.  However, I never saw a drop of water around the ports and now realize that all the water from every rainstorm or errant sea leaked in through the bad silicon bead and in between the cabin top structure and the inner headliner, where it would percolate down to the lowest point of the headliner which is near the hull deck joint.  Now I know...

AWOL

Ok, so maybe I disappeared for a while, but I'm back on the job again.  I pretty much squandered the winter doing nothing but I was burned out from my previous efforts and needed a bit of a break.  I feel a little guilty about it, but this is a long term project and I'm not going to kill myself getting it done.

With that said, I did about 1.5 hours of work sanding the foredeck to see how fair it is.  I'm happy to report that it looks pretty darn good. Not perfect, there are a bunch of spot fills I'll have to do before I'm really ready for paint, but given that the vast majority of the deck will be under Kiwigrip (which will hide many a sin), I'm not too worried and can live with a few imperfections.   I decided that I would spread a quick coat of primer right at the bow to see how it looks and I'm very pleased.  Of course, I slapped the primer on in just a few minutes with a brush and will have to sand it off before I get the real primer on, but it was really satisfying to get a glimpse of the finished project.

Those are brush marks not fiberglass scatches.

Without a uniform color, it is hard to tell if it is fair.

The biggest problem I'm finding as I sand my way aft (6" Rigid Random Orbit) is along the bulwark/deck junction.  I'll have to go along the whole edge on both sides and do a small radius filet from bow to stern.  Then I'll have to fair that in, so it's a bit of work.

I'm putting the toerail project on the back burner for the time being while I re-assess my method.  I was going to do 3 - 1.25 inch strips laminated together and bent on a jig, but some helpful advice on the plastic classic forum has me rethinking the project.  Stay tuned!

Time for a Bender

I haven't had time to get to the lumberyard to buy all the mahogany I'll need for the toerail project, but I've been anxious to get going and the dinghy project isn't too time consuming.  I had some scrap mahogany lying around and decided that I should test out my laminated toerail theory to make sure I actually can bend it on the toerail jig I put together.

First things first though, it was time for a new toy.  I have wanted to get a thickness planer for years but could never really justify it because I was able to do most of my edge jointing with a jack plane and had good results. The difference is that this time I would effectively need to joint 140 feet and it would take way too much time.  Arguably, I should have purchased a dedicated jointer for this job, but I also see the need for a thickness planer and I know a few people who do edge jointing with a thickness planer.  So it came down to: "If you had to choose, what would you get?".

I did some research and found that while I would love to get the DeWalt DW735 planer, it just isn't in the budget.  I ended up choosing the low end Porter Cable TP305 (rebranded Delta 305).  It was on sale at Lowes for $249 and I had a 10% off coupon so I ended up getting it for $225. I spent some time tuning it to reduce snipe and got it to a reasonable level (I figured snipe loss into the cost of the mahogany I need to purchase).

Once I had the planer running the way I wanted, I cut 3-1-1/8 inch pieces of mahogany about 2.5 feet long (the length of the scrap I had).  I ran all the pieces through the planer to make nice jointing edges and test fitted them on the toerail jig.  The final planed with for each piece was about 1-1/16.  Once I was confident that I could bend the pieces onto the jig I mixed up a small batch of epoxy, painted all the edges and bent them onto the jig.

I left the layup overnight and came back in the morning to find it 'dry'.  This was a mistake.  It seemed dry, but I failed to recognize the force involved in bending the wood on the curve.  When I first pulled the layup off the jig it appeared that there was minimal springback (~1/16 inch) and it appeared to hold the curve, but when I brought it upstairs to show my wife about an hour later it was clear that it was losing its curve.  I hope that this was due to the epoxy still being green (the overnight cure was in 50-55 degree temps so I don't believe the 12 hours I had it on the jig was long enough.  I am going to seek some advice on the forums to see if this is in fact the case, or if the wood will naturally spring back regardless epoxy over time.  This will mean that I'll have to get the rail on the boat immediately after pulling it off the jig.  If this is the case, I'll need to wait until the temps. are warmer outside so I can get the bulwark prepped and ready to go.

Springback looks good... for a little while at least.

Overall, I think this was a success though.  I may have to adjust some schedules to account for springback, but I think I have proven that the lamination will work as designed.  I am going to run the piece through the planer once I am sure it is really dry (I don't want to gum the knives up) to see how the quasi finished rail will look like.  Inspecting the joints looks like they are really tight and will look good.  Edit: Below is a post planer picture.  It looks good to me, even if the grain isn't correct.  Once I get the real wood, I will take care to keep the grain together.

Another Boat to Fix

Even though I have launched my diabolical toerail plan, I won't be able to get to the lumberyard to purchase the mahogany for another few weeks and move forward on the project.  So in the meantime I've decided to infect my son with the boat fixing sickness just like my dad did to me.  We've decided to tackle restoring the dinghy as an interim project; the sailing bug has already hit him, but my job as father won't be complete until I infuse him with a love of boatyards, power tools, and highly toxic solvents.  Click 'The Dinghy' link above for more details.