Sunday, July 12, 2009

Plotting the stripe before sanding it off

Before sanding off the stripe tape is applied to the hull and a measurement is taken from the top of the stripe to the bottom of the stripe and marked on the tape. Then the stripe is sanded off from the bottom up towards the top but leaving the top of the stripe intact. Once the hull is prepped the measurement is taken from the tape and measured down from remaining top of the stripe and marked on the hull. Then fine-line tape is applied along the marks and the bottom of the stripe is back where it was before being sanded off. The process is then repeated placing tape along the bottom of the stripe and measuring up to the top of the stripe. The top of the stripe is sanded off and the hull prepped, then, using the measurements recorded on the tape the top of the stripe is plotted and fine-line tape is applied to the hull and the stripe is ready to be painted again. We have a ways to go yet before we are ready to plot the top of the stripe, the pictures below only show the bottom stripe being plotted.



Sunday, July 5, 2009

Tow vehicle

The ol' jeep finally started fading and it was time to get something more reliable. It has over 300,000 miles on it and has given us very good service. Gary was the service manager for the local Dodge dealership for several years and knows their product line very well so I decided on a 3/4 ton turbo charged diesel. After much looking we found a solid 1997 with a nice towing package. It should be just right for towing the sailboat,............ now I just need to build the trailer.