It Is Getting Closer To Being Done!

SHIP'S LOG:

     It actually turned out to be a rather nice day, well at least for a couple of hours around mid-day. When the wind stopped blowing, it really warmed up and made one lazy about working on the boat or anything else for that matter.

     Yesterday was consumed with the port side caprail, all 11'3" of it. The five pieces of it, necessary to make it fit due to the curving of the hull, had been shaped and screwed in place with a bedding of vinyl adhesive sealer.  The screw holes, which were counter-sunk, had all been bunged of filled with wood filler. All the gaps that existed between sections, which existed because I can't measure worth a damn, were filled with spacers and/or wood filler. The last few tasks needed to be done to finish it off.

     The new rail had to be sanded, first to prepare it for staining and varnishing, and secondly, to shape it and bring it into a semi-matching state with the rest of the caprail. I had no tools aboard capable of doing the job, so I borrowed a belt sander from my good friend, Skip, who is also the source of the oak I used for the rail.

     Even with the proper grit of course sand paper, the sanding was chore. The end results were far from perfect but they certainly are serviceable and now that it is stained, it really looks pretty good. All that remains to be done it the varnishing and the job will be complete.  Next Spring, when it's varnishing time again, if I am unsatisfied with how the caprail looks after a season on the water, I will take more time to bring it into a more perfect match with the rest of the caprail. Then again, perhaps I will rip out the rest of the caprail and replace it and then bring it into match with the new section. Who knows? It is part of the fun of boating.

     I got to sand the repair to a small ding on the hull that penetrated the gelcoat. It wasn't a dreaded blister and was easily repairable with epoxy. I also epoxied and sand the a place on the rudder where the wood was exposed and it's ready for painting.

     But perhaps my greatest maintenance success was the boat hook. My poor boat hook has gone through a lot. The last survivor of boats hooks that made the trip south, It had been bent in half on the ICW and was repaired by Dave "Dr. Fix-it" Dixon in Beaufort, SC. His was an elegant fix in that he took part of a spar for an old sailing dingy the BYSC had laying around, cut it to size and inserted it into the tube of  my boat hook and pop-riveted it in place. I didn't have an aluminum tube laying around but I did find a broom handle that someone broke and discarded. It wasn't a total fit but it was closed enough. Inserted into the boat hook tube and set in place with stainless steel machine screws, it was a good fix, though after two such fixes, I will probably loose it over board and have to buy a new one.

      Today is a wash-out. Rain will prevent varnishing, inside or out, as well as hull painting. It will give me a chance to pick up a few small items that I still need. Wednesday promises to be sunny and bright and dry and so I will do the painting and outside varnishing, NOAA getting it right that is.