Spot Fill After Deck and Cockpit Primer, Brightwork

December 10, 2017

Prior to the weekend, I had planned to get a second coat of primer on the deck and cockpit...until I saw numerous pinholes that required fill work.  Application of a high-build primer may have sufficed, but since it would only add unnecessary expense in my opinion, I took the day to scour the deck and cockpit for those areas needing attention, note them, sand them, vacuum their surfaces, wipe their surfaces down with solvent, and fill them with Microlight 410.  But I would get to that later in the day since the temps were in the high forties.  I set the epoxy out in the sun to warm up a bit, and carried on with other items.

I took the freshly cut new port coaming board over to Joule to test for fit on the starboard side, to see if I could use this port board as a template for the starboard.  The fit was good; I could use the port coaming to template the starboard.  The original starboard coaming was increasingly disintegrating with every handling, not to mention a significant portion of the board having succumb to dry-rot

I decided on the portion of the teak stock to use for the coaming board, aligned the port coaming and transferred the dimensions onto the board.  I labeled the new starboard coaming and set it aside.

With the same stock board, I decided to remove the new companionway / drop board trim piece.  I clamped the original trim piece to the remaining stock, and transferred its dimensions onto the fresh teak.

With the jigsaw, I removed the new starboard companionway / drop board trim piece.  Over the next half-hour or so, I continued to fine tune the shape, including routing the rabbet on the underside to accept and secure the drop boards.

With the ambient temps warming up, including the sun-bathing epoxy, I went ahead and filled the areas requiring it.  I used the 410 Microlight on the pinholes and small gouges that were not evident prior to the revealing first primer coat.  I will get another two coats of primer on the deck and cockpit, and this will serve to fill and fair (through hand sanding) anything I might have missed in addition to these areas.

It looks worse than it was - I promise!  I decided to go ahead and skim-coat large areas to allow me to feather in the faired areas with the surrounding surfaces.

Most of the Microlight will come off of these filled areas, promoting great topcoat results.

With work on the hull complete for the day, I resume brightwork fabrication in the wood shop.  My next targets to pull from the new teak stock were the cockpit seat trim boards.  Running the length of the cockpit seating, and fastened to the inboard vertical surface, the seat trim boards serve to secure cushions when out sailing.  The original seat trim was in far better condition that the original coaming boards, but did have dry-rot on the end grain.  Like I had previously, I aligned the original piece on the new stock and transferred the dimensions.

I removed the new seat trim board with the jigsaw.  I stretched a piece of tape along the cut line to help guide the saw blade.  My eyes getting old?  I repeated the effort for the port seat trim board as well, and then set them both aside for eventual shaping to final dimensions.

Next, I turned to the taff rail.  Rather than creating a joint in the center line of the taff rail to connect two separate pieces, I wanted to remove the taff rail as one contiguous piece.  So using the original as a rough guide (it was also in weathered condition), I transferred its dimensions to the teak stock...

...and cut out the new taff rail.

I was debating whether or not to run the roughly cut taff rail through the planer, or first run a section of the new teak stock through the planer and then cut out the taff rail.  Alas, it made sense to first cut out the taff rail and then run it through the planer.  I made this decision due to the fact that a large area of teak would have been wasted otherwise - the portion of teak adjacent to the concave / forward  edge of the rail.  Having decided to cut first and then plane would allow me to pull perhaps a couple pieces of trim for the companionway hatch from this area that was adjacent to the concave / forward edge of the rail.

I made several passes through the planer, being careful to keep the roughly cut rail level in order to avoid snipe - a dip that is cut into a planed board because it entered at an angle.  In fact, some of the milled teak stock exhibited snipe.  Running the roughly cut taff rail through the planer took some focus given the fact that the board naturally wanted to twist due to its shape.

I managed to get the taff rail planed to an appropriate thickness...without snipe!  It was good to see the new brightwork begin to emerge.

Total Time Today: 4 hrs

Full Primer Coat (Deck, Cockpit, Topsides), and Port Companionway Trim Board

December 9, 2017

Well winter seems to be finally settling upon us here in Florida - hitting low-fifty degree weather as the high today, and just on positive side of allowing the Interlux Primekote to be applied. The owners of Joule are anxious to splash their classic Carl Alberg design, Cape Dory Typhoon, Joule.  Sharing in their eagerness to see her completed, I was striving hard to apply the first coat of primer to the deck and cockpit, and the last coat of primer to the topsides.  I'm happy to say that the outdoor thermometer hanging on the exterior wood shop wall measure a solid 53/54 degrees.  Paint on!

