7/7/2010 - Day 2 in the yard

If you're smart you'll go out and buy as much 3M stock as you can. I think they've actually had to put on a second shift to try to keep up with my demand for blue tape. You may have to click on the picture to see the full-size version in order to get a true appreciation of how many miles of tape we've used:

My job today was to finish the prep work for painting the new boot top, then paint it. And, if I had time left over, help Lulu with masking and varnishing.

Prep work for painting over gel coat went like this:
1.) Apply a de-waxing agent. Unlikely that there's any wax left on our boat after all these years but it doesn't hurt to be safe.
2.) Using a Scotch-Brite (3M again) pad, scrub the gel coat to create a bunch of microscopic abrasions for the paint to cling to.
3.) Wash the area down with water and cleanser (Ajax, Clorox, Bon Ami, etc.). This cleans and further scratches the surface a little more.
4.) Hose the area down.
5.) Once dry, wipe down with denatured alcohol to remove anything still clinging on.
6.) Paint.

I got the first coat of boot top black applied. Need one more tomorrow for full coverage.

Meanwhile, Lulu was applying a coat of Cetol Natural Teak finish to all the woodwork outside. This after applying a few miles of blue tape herself. She got everything from the stern to where she is in this picture done. We'll hit the rest tomorrow.

We actually broke for lunch today and, since it's getting windy and we're both a little out of steam, we knocked off at about 5:00. As soon as Lulu gets back from the shower we're going to walk down to the Mad Dog Tavern (a little less than a mile away) for a cold beer and some popcorn. Then we'll come home for dinner. So far we've just been eating sandwiches and they've been tasting really good. And no dirty dishes to clean up. Which is good because we can't use our sinks in the yard since they'd just drain on to the ground. So we'd have to schlep our dirty dishes over to the bathroom to wash them. We did that last time we were here but we've learned since then.

By the way, our Frigoboat keel-cooled refrigerator continues to work quite nicely even when we're not in the water. I check the keel cooler occasionally to see if it's getting too warm but so far it's hardly ever even been warm, much less too warm. You just can't beat a deal like that even with a big ol' stick.

Oh yeah, and it didn't get even to close to as hot as they promised today. Maybe low 70s. Bit of a breeze too. I was pretty comfortable in shorts and t-shirt all day but Lulu needed long sleeves and pant legs. Of course, she was working up on deck where the breeze was while I was mostly down on the ground pretty protected.