Night shift

April 13, 2020 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I had a sample of mixed epoxy filler with me at home, to keep an eye on curing process. Around 21:00 I noticed that it hardened already. Given that we have 20 degrees at home and in boatyard there is around 10 I gave it one more hour and then jump into my car and drove to the yard.

My aim was to sand the filler and coat it with primer tonight so that I can paint tomorrow. All this rush because weather forecast is threatening with winter come-back in coming days. I would really like to have the deck done so that only varnishing and anti-fouling is left before launching.

On-site it turned out that most filled spots are OK to sand but few, which got more filler, are still plastic. Sanding them resulted in epoxy-spaghetti so I left these for tomorrow.
I dropped the idea of priming them. I think it will be OK to paint topcoat on cured filler, given that I sand it to get proper grip for paint. If top coat will not cover the filler on the first paint I will roll another layer in these spots.

Epoxy fillers and side projects

April 12, 2020 by Lukasz Kumanowski

After Easter breakfast - around 11 - I drove to boatyard to continue deck renovation. Primer coat was dry since yesterday so now I could fill some dents in the deck, before final coat.
Mostly around winch support which I needed to glue last summer and a bit on foredeck where I dropped the anchor or something heavy on deck. I took quick-curing marine filler which I found in my workshop. Just for safety I took also Hempel Pro-fair filler which I still have quite a bit after Safir renovation. It turned out it was a good decision since quick drying filler just expired - it was not enough curing agent in one tube and base tube dried out. Too bad - this thing cures in 20 minutes, my plan for today was to fill the gaps, wait 30 minutes, sand and coat with primer and be ready for final coat tomorrow. Too bad!

Instead I needed to use Hempel epoxy which has a curing time 10h, in room temperature. Given that temperature in boat hall is around 9-10 degrees we are talking curing time till tomorrow…

Anyway, since I was there anyway I took all ceiling planks for renovation - not only pilot berth but also these for fo’c’s’le. At least this “side project” can be done.

Scraping old varnish was tedious, planks from fo’c’s’le were apparently coated with PU-varnish - it drags behind the blade and is a pain to remove.
So much for modern stuff - traditional varnish not only looks (and smells) better but is also easy to remove, without need to damage wood too much.

After thorough sanding all planks were ready to receive Owatrol D1 coating. As before - I did not stain them with mahogany stain as I want the ceiling to be of light colour.

This time, after wood was saturated with the oil, I wiped dry all planks - to avoid shiny spots of cured oil.

If weather permits tomorrow I will coat them with first layer of D2 which will give them gloss and deep colour.

Pilot-berth ceiling planks

April 11, 2020 by Lukasz Kumanowski

We - my daughter and me - drove to boatyard in the afternoon, to work on our side projects.
I wanted to cut out cabin sole board for mast clearance and maybe start cleaning ceiling planks for pilot-berth.
She had totally different plans, of course!

I started with cabin sole. Angle grinder with 40-grit abrasion pad and the job was done.

Checked for fit onboard - looks good. I take it home for epoxy coat on abraded surfaces.

Luckily, pilot-berth ceiling planks were varnished, not linseed-oiled, so removing old, worn and ugly varnish with the scraper went pretty smooth.

With varnish removed I started abrading them with orbital sander, grid 80, to remove surface scratches and old layer of stain. I want them to be natural mahogany colour - in this case it is African mahogany so they are reddish-yellow. That shall give some light in otherwise dark pilot berth.

Didn’t manage to finish the job - we had to head home for supper. To be continued.

Three hawks!

April 11, 2020 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Early noon was I on place, with pre-warmed paint and all tools needed. I started with final vacuuming of the deck and then moved on to rolling out primer coat.

Work went smoothly and was enjoyable. The effect is clean and neat.

Nothing to do on the boat now. When the paint cures I’ll put some filler in few spots and then coat with topcoat. Hopefully that will be tomorrow.

While washing tools I noticed that birds stoped singing.
It was strangely silent for a while and then I heard them: hawks!

There were three of them, huge birds, high above Rosättra. What a magnificent view!

On my way home I turned to the waterline and removed mast-foot from my mast. I need to cut opening in new cabin sole to clear out the mast. I plan to do that tonight, when the paint is dry enough to not accept any dust from air.

Long Friday

April 10, 2020 by Lukasz Kumanowski

My girls went with me in the morning, to help prepare Meritaten for varnishing and painting. Both got a scrub pad and worked hard on preparing cockpit for varnish.

While they were busy scrubbing I vacuumed the deck and both whale decks again and taped few opened seams on starboard whale deck. I want to try Sika sealing, maybe it will work.

The problem is that these seams which open during the season are now mostly closed - wood got enough moisture from the air during winter that it came back to it’s nominal dimensions. Seams will probably open again during hot summer days but then I will just add Sika to seal the opening and inhibit rain water from entering the hull. After season, when wood will swell again soft Sika should not stop it from swelling and deforming planks. It will probably damage varnish on the seam but that I will have to live with until I properly glue seams with mahogany stripes and thickened epoxy.

Came out pretty well. It will be even less visible under varnish and will disappear completely in few years when I clean whale decks to bare wood and stain them dark again - but that will have to wait, right now varnish is still in good shape so no need to remove it yet.

We started sprinkler season, my daughter was the system operator today.

After that we went to my small workshop, where Glypto resides, and had a short lunch.

I drove them home and after some rest came back to boatyard for evening shift. The aim was to tape everything on deck, in preparations for primer painting which I plan for tomorrow.

Tedious job but time well invested - I can then paint freely which speeds up the job and makes the effect tidy.

Tomorrow I will vacuum again and solvent-clean the whole deck. First layer of primer will follow - if weather permits.

I noticed that someone went on deck with shoes when I was away. To warn such guests I marked the ladder upon leaving. Hopefully curious guests will take this into consideration.