Today I painted nearly everything at least once. I decided to go with all Thousand Islands in the cockpit, decks and wells so I put the first coat on the decks and wells and the second coat in the cockpit. Varnished the mast and tiller, painted the rudder, seats, rudder cheek and one side of the leeboard.
Tomorrow I should get the hull finished and be able to take off the masking tape and get started varnishing the gunwales.
Filed under Painting
Today I got Everything covered with at least two coats of primer….well, except for the top of the leeboard that I noticed 30 seconds after having dumped the last little bit of primer 😦 Now I’ll have to mix up a small batch just for that spot. Dang!
Put a second coat of varnish on the mast, second coats of paint on the bottom and part of the cockpit, second coats of paint on the seats. Tomorrow evening I should be able to sand everything that I primed today and start painting. Shouldn’t take too long. Varnishing the gunwales will be the last job…and that will take a while to finish as I have to get the rest painted before I lift off the masking tape and sand the gunwales to prep them for the varnish.
Filed under Painting
The last two days have been busy and productive. The biggest milestone has been epoxying the front decking to the hull. This was a big job requiring lots of clamps and a little resourcefulness. I tried clamping it in place withthe clamps on hand and figured I needed about 4 more of the bar clamps that I like so I went to Canadian Tire and picked 4 up. When clamping the sides at the front the very front part above the anchor well bowed up and away from the first bulkhead. It took a lot of weight applied to it and I didn’t have enough toolboxes, etc to do the job.
So, I looked at how I could pull it down and came up with the idea of using rope to apply pressure to it. I was a bit nervous about the knot slipping or the rope stretching and I checked it a few times to make sure it was holding properly.
After that was done, I primed and painted and sanded. At the end of Sunday night I have one coat of paint in the cockpit, a coat of primer on everything except the front decking and anchor well, a coat of paint on the seats and one seat support and a coat of varnish on the mast.
With any luck I should have it all painted and varnished for next weekend. In the last photo you can see the colour for the seats…and maybe the decking as well. It’s a red called “Maple Leaf Red”. I think it goes very nicely with the “Thousand Islands” beige but am not so sure it will look good next to the varnished hatch covers. Well, if it doesn’t it’s only paint and nothing that hours of sanding and painting can’t fix 😉
Filed under Assembly, Painting, Sanding and finishing
Well, today I steeled up my courage and went at the mast with the Makita 1902 planer I purchased a week or so ago. It went pretty well. In about 2 1/2 hours I was done with the planer. The rest will be sanding, maybe some hand plane to round over the edges and varnishing. I’m really sorry I didn’t get a picture taken of me working on this outside in the driveway. I filled 2 garbage bags with shavings and sawdust. I had a perfect day…warm and calm so the shavings and dust weren’t blowing everywhere. This is not something to do inside….way too messy.
This evening I epoxied one of the rear decks into place before calling it a day. I had expected to be able to do both sides of the back but the first required more clamps than I expected and I ran out of the nice non-marring ones so I will do the other side first thing in the morning.
Filed under Assembly, Cutting and shaping, Tools
Today I went straight to Benjamin Moore after work to pick up some paint as I had run out of the white paint I used for the hull and inside the bulkheads. They didn’t have any more white of the type I had used so I picked some paint of the same type to be coloured for inside the cockpit and the decks. I figured it would be light so it will be fine inside the rear bulkhead as well.
I looked at the bazilion paint chips and noted that they have a lot of colours named after places in Canada. The one that caught my eye was “Thousand Islands”, a creamy tan that I liked and seeing as how I’ve made about half of my 2200+ skydives at Gananoque, ON with the Thousand Islands as a backdrop I figured it was appropriate.
Came home and started painting. Finished painting the rear bulkhead compartment with the new paint and I really like it. Here’s what it looks like:
Next, I spent a bit of time sanding down the thickened epoxy I put over the lead in the rudder, just fairing that out a bit.
Then I turned my attention to where the gunwales meet the stem. The stem was a bit proud and messy with epoxy. I worked at it with the Sand Shark and sanding block until it looked pretty good.
After supper I went out, mixed up 20 oz of System Three Yacht Primer (16 oz of hardener and 4 oz of resin in a 4:1 ratio) and started painting it into the cockpit area. This stuff is an epoxy primer that is water based. It went on very nicely. Very easy to keep a wet edge, flowed out nicely, covered well…completely unlike that Ameron stuff I used on the outside of the hull…the remainder of which I will only use if I run out of this System Three Yacht Primer.
Here is a shot of the boat showing the three areas in different colours:
It’s almost like a calico cat….tan white and black 🙂
The 20 oz was just enough to finish inside the cockpit and paint a bit on the mast partner and one side of the 2×4’s that support the seats. Was it EVER nice to clean up using a bucket of water! The brushes cleaned up very easily. What a treat!!!! That stuff cost $130 for a gallon (with the shipping costs) but it was worth every penny is how I feel right now.
Filed under Materials, Painting, Sanding and finishing
Today I used up the rest of the Benjamin Moore white paint putting a second coat on the front compartment.
Next, I mixed up some epoxy and used it to seal the the lead into the rudder. Then I thickened the remainder and used it to fair the top of the sink weight.
Lastly, I epoxied the mast step into place.
Next is more painting inside the bulkheads, sanding of the gunwales, anchor wells and engine well followed by painting.
Today I stopped in at a tire shop and got a bunch of used tire weights. When I came home I went out to the shed and dug out the old Coleman stove we used when I was a kid. I lit it up once a few years ago to see if it worked and until today that was likely the only time it had been fired up in the last 40 years. I should also mention that I used a very new piece of technology to level the rudder…my iPod Touch with a bubble level program that I installed a few days beforehand. I checked it with a regular level and it was dead-on. Really old stuff and really new stuff 🙂
Filled it with gas, pumped it up and it started up just fine. I loaded a bunch of lead weights into an old cast iron frying pan, put it on the stove, opened all the doors to the garage and stood outside with a fire extinguisher and waited. It didn’t take too long for the lead to melt. I put on a cotton glove and two leather gloves, coveralls and heavy boots, Just in case I did something stupid I wanted a little protection.
