So, this weekend was going to be when we started really scrubbing the topside to get her clean. The weather was supposed to be sunny and warm, but our best-laid plans fizzled a bit.
First thing that happened was that First Mate had some things to finish at the office, so we were going to be really late getting away on Friday afternoon. We decided that it would be best to head to the boat Saturday morning instead, and just had Martini night at our weekday home. Now that we’re here the weather, although not really bad, is a bit on the cool and windy side.
First Mate, feeling a bit lazy today, decided that she wanted to go into town and find some estate sales, so right now she’s off having fun. She also stopped by an antique marine store so see what they had and bought a set of four brass hooks for hanging coats, so we will put those up in a few places. They should look really nice!
And here I sit still trying to find my motivation to get a few projects done. I wanted to finish upgrading the wiring at the windless, so I guess I’ll get that done, maybe. The wiring that goes forward is good, but the connections in the anchor locker are not. I’ve had a few temporary connectors between a few wires that I need to change out. Now that I have some heavy duty crimpers I can take care of getting things shored up. I’m also going to redo some of the wiring on the house battery bank. I need to make sure that all the house wiring is only on the house bank, and not on the engine start battery. Maybe I’ll get that done, too.
When First Mate comes back we should probably get started on the topside paint. With how bad the oxidation is and how the dirt on the paint has been ground into it, we found that the only way to clean thing up is using foam sanding blocks. I used one last weekend to clean up the
port side where the old registration numbers were. They had started peeling off, so we helped
them along so that we could replace them. The sanding blocks we’re using are 120 grit, so they knock off all the dirt and oxidation, too. This is also a good idea because we are planning on repainting and this is all part of the prep work. This may end up waiting until tomorrow, though.
First Mate managed to finish sanding the starboard side toe rail last weekend and she applied the first coat of varnish. Tomorrow we’ll do a light sanding and put at least one more coat on it. She may manage to sand the port side, too. This morning she applied the third coat to the aft head floor, and it’s really starting to look good!
She and I are of the same mind, in that we like our teak and other wood to be nicely varnished on the outside, as well as everywhere else. The only place that we use matte varnish is on the teak and holly floor. Seems to make sense to use a matte varnish there. We have the old parquet floors everywhere other than the galley, but we’re going to have all the parquet redone with teak and holly. First Mate was opposed to replacing the parquet with teak and holly, but the cost of replacing the floor in the galley with parquet was out of what we budgeted for the project. Teak and holly throughout the boat will also be an upgrade.
And in the end, with all my rambling here, we will probably just mix up a few Bloody Marys and wallow the afternoon away, saving all the fun work for another day.