Yes, More Varnish Work

May 31, 2018

Upon arriving home for the evening, I suited up for a quick session: applying yet another layer of varnish to the aft seat and backrest of the white Dhow.  I lightly sanded the surfaces with 220-grit paper, and then moved over to the shop to sand the lower mast section of the blue Dhow.  

After cleaning the surfaces of the varnish dust, I applied coat of the Epifanes clear varnish thinned by ~10%.  Moving back into the shop, I further thinned the Epifanes for the second coat on the lower mast section of the blue Dhow - thinned by ~30% to 40%.  The aft seat and backrest of the white Dhow will receive one more application of varnish, and then I flip her to begin topsides painting.

Total Time Today: .5 hrs

Ongoing Varnish Work

May 30, 2018

The ongoing work of building up the varnish continued this evening with a scuffing of the surface with 220-grit paper, a thorough vacuuming, and then a wipe down with a solvent.

I slightly thinned the Epifanes clear varnish with mineral spirits, and then applied with a foam brush. Should be a couple more applications before I can flip her and begin topsides paint.

Total Time Today: .5 hrs

Continued Varnish Work

May 29, 2018

I continued applying varnish to the aft seat and backrest of the white Dhow, with first sanding the surface with 220-grit paper and cleaning up the sanding debris as per usual - vacuuming followed by a solvent wipe down.  I'll be able to flip the white Dhow and begin topsides painting after a couple more coats of Epifanes clear varnish.

With the balance of the varnish in my cup, I made my way back over to the shop and flipped the boom and yard arm of the white Dhow and applied the finish coat to the side resting on the table saw from last night's application.  With the exception of some minor assembly to do, the white Dhow's rig is complete.  In the coming days I will turn my attention to completing the blue Dhow's rig.

Total Time Today: .75 hrs

Seating and Spars Varnish Work, and First Coat of Topsides Paint

May 28, 2018

Last night, after getting back from working on a project off site, a removed a section of dry-rot from the white Dhow's backrest and then epoxied a mahogany patch in place.  I painted out the surfaces with neat epoxy so as to not starve the glue joint, and then applied epoxy thickened with wood flour (fine sawdust I had collected from a round of sanding mahogany boards).  

This morning, I removed the tape protecting adjacent surfaces from squeeze-out, and sanded everything down to fair.  I followed this up with sanding the balance of the area: aft seat and backrest, with 220-grit paper.  I then applied a coat of Epifanes clear varnish.

While I was in the sanding mood, I water-washed the amine blush from the freshly epoxy-coated "false bulkhead" for the blue Dhow, and then sanded for paint (forward surface) and varnish (aft, hidden surface).

I also hand-sanded the blue Dhow's hull in preparation for the first coat of topsides paint.  I sanded with 220-grit paper, from the sheer line to the water line.  

After sanding, vacuuming, and solvent-washing the surface, I moved into locating the waterline.  The Dyer Dhows have a scribed waterline (a feature within the mold that imparts a small radius cove when the boat is laid up at the factory).  After years of existence...this Dhow's waterline was all but gone.  There was enough on the port side for me to essentially connect the dots through application of a fair curve.  The starboard side would require some measurements off the port side and a bit of effort at creating a mirror image of the fairness of the port waterline.

At the end of it, I had accomplished a fair curve for the port and starboard waterlines.

With the boat prepped for paint I mixed a small pot of the Interlux Perfection Lauderdale Blue, deciding to add 1/2 ounce of Snow White to lighten the paint a touch.  I prepared the paint, waited the 20 minutes for the paint's induction, and then thinned by 10% with Interlux's 2333N thinner.  The conditions were not ideal for painting - 20-25 mph winds, neighbor's yard service in full effect - yet I was not deterred since this first coat would be sanded down a bit and imperfections removed, plus it was a milestone.

I finished the day by taking down the spars and doing some epoxy work on the 30+ year old rigs, as well as some varnish work.  The blue Dhow's rigs had some stripped out hardware and some surface damage that required work; the white Dhow's rig is in a bit better condition, requiring only varnish work.

I managed to get the spars set about the shop, and followed that up with the application of Epifanes clear varnish.

In the coming days, I will sand a prep the blue Dhow's spars for their continued varnish work.  The white Dhow's spars required a freshening coat of varnish only.

Total Time Today: 7 hrs

Varnish Work & False Bulkhead (blue Dhow)

May 24, 2018

I began the evening's work with lightly sanding the initial penetrating coat of varnish on the white Dhow's aft seat and backrest. With a vacuuming and wipe down with solvent, I applied a second coat of Epifanes clear varnish, thinned by ~15% - pictured below.