I spent a good deal of time sanding the entire surface area of the deck, cockpit and topsides to prep for the primer.  The topsides were in need of sanding after the previous coat, and the deck and cockpit were in need of a 'freshening up' after the initial sanding to remove the previous paint scheme.

It was satisfying to see the first coat of primer going on the cockpit surfaces, but alas the dreaded pinholes from previous fairing work revealed themselves.  It's almost a given on the first coat of primer to see those imperfections surface, but it's also a benefit in that those areas can be addressed easily in the early stages of paint application.

In my excited state, I made an error in the order of events.  I mixed the first batch of primer, and set it aside for its required induction period.  My thought was to finish solvent-washing the surfaces during the induction period (15 minutes).  With the paint set aside for its 15-minute 'time-out', I then remembered that in addition to wiping the surfaces down with solvent, I also needed to tape off the deck hardware that would not be removed during the paint process: stem fitting, bow pulpit, and chainplates.  

I decide to get as close to the deck hardware as possible, and would simply come back during the next primer coat application with having taped these items beforehand. 

Like the cockpit, I also notice a few areas that required a bit of the fine filler material - 410 Microlight.

Joule was looking so much better with that primer coat - jewel-like!

With the primer coat on, I turned my attention back to the brightwork, which took me inside the wood shop.  It was nice to be inside the shop, and out of a biting wind - biting for FL standards.  I laid out the original port companionway trim piece on the remaining section of the teak board that I had removed the new port coaming board from.  This trim piece helps secure the drop boards when closing up the boat.  With the trim piece positioned as such, I traced it and then removed it with the jigsaw.

I purposely removed the trim piece in a larger dimension that what would ultimately be installed.  I did this so I could dial in the final dimensions with alternate tools enabling me to 'sneak up' on those final dimensions: bandsaw, block plane, and hand-work.   After I had removed the oversized piece from he remaining teak stock, I moved over to the jigsaw and began to fine tune it, when...BANG!, with the subsequent sound resembling a grizzly bear being sawed into two halves!  (I didn't have onomatopoeia in my bag of tricks for that sound!)  Shutting the machine down, taking a breath, I opened the upper blade cover and could see that I had derailed!  I took note of a few peculiar things and decided to come back to repair the bandsaw at a later time.  I moved over to the small vice, and placed the trim piece in the vice while protecting the surfaces with thin strips of wood on either side. 

I removed nearly all of the surplus material, but would still need to fine tune it later.

Satisfied, for now, with the dimensions, I set up the router table to cut a 5/8" wide x 1/8" deep rabbet in the inboard, underside of the trim piece.  I did not have a bit to  cut the full 5/8" dimension with one pass, so I did it in two passes.  Before the second pass, I  move the fence up roughly an 1/8" to get the width dimension of the rabbet that I wanted.

It was getting late, and the wife was looking forward to appetizers and cocktails, so I closed the shop for the day.

Total Time Today: 7 hrs

Sanding & Spot Fill (Prepping for Primer Coats)

December 7, 2017

REMEMBERING THOSE WHO GAVE IT ALL, THIS DAY IN '41

Maintaining my goal of getting primer coats on the deck, cockpit and topsides this weekend, I arrived home and got busy sanding and spot-filling the areas that required it.  Most of the work in this evening's short session was on the interior liners.

I started with the foredeck - just needing a quick sanding with 220-grit paper and the RO sander.  I had a couple carry-over depressions (really slight, but there nevertheless), so I hit those with the 5" diameter RO and solved the equation!

Interesting how the remaining fairing compounds give the picture motion.  I promise I wasn't running across the foredeck while snapping photos!

After finishing the foredeck, I moved below and either hand-sanded areas that required fill (gouges and flaking gelcoat), or used a tapered bit to open up old fastener holes.  After creating a surface for good mechanical bonding with the epoxy, I vacuumed and thoroughly wiped the surfaces with solvent.  I then applied 'neat' epoxy to the areas to be filled - neat epoxy being straight, or epoxy without a thickening filler.

With the areas to be filled wetted-out, I simply moved around the cabin applying the thickened epoxy with various tools that enabled as easy an application method as possible.

I will likely get to sanding these areas on Friday evening, depending on the temperatures and related epoxy curing success.

Since the focus this coming weekend are the exterior surfaces, I won't be disappointed in not being able to sand and fair the interior.

Total Time Today: 1 hr