Preparations for varnishing - port side

After-work visit to boatyard, to catch up on spring jobs.

I started with second coat of mönja on Meritaten’s bottom - ballast keel and rudder. It’s warm enough for the coat to cure during one week, before I start painting with antifouling.

Lennart was working on Andrina so we could chat a bit - while maintaining “social distance”, of course. Unusual times under epidemic.

The main task for tonight was to prepare freeboard for varnish. I run out of time but managed to prepare port side of the boat.
I don’t need to sand it this year, it is enough to cut down shiny coat with Scotch-Brite, giving good mechanical grip for the new coat of varnish. I also touched-up port whale deck in places where sanding did not reach all shiny areas.

I plan to paint the deck during Easter and then move to varnishing. I aim to launch Meritaten at the end of April. We now have water again in the yard so I can start my “sprinkler program” which should protect boat’s bottom from drying too much in dry, spring winds.
Work plan for coming visits:

Starboard side abrasion with Scotch-Brite
Vacuuming and washing - deck, freeboard
Masking foot-lists, hatches and deck hardware before deck painting
Deck painting - primer, 1st layer
Deck painting - primer, 2nd layer (where needed)
Deck painting - top coat
Whale-deck and freeboard varnishing

After that I will move to cockpit varnishing. I did not manage to renovate the cockpit so this year it will just receive protective varnish and thorough renovation will need to wait till next winter.