Sanding...sanding...sanding

No power tools used for the Fourth of July weekend....

...and I have the rough digits to show for it. For the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of July, I focused on the areas of the deck that needed sanding and that my Porter Cable 7335 could not get to. So I turned to the most useful of tools - my hands. I went through probably 15 sheets of 60 grit as I move around the deck, following the raised non-skid deck pattern. The slight elevation of the non-skid forces the use of sand paper, applied by hand. I tried my Porter Cable, my Dewalt VS Randon Orbital, and bought and returned a Ryobi corner sander. Nothing produced results like fingers and sand paper!

The July heat just made it incredibly fun. Not! I bought a 20" box fan for $16 to provide some air circulation. I would not have lasted two hours without it; and with it, I put in approximately 18 hours across the three days.

I also removed the port toe rail and genoa track. The exposed edge of the deck will require some filling and fairing prior to the new toerail installation - which I still need to design. In the

days I plane to etch the boom and prime it. I will then fill the unwanted holes and prepare for topcoat painting. Whew, long hot weekend.