Moving forward

We are in the last straight: Lots of work and little time left, including writing… We’ll keep the text short and put a lot of pictures.

After the sand blasting and welding of the hatch boxes, we start painting inside and out.

One coat of sealer and 3 coats of epoxy barrier coat on stainless steel and six coats on regular steel.  How to keep count? 

Little list taped on the galley counter. 

The centerboard trunk will get one coat a day until we leave; we don’t want to do this again anytime soon!  JF found a way to get it done efficiently, if not comfortably or safely (claustrophobia anyone?):  Half from under, sitting in the trunk (8” wide, can’t turn the head; And the mask doesn’t fit), the other half from the top.

Jean-Pierre came back for the last welding day of the season.  We fix the cockpit, install the new stainless steel pigeonholes (doors not on the picture) and weld in plates in place of old holes.  

With a coat of paint it’s starting to look like something.

After the coat of paint that occupies most of the mornings lately, we keep moving forward with the wood frames.  We found blond Oak and had it planed down to the right thickness to replace the rotten parts; Grandpa Germain attacks the sanding.  

Even the frame that had to be chiseled out (there was a foot of it missing) is rebuilt (screwed into its old window for template).  

The result is excellent; especially if you consider that we did all of that outside on a makeshift workbench with only a router and a belt sander.  This afternoon we took a picture of all the frames, glued, patched and sanded down to 220, almost ready for varnishing.

This week, last phase of the frames, interior insulation and deck hatches installation, after the mandatory 15 days wait period for the paint to harden.