Yesterday I got the fourth and last (for now) coat of varnish on the boat. It looks better than any of the earlier coats, which is to be expected, because, well, there's more varnish on the boat now, and because I wet-sanded before this coat instead of just scuffing up the surface with overpriced but highly effective 320-grit 3M pads.
See, it looks okay:
It was a long day yesterday. Cleaned off the wet-sanding goop by wiping down with denatured alcohol. But afterward, there was grit left over on the surfaces -- I could feel it. So then I vacuumed everything with the shop vac, and then I went over the whole boat again with denatured alcohol.
Then lots of masking. Once around with 3M Fineline tape, which is amazing stuff, and then back to protect all that bottom paint and the trailer with blue tape and newspapers. All while sitting cross-legged on the floor, arms above me, yelling at me. 'Why haven't you been lifting weights to build up some endurance here, Bub?' Because I've been too busy building a boat!
Finally I got to apply the varnish, which went faster than it ever has -- only 1 hr 45 minutes to do the whole boat. I don't know why this went a little faster than the other coats. I was worried, however, that I might have missed a section or didn't get the varnish on heavy enough. Nope, it looks pretty good everywhere. Numerous flaws will disappear when I renew the varnish, currently scheduled for the spring of 2014, depending.
This port-side sheer strake had been stubbornly rejecting varnish here and there, in previous coats. This time I got after those spots with a bit of rougher sandpaper and lots of scrubbing with denatured alcohol. That seemed to do the trick -- I have a nice protected surface here now (if slightly out of focus).
So, there are a few things left to do. I have to mount these oarlocks onto risers on the rub rails. It will take some shaping, some epoxy, some drilling, and some screwing.
And they will look like this, except for all the drilling and screwing and stuff:
And then I'll be mounting the two deck plates. More drilling and screwing and gooey silicone sealant.
I also have to varnish the yard and boom (on the right below) -- three coats I think. And I need to attach the oar leathers to the oars (below left). Those oars -- another retail story for another time. Thankfully they came with varnish already on 'em.
Oh, yeah, there's more. This pile of fins (daggerboard, rudder parts) and the tiller must be varnished, too. The daggerboard already has its first coat on -- the rest will have to catch up.
Finally, in case it's not abundantly clear, I have to clean up the garage before I can do any of this. Somebody keeps messing it up.
Okay, I'm exhausted just thinking about it all. Who said 'home stretch?' Surely not me.
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