The Deck is Sanded!

So it's been a very long time since I dedicated time to working on this project. I had to get our Catalina 18 ready for a 9 day sailing trip in Lake Havasu during the middle of February that took a lot of time! After which we seemed to have one event after the other that was pulling me away from the boat.

So, after 3 months of not touching the boat, I put on my tyvex suit and went to work and finished sanding the deck this weekend! So she is now ready for some minor fairing prior to the primer going on!

I on purpose did not sand any of the bright work which I will do once I get ready to apply the finished coat to the deck. I must admit I am not a big fan of sanding epoxy! It is almost hard work!

Let's get this project re-started - Again!

Well Mr. Procrastination has been alive and well as it comes to this project. I must admit that sanding epoxy is not the most entertaining thing to do and I have quite frankly put this part of the project off by finding other things to keep me busy! But, at some point in time I have to finish this and I am sad to say that this upcoming February will be 3 years since I started!

So first things first - about a month or so ago I had my wife help me take the boat off the stand at which point we both washed it down with soapy water to try to get some of the Amine residue off. This was suggested by our local Interlux rep. Once it was back on the stand it sat for a while!

Well this weekend it ended up raining all day Saturday and I figured it was the perfect opportunity to resurrect this project!

I ended up getting about two thirds of the deck sanded by the time I called it quits. I am using hand sanders since I am trying real hard not to break through the epoxy into the natural wood and power sanders seem to have a mind of their own at times! That being said I did have a couple of minor areas where I exposed the wood. I am thinking that since I am using an epoxy based primer that it might not be a huge deal.

My goal is to finish sanding the deck next weekend. Fingers crossed!

Finishing the topside

The weather in Arizona is finally getting more conducive to working outside. Between last weekend and this weekend I finished sanding the hull in preparation for the laminating epoxy.

I also figured I might as well drill the holes for the shrouds prior to applying the epoxy. For this I used a 1/2" (13mm) forstner bit that did an acceptable job of drilling the hole. It's interesting to note that on the forward shrouds, the hole in the cross brace doesn't exactly line up very well in the up and down position with the hole in the hull (The holes were located per the instructions) We will have to see if this causes any issues when I install the shrouds and the mast.

I have had limited success so far in obtaining a good even coat when applying epoxy and I must admit that today was no different. I used a combination of a west systems roller and brush to tip it. And, even though  the roller did a good job of spreading the epoxy and minimizing runs,  I still ended up with brush marks on the first coat of epoxy. I guess do a light sanding and try again!

I will say that there is a ton of hard to reach places under the cross brace. I am hoping that I was able to get it all good in there! I'll make sure to really hit it good on the next coat.

My goal is to get a 2nd coat within the next day or so and then start the fairing / primering process on the deck.

Bowsprit Revisited

Amazingly enough we had phenomenal weather this weekend that did not end up breaking the 100 degree mark + was relatively dry! I decided to take advantage of it  by continuing to tackle getting the deck ready for final epoxy coats.

As part of the finishing process I decided to test fit the bowsprit. I had to sand down portion of the gunnel on the front transom in order for it to line up with the rear support. I also took the opportunity to sand in the grove on the inboard side of the gunnel for the forward lashing that will support the forestay.

The other thing that came to light is that even though the tapered bowsprit looks pretty cool, functionally I would have been better off not to taper it since the support is sized for the full diameter of the bowsprit when it is fully extended. The issue comes up when you retract it and the bowsprit ends up being poorly supported and subject to banging around! Live and learn!

I also took advantage of the weather and started sanding down the upper deck. I am happy to say that I got the bulk of it down. I believe that one more solid effort of sanding and I will be ready to start the laminating epoxy!

Daggerboard Spacers

Ok, these pictures have been on my camera for a while. It continues to be stinking hot in Arizona and I have not been able to get motivated to go outside and sweat profusely!

As you can see I epoxied in the spacers on the deck side of the hull.

In theory I am now ready for a bunch of sanding and two coats of laminating epoxy! Although most likely it will be in 3 to 4 weeks as temperatures start to cool down!

Foiled!

Wow - another 6 weeks have gone by and zero progress on the PaperJet! A lot of that can be attributed to the fact that it has been absolutely stinking hot here and it has not really been to pleasant to hang out in the garage! Also the creating of a custom cover for the Capri 18 took time away from this project!

This weekend we had some nice overcast weather, and even though it was very humid, it was a least bearable in the garage.

My first order of business was to sand down the dagger board to make sure everything was going to fit through the slot in both the bottom and the top. It took a fair amount of sanding on both the dagger board and the wooden fillets that I had installed on the hull side of the daggerboard locker to make it go up and down smoothly. It was interesting that from the bottom of the boat I could raise and lower the daggerboard without too many issues, but when trying to do it from on top, it kept binding! After a lot of sanding it finally goes up and down smoothly! I must admit I am grateful that I decided not to finish up the foils. I am pretty sure that all this fitting would have completely ruined a good finish!

Apart from sanding the daggerboard, I also took the time to sand down the rudder so that it was smooth and ready to attach the handle.

I also took the time to make the fillets for the deck side of the daggerboard locker. I got all four of them cut out, fitted and epoxied. I took the time and effort to soften the inside corner to hopefully make sliding the daggerboard into the slot a litter easier. I was going to install them today, until I found out that I made two starboard front pieces! So, I have to apply the laminating epoxy to the other side of the piece! Therefore, it appears that this will be accomplished this week.

Next order of business is to epoxy in the fillets and to also epoxy the handles onto the foils. After that I suspect that there is going to be a lot of sanding in my future!

Back in the saddle again!

Wow! I cannot believe it has been almost two months since I last worked on the Paper Jet! I guess that is what  happens when you decide to buy a new (to me) sailboat out of the blue! I have been spending way to much time getting that boat up to snuff and have neglected the poor Paper Jet! Well this weekend it was time to change that.

The mission right now is to get the topside ready to epoxy and then finish. A few things have to happen in order to accomplish this.

Firstly I cut out the foot rests and the doublers for the wings where a couple of cleats attach.

I also cut out the spacers for the deckside dagger board locker and proceeded to find out that the dagger board did not want to fit through the spacers that I had previous epoxied to the bottom of the hull! (It is amazing what happens when you add several coasts of epoxy to stuff! They grow!) This necessitated doing some sanding on the dagger board and also on the hull spacers! I wasnt able to resolve the entire issue this weekend but it was getting close. I think it is time to start sanding down the dagger board for finishing so that I have the final size figured out.

I also spent a fair amount of time doing the initial sanding on the deck although I still have a fair amount of detail sanding to go. There is definitely a lot more nooks and crannies on the deck vs. the hull!

I finished up this weekend by epoxying the foot rests and piling a whole bunch of weight on it so that they would lay flat!

All in all a weekend of miscellaneous tasks where not a whole lot got accomplished but there was forward progress!