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