My resolution was to get this thing done in 2018. One motivation is to get it on the water sailing again, the other is that my wife said I can't get a truck until its out of the garage. BOOM! instant motivation.
So when we last talked, I was still doing rib and plank repairs and cleaning out the inside. That is now all done. I was able to get a couple of coats of varnish on the interior as well. So I decided, "its good enough" and started focusing on moving towards completion.
So I focused on getting the planks back on. voila, focus=results.
Pics below show the final state of the interior prior to getting the planks back on. once the repair work was done, the planks went on super fast. I had a few trouble spots where the planks were not pulling tight or where the board repairs were too thin at the narrow ends of planks on the stem. Those were pretty easy to fix, either with more resin, or plugging the bad screw holes that I missed that led to the planks not sitting fair. So it got a bit fiddly.
you can see the blue paint around the centerboard; I had originally thought that I'd need to install the centerboard before flipping the boat over to start on the deck, so I started painting around the trunk, so I wouldn't have to do it while the board was in, which might lead to drips on the board itself. In the end, I decided that the centerboard can be installed from the top, using the main halyard, as the slot in the top of the trunk is clearly shaped to allow the board to fit.
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| interior varnish showing the transom. it cleaned up OK |
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| Varnish on the underside of the deck and the centerboard trunk |
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| Interior looking aft |
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| Last board to go on in the garboard top right. it was sitting in place waiting to have new holes drilled |
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| and there you have it! All planks back on. Whisky please... |
The planking appears to be mahogany. Would look very nice if varnished but it seems you plan to paint instead. Varnishing prep is also very tedious as regards making sure that repairs and grain are matched to give best appearance. What are you going to do about seams, caulk or epoxy glue in matching wood strips? If latter, boat will have to be dry-sailed - not left in water, to minimize expansion and contraction of planking from moisture. Some advise fiberglassing hull with 4 oz. cloth and epoxy resin to minimize maintenance. Are you considering doing that?
ReplyDeleteHi John. Great to hear from you! Hope all is well up north. I'm planning to paint only below the waterline, and then varnish the topsides. there will be a few areas that might not look great, particularly the lower section where the planks meet stem, but I'm not going for perfection. I want to get her back on the water this summer.
ReplyDeleteSeams have been caulked and then filled with BoatLife LifeCalk. I was originally going to pay them with interlux seam putty, but Interlux said that if the boat was to be dry sailed, which this one is, that Interlux was a bad option. Jamestown distributors suggested Boatlife. IT was pretty easy, I like the way it turned out. I did not want to fiberglass the bottom at this point, just paint and varnish. We are planning to have the Fleet 2 meeting at my house on 18th of this month, and hopefully flip her over so that I can start on the deck. Thanks for the comments!
Steve