I know, I know. I never write anymore

I know some of you have been wondering why there has been no activity on my blogs as of late. Well the old depression over our finances reared its ugly head again and threw the whole project into reduced production status. I finely kicked myself in the seat and said enough and fired the project back up into full swing. Two weeks of that time were spent on epoxy curing so in all we lost from about May 22nd to July 8th or 6 ½ weeks. Lets subtract the long 4th of July weekend since we were away for the holiday and to make me feel better. That brings us to right At 6 weeks lost to the monster.

Once back at it the first order of business was to go over the whole interior once again quickly with the sandpaper. I found several places that could have been filled and sanded one more time but the painting inside is more of an exercise than an attempt at perfection. I want to know how the System Three products go on and “learn” in an area far less scrutinized than the outer hull and decks will be. The interior of this boat will be used for storage of sails and little else.

Next getting the shop ready for applying the primer and paint. Everything takes longer than you want it to. I finished cleaning the shop or so I thought last night. This morning there was a fine layer of dust settled on all the horizontal surfaces, tables, shelves etc. This is not the first time I have cleaned it for paint duty, but it’s been a while so I wanted it as clean as I could expect or as I put it to myself “ a little cleaner than the last time I painted in here”. One benefit of the unplanned delay will be the possibility of completing the hull and deck sanding and fairing outside, eliminating the need to clean the shop to the extent it was this go round.

Today after dusting everything in the shop one last time and a quick vacuum of the boat I wiped all the surfaces to be painted with a 50-50 alcohol/water solution. After 3 rounds it looks good to me. I plan to begin applying the primer early tomorrow while the shop is still cool enough to keep from running any fans or even the dust filter.

We will be using the System Three Silvertip Yacht Primer, a waterborne, two-part marine epoxy primer. Two coats are the minimum recommended, three suggested if significant sanding is planed. We’ll see what two looks like and then make that call. This product dries by evaporation and multi coats are possible in a day. A full days cure is necessary before top coating.

Well that brings us all up to date. Keep an eye out for pictures to be posted late tomorrow.

PS: I need to tell you about the little 12’ sailboat we picked up for a hundred bucks some time. Perhaps later next week I’ll sit down and tell that story. Oh and then there’s the 10K rigging bid to address.

I’m not adding any time to the project here because it was negligible. Cleaning the hull took about 2 hours.