Sunday, November 23, 2008

First Sanding of Fairing Compound

For November 23rd, I completed the removal of all of the boat’s brightwork (except for the toe rails), and will soon be finished preparing the brightwork for varnish.  My technique thus far in preparing the brightwork has been to clean the bare teak in a TSP bath, then progress through 3 grits of sandpaper – 80, 220, and finally 320.  Once I finish sanding, I thoroughly clean the boards of sawdust by brushing down, vacuuming, and then wiping down with mineral spirits.  The final step is to rub in a good coat of teak oil.  The teak oil really seems to bring the wood to life again, and shows off the wood’s warm tone and attractive grain. 

After I removed the final companionway hatch rail, I turned my attention to the first sanding of the bottom after the first application of “neat” epoxy barrier coat and low-density filler for fairing.  My first experience with epoxy went well and I am excited to see the bottom improving so dramatically.  I started sanding on the rudder with 80 grit paper and a 3M rubber sanding block.  After sanding most of the rudder smooth, I ditched the block for hand sanding the curves.  This will be a slow process no doubt, but the bottom definitely needs the attention…and the weather is great for this type of work.  You can see from the pictures that I have just started the first sanding, and though there is not much progress here the work is coming along nicely.  Right now I have to settle for weekend work, so it’s a little slow-going.   

1 comment:

scot free said...

nice job on the resto. have hull #228 daysaler. I to have encountered the same problems as you, I'll have video and pix to poast in the future.