I then turned my attention to the prepping for the blue Dhow's false bulkhead - I call it "false" since it is not structural, and really just meant to capture the flotation foam under the aft seat.  I placed the white Dhow's false bulkhead in position on the blue Dhow to see if I could use it as a template to fabricate a new one.  Yes, it fit!  While I was here, I trimmed the aft seat support back in order for the false bulkhead to sit recessed by approximately one inch.

Back in the shop, I laid the white Dhow's false bulkhead onto a 1/4" sheet of panel product, traced the outline and prepared to cut it out.

With a jigsaw, I removed the new false bulkhead to be installed on the blue Dhow.  I cleaned and sanded the edges with 40-grit paper and then with 80-grit paper.

Because I will be painting the false bulkheads, I took the time to paint neat epoxy over the bulkhead to seal it from future water ingress.  I will eventually sand this epoxy application, and then paint both false bulkheads with the TotalBoat TotalBilge product.

Total Time Today: 1.5 hrs

Aft Seating Work: Varnish on the White Dhow and Tabbing on the Blue Dhow

May 23, 2018

In a brief work session, I managed to get the first, penetrating coat of varnish on the white Dhow's aft seating and backrest.  The Epifanes clear varnish was thinned by ~40% in order to soak well into the grain of the dry mahogany.  Subsequent coats will not be thinned as much - more like 10 to 15%, and with the final coat thinned ~5%.

In moving the blue Dhow around, I noticed that the aft seat support was moving a bit.  I didn't like the idea of the seat support grinding the underside of the aft seat, so I set out to tab the seat support to the underside of the aft seat.  I will be installing cleats on the underside of the aft seat, set back 1" from the leading edge, and this will serve to prevent the movement but would also put stress on the cleats.  So, I decided to tab the seat support in situ.

Total Time Today: 1 hr

Final Coat of Interior Paint & Continued Varnish Work

May 22, 2018

Upon arriving at the house, I went straight to work in getting the final coat of paint on the white Dhow, as well as continuing the varnish work on the aft seat, backrest of the blue Dhow and the forward and middle seat of the white Dhow....confused yet?!  Hopefully things will become more clear in the near future with topsides paint...

I sanded the white Dhow's middle and forward seats with 220-grit paper.  This is just a light scuffing to create a surface that promotes a mechanical bond for the subsequent coat of varnish.  The picture below shows one seat sanded and one yet to be.

I then moved over to the work area and sanded the blue Dhow's backrest and aft seat, also with 220-grit paper.

After the sanding was completed for the varnish work, I moved over to the white Dhow and sanded the first application of interior paint - again, with 220-grit paper.  The TotalBoat TotalBilge epoxy-based paint requires a light scuffing for better overcoating - that whole mechanical bond requirement.

With the sanding complete for the day, I moved into varnish work.  I first vacuumed the seating, as well as the interior of the white Dhow, followed by a wipe down with a rag dampened with solvent.  I first got to applying the Epifanes clear varnish to the white Dhow's seating - only barely thinned with the Epifanes reducer.

With the seating on the white Dhow complete, I moved over to the blue Dhow.  I applied what is to be the final coat of varnish to the blue Dhow's aft seat and backrest.

I turned my attention to painting out the interior of the white Dhow as the final task for the evening.  I purposefully left the daggerboard slot bare since I will be coming back to glass on the daggerboard trunk - one of the last steps in the restoration.

Total Time Today: 1.75 hrs

Varnish Work & First Coat Interior Paint (white Dhow)

May 20, 2018

I got to work this morning by sanding the previous day's varnish work: the middle and forward seating on the white Dhow, as well as the aft seat and backrest of the blue Dhow.

The pictures above and below show the process of light sanding with 220-grit paper.  After I had sanded the pieces, I vacuumed the dust and then wiped them down with a solvent.  I applied another coat of varnish with very little thinner, and for some reason I didn't think to snap a picture of the freshly varnished mahogany seats of the white Dhow...

...but I did get a photo of the blue Dhow aft seat and backrest.

I continued the sanding theme, with an aim to get a coat of interior paint on the white Dhow.  I began by water-washing the previous days epoxy work: installation of the mast step, and a few areas that I had faired with thickened epoxy.

With the sanding complete, I prepped for the epoxy-based paint.  I vacuumed the sanding dust and then wiped the surface with a solvent.  

