Topsides

The days are cold and crisp outside. The shop is kept at a comfortable fifty five degrees at ground level, about ten or fifteen degrees higher at deck level as the shop heater tends to blow just past the bow and wash the deck with warmth before heating the rest of the shop.

Jon applied new fine-line tape over the antifouling paint to protect the paint line. The measurements for the stripe were transferred down to the new tape line and the old tape removed from the hull.  Now we can prep the topsides and get them ready to paint. There are still some areas that require a little hand work before they will be ready to coat and we are slowly getting them done one by one. I am nervous about the fairness of the topsides.....will it be good enough? Its sometimes hard to see in the lighting of the shop just how fair the hull is. It seems to change as you move around the boat and look from different angles. We typically take a vessel out of the shop into natural light and take a good look at it and see how it looks before moving to the next step. I don't have that opportunity, my boat is not easily moved. There is the wall we built and another vessel cribbed in the shop impeding passage to the outside world. We will do the best we can to get it fair and tweak it a little here and there as we proceed.

We will be applying Interlux Epoxy Barrier-Kote 404/414 primer to the topsides when they are ready (hopefully this weekend). It is similar to Pettit Protect but is white. We will also be using it on deck and the cabin as an undercoating as it is recommended for use on crazed and cracked gelcoat.

All day yesterday was spent on deck sanding along the starboard toe rail with a hand block getting it faired and ready for undercoating. We want to have a large portion of the deck ready so we don't waste any excess epoxy primer we may have left over when we coat the topsides.

Nothing will be done today. We got called out to save a sinking boat. We got on site in less than an hour but it became evident it was a sunk boat,.....not a sinking boat, so we've gone to plan B and have to get our dive team and tug ready to lift her to the surface for pumping. Then run containment booms etc and get the boat back to the shop.....sigh.......no work on my boat today.