After that first coat of varnish I sanded (and sanded, and sanded) the boat in the driveway. The idea here is to just rough up the first varnish coat a bit, so the second coat will adhere well. Since it was my first experience sanding varnish, I had to learn how to do it by making as many mistakes as possible. Sanding too hard ... not cleaning off / replacing the sandpaper frequently enough ... not drinking enough water (or maybe it should have been Scotch).
But I got it sanded after about four hours' effort, and we wanted to put the second varnish coat on the next day. However ... there was a problem.
Return with me now to the earlier days of construction, before there were bulkheads and seats and knees. I "sealed and protected" the inside of the hull with two coats of un-thickened epoxy, being sure to fill up all the seams between the strakes, so there would be no place for water to pool and, with ultimate patience, infiltrate the epoxy barrier and start rotting the wood.
I missed a couple of spots. Actually, I had just given up on a couple of spots, after it seemed there was no way to get the un-thickened epoxy to fill the gaps and stay there while it cured.
Of course, I knew there was a way. I could take the extra time to mix up some thickened epoxy --adding a bit of wood flour or Cell-o-fil or both. THAT would stay where I put it.
But did I want to take the time? No. Was I anxious to be moving on to another phase of construction? Yes. So I decided to let those gaps magically fix themselves. The gaps, however, weren't listening.
So while I sanded that first layer of varnish I found that varnish had seeped into those gaps and Not Cured Very Well. What I had on my hands (well, on my boat) was a mess. And there could be no more pretending that I could plunge ahead and things would self-correct.
So I used an array of tools and non-family-friendly words to get the sticky bubbly unhappy doomed varnish out of those gaps, cleaned everything up, and applied thickened epoxy. But now we wouldn't be able to varnish the next day, because it would take two days for the epoxy fixes to cure at the ambient temperature in the garage (about 65 degrees F.). Was there any way to speed up the cure?
Yes.
To the rescue: a halogen light my dad had given me a few months earlier. It gets HOT. The next morning that epoxy was cured. I think. I hope.
So we added another coat. Again I did most of the application while Sooz did QC/QA. Once we got to the outside of the sheer strake and the rub rails, she took over on tipping out. This coat went on a little easier -- the workers were more confident if not more skilled -- but somewhere about 2/3 through the effort I slowed down, which I realized when I started failing to keep a wet edge, resulting in VOR (visible overlap ridges). Sooz told me the equivalent of WAKE UP, BOZO, YOU'RE GETTING VORs! So I picked up the pace and we finished.
Later that evening:
It looked a lot glossier after this second coat, and some of the dry spots from the first coat were much reduced or eliminated altogether. There was hope.
The next morning, which, if you're keeping score, was yesterday, I rolled the vessel out to the driveway. Here she is just before my second sanding session (which also went better):
I sure hope that masking tape comes off cleanly ...
Today I'll wipe everything down and we'll put on a third coat, before whisking the puppies off to a day trip to Gig Harbor. There's a house for sale down there within easy walking distance of a boat ramp ...
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