I worked my way around the white Dhow applying the TotalBoat TotalBilge epoxy-based paint.  The application was, again, with a solvent-resistant foam roller.  With that, I closed the shop for the day and prepared for other work off-site.

Total Time Today:  2 hrs

Seat Work, Sanding, Mast Step & Varnish

May 19, 2018

With a full day ahead of me, I got out to the Dhows relatively early on this Saturday morning.  First up...modifying the aft seat of the white Dhow.  In the previous post, you can make out significant damage along the leading edge of the aft seat.  With most of the seating still in good shape, I was opposed to ripping it out and fabricating new seating - the deadline for the this project didn't really support that plan of action either.  The solution was to rip the leading 1/4" of material from the aft seat, thereby cleaning up its edge.  

I laid out a tape line to help with the application of the various saws I'd be using to remove the damaged section.

With a pass on the circular saw, the jig saw, and a final trimming with the oscillating tool, I was able to remove the leading edge of the aft seat.

I cleaned up the edge with the RO sander and an 80-grit disc; and applied a bit of a round-over to soften the freshly cut edge.

While I had the RO sander out, I went ahead and sanding the aft seat and backrest down to bare wood.  With a bit of hand-sanding the seat and backrest were now ready for varnish work.  I left the varnishing for another day, and instead continued on with my other RO sander on the interior of the hull - paint prep time!

After sanding the interior of the hull, I vacuumed the sanding debris and wiped all surfaces down with a rag dampened with acetone.  

Before painting, I needed to get the mast step in place.  The white Dhow was built as a rowing dinghy, and because of this, it needed several modifications that are unique to the sailing version: daggerboard slot, daggerboard trunk, mast step, etc.  The mast step would go in this morning.  I took dimensions from the blue Dhow's mast step: length, width, and height.

I then used a proxy to locate the location of the forward edge of the mast step.  I think I may wait to drill the hole for the mast in the forward seat until I at least test sit the seat - I need to get a good vertical alignment.

For now, my interest was in getting the mast step made and installed.  I used the dimensions taken from the blue Dhow's mast step and made a "blank" to begin working into position.  I used a compass to scribe the hull's concave form onto both the aft and forward portion of the mast step.

After a bit of fine-tuning, I was able to get the white Dhow's mast step nestled into place quite nicely.

Any voids beneath the mast step would be filled with thickened epoxy used to bed the mast step into place.  For some reason I did not capture the installation of the mast step, but the following description details the install.  I cleaned the oils from the wood's surface with acetone, then painted next epoxy onto both the hull and the mast step.  With thickened epoxy (406 and 407), I came back and spread a liberal amount on the bottom of the mast step and then set it firmly into position.  I carefully checked alignment while pushing the step down into the hull's concave nest.  The squeeze out was captured with a filleting tool, and as the name suggests, I imparted a clean fillet around the base of the mast step. 

I moved back into the shop after finishing work on the white Dhow.  I sanded the middle and forward set to ready them for another coat of varnish.  I also sanded the aft seat and the backrest of the blue Dhow for varnish work.  Slightly thinning a few ounces of Epifanes, I applied a coat with a foam brush.

With the balance of varnish, I applied another coat to the blue Dhow's aft seat and backrest.   The greenish blocks you see beneath the blue Dhow's aft seat is floatation foam - three blocks for each side of the center seat support to help impart floatation in the boat.  I will be using these blocks as templates for floatation foam for the white Dhow.  

Total Time Today: 3.5 hrs

Second Coat Interior Paint (blue Dhow) & Seat Varnish (white Dhow)

May 17, 2018

This evening I was able to get the second and final coat of interior paint on - an epoxy-based paint by the name of TotalBilge.  I began by lightly sanding the previous coat with 220-grit paper, vacuuming and then wiping the surface with a solvent.  I painted the second coat on with a foam roller.  Finishing up with the paint, I turned my attention back to the shop for continued varnish work on the forward and middle seats from the white Dhow.

I sanded the first, highly thinned coat of varnish with 220-grit paper, cleaned the surface and applied a lightly thinned second coat of Epifanes clear varnish.

I managed to flip the white Dhow to begin the process of its interior restoration.  I am intent on not having to rip out the aft seat and backrest on the white Dhow, since the material is salvageable.  I am thinking of ripping the front 1/2" of the aft seat to remove the severely chipped portion, and then epoxy in a new edge...more to come.

Total Time Today: 1.25 hrs