When the lead was all melted I poured it into the hole previously routed in the rudder. I had also screwed a backing piece of 1/4″ plywood just in case the lead burned through the bottom of the rudder. The wood smoked and it scorched the plywood pretty good but didn’t burn through. I had also placed a big tin pizza sheet under the rudder to contain any lead that may have escaped. Here are some shots…
This was something I have been nervous about doing for a long time so it was good to get it done without mishap. You have to have a lot of respect for metal that hot!
After supper Terry came over to inspect the paint job and after giving his approval helped roll the boat over and put it into the bunks I built. I put some carpet on the bunks just before Terry arrived so our timing was perfect. Inspired by the compliments I started painting when he left and finished painting the underside of the decking pieces and also put a coat of paint into the bulkheads. I’ll see if they need another coat tomorrow. If not, I’ll epoxy the deck covers to the hull and start priming and painting the cockpit, anchor well and engine slop well.
I also bought a Makita 1902 planer today to use for tapering the mast.It will be slow going but I am sure it will get the job done.
Today I got up early and moved things around in the garage to facilitate laying a bunch of pieces on the floor for painting…rudder, seats, etc, etc. I also vacuumed all the dust everywhere so that my second coat of paint on the hull would have a better chance of coming out without many little bumps.
After that was done I lightly sanded off the hull, just enough to knock off the dust bumps. Then I started painting. Two hours later I was done.
I finished the second bunk outside…I had to cut off a piece…and didn’t want to get any sawdust in the garage. I also sanded the hatch covers, leeboard, rudder and rudder cheek outside.
I put another coat of varnish on the hatch covers and put the first coat of varnish on the tiller. I never got around to putting anymore epoxy on the rudder and leeboard parts.
I went around the boat when the second coat was pretty much dry to the touch and removed all the masking tape I had placed on the gunwales. Taking that green stuff off sure changes the look of the boat. It is nice to see what it will look like. I like the white and the mahogany gunwales.
Filed under Painting, Sanding and finishing
The last few days have been spent mostly sanding and sanding and sanding. My only advice to anybody else starting a boat of their own….budget to pay somebody else to sand and paint it for you 😉
But finally, at 2 this afternoon I started the first coat of paint on the hull. I was done at 4:30. Brushed it all on.
I wound up using Benjamin Moore alkyd paint called Metal and Wood Interior/Exterior 133 01 High Gloss enamel. I wound up using white…if I decide to change it I can just paint over it someday. The paint went on very nicely using a 4 inch brush. I just went out and checked and I have no runs … it smoothed out pretty good. You can see brush strokes … but it looks decent overall. There were a couple of places where I sanded through the primer down to the epoxy covered wood and those spots will benefit from having another coat put on tomorrow but otherwise the coverage is great. This paint was a distinct pleasure to use compared to the epoxy primer. It really doesn’t look much different as the primer was white. I took some pictures but they didn’t look very good as I had the doors closed to keep the wind from blowing dust onto the paint.
The last couple of days I have also built bunks to hold the boat for the trailer that is being put together for me next week.
Today I also cut up the 1/4″ x 4″ x 24″ piece of UHMW plastic that I bought to use as a slippery surface between the rudder cheek and rudder. I fitted it to the rudder cheek, trimmed it with the jigsaw and router, drilled holes and countersunk them a bit. I think it looks pretty good…
I wound up the day by epoxy coating the rudder, cheek and leeboard. I may put some fiberglass tape on the leeboard and rudder leading and trailing edges tomorrow….before or after I put the second coat of paint on the hull.
Filed under Assembly, Cutting and shaping, Painting, Sanding and finishing
Over the last three days I have sanded and done a few other odds and ends getting the hull ready for primer. Today, September 16th, I left work early in order to be able to work while it is warm out and I got two coats of primer onto the hull.
I am using a two part epoxy primer called Ameron 383HS. It was suggested to me by the industrial coatings guy at General Paints. I think it is going to be tough but the fumes off of it are brutal. I don’t want to use it anymore and I ordered some System Three Yacht Primer which is two part water based and doesn’t require a respirator while you are putting it on. It also cleans up with water. I think I’ll take the remainder of the Ameron primer to general paints for disposal when I go see them to buy some marine enamel. That stuff is just rank!
The Ameron was kind of funny stuff. You can mix up enough to cover half the hull and it stays liquid in the paint tray but as soon as you roller or brush it on it starts to set up quickly enough that it is very near impossible to keep a wet edge. I was doing this in temperatures in the the low 20s C or low 70s F so it wasn’t very hot. I read somewhere that as soon as you lay this stuff down in a thin coat the solvents are released which permits the epoxy cure process to start. That’s how it stays liquid and gives you a long pot life I guess
The hull looks not too bad after two coats but I was hoping for something that would level out more…this stuff sets up too quickly for that. The hull will need some more…sanding…. before I put on the final coats of enamel. Hopefully the primer will sand done more easily than the epoxy I just finished sanding for what seemed like forever.
Here is a photo of the primed hull…..
Terry came over to have a look and asked me if I had decided what colour I am going to paint it. I told him I am vacillating between white, red and green and will probably decide while I am in the paint store. He said he’d come back on the weekend to see what I had chosen 🙂
Tomorrow I hope to get one coat of marine enamel on the outside.
Filed under Painting
Building Jim Michalak's Ladybug 
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