Fruits Of My Labor (A-113)

[Tony G]

Thanks for the kind words, Frank. And the inspiration, I might add. Your cruise along with Craig, Rose and Peter dog carried me for years through the hard times.

[Commander227]

Tony, T-O-N-Y, Tony!!!

[mbd]

PS....dreams DO come true!!!

...with LOTS of hard work!

Tony, T-O-N-Y, Tony!!!

+99!!!

[frank durant]

OK....it's been a full 'boat yard work week'.....

WUZZHAPPININ?????

[Tony G]

You know, the usual. Sanding, filling, sanding. It was 104 degrees in the cabin the other day. That made just about anything difficult, except sweating! If we can keep the rain away this week we hope to get some priming done. Hope to have a progress report later this week.

[frank durant]

Yes.....I know that feeling. While working on Revival at Indiantown I found it next to impossible to work in the heat of the afternoons! So...I worked mornings, took the afternoon off and worked evenings. Got more done with less frustration.

Good luck

Keep the faith

[frank durant]

Pics......we NEED pics!!!

[Tony G]

Ok, I'll try to get to the office tomorrow so we can update this thread with some pictures. We got the first coat of paint on the top sides today and it was atrocious. Hopefully it will all sand out tomorrow morning and we can get the final coat on and then start on the cabin top and decks. We'll have to take some "in progress" photos for the real feel. ; )

[frank durant]

Spraying or "roll n tip" ?

[Tony G]

It turned out to be more on the order of roll, drag, and smear. Carol rolled and I handled the rest on my own... Tomorrow is a new day. We'll fix her make up and pick up where we left off today. It looks like we have a couple days before the rain returns.

[Westgate]

Tony,
Very nice to see that you are making such great progress. I really admire your courage and craftsmanship. Look luck with the final push!
I painted a small skiff in my backyard last July. It was my first time painting a boat. It was well over 100 degrees everyday which presented a few obstacles to say the least. Here are few hard learned lessons. FYI I used Prefection which in the end gave very good results.
I am sure most of this has been said before….
1) Paint in the early AM. I did all my prep the day before and then in the AM would just solvent wash and tack off before putting down a coat. I would let this dry thru the heat of the day and then sand it out and clean it up in the evening.
2) Work in small sections and try, at all costs, to maintain a wet edge. This was the hardest thing to figure out bc the paint was drying so fast. You need to tip the edge of the previous section as you tip the one you just did to blend them so if you wait too long it will be too dry and will smear.
3) Over thin the paint. I used 1.5 times the recommended amount.
4) You can use the cheap foam rollers that are available at HD. No need to buy expensive ones and in fact I found the cheapos worked better! Also I used a foam brush to tip which was far superior to a conventional brush. The latter left huge ridges in the paint bc it dried before it could flow out. The foam ones minimized this big time!
5) I sanded between coats to try and remove ridges and runs. The first two coats I pretty much sanded off completely bc I was still learning. I think I put on 5 coats before I felt it looked good. Mine you it was a dark colour which shows every flaw!
6) If you get behind with tipping and you find the paint is drying too fast don’t try and rework it just keep going. You can solve the problems with the next coat or rather with the next sanding!
7) Avoid rain...rain is bad....very bad....did I mention that rain is bad......good luck!

[Tony G]

We finally got the primer under control. It took a day of travelling around the area to get a shade cloth which we rigged up over the boat. The next day it was amazingly cooler on deck and in the cabin. The primer was high-build and naturally thicker than some of the other stuff we have used in the past. It hid some "whoobees" which was fine by me, but again, my finish standards are taking a back seat to the desires to get if safe, sealed, and sailing.

Here's what the new shop looks like.


Not what I was used to back in MN! Oh well, I never have to sweep the shop floor .

[Tony G]

One thing on the list that has been dragging out far too long is the main companion way. I never really had a solid plan for how it was going to be finished off. I just knew I wasn't a big fan of the hinged doors she had when we bought her. I wanted simple and easy but there wasn't a straight path there because of a number of things going on with the hatch; like the drain gutters coming aft, the positioning of the slide tracks, the S-shaped curve in the aft end of the cabin top.

To get down here all we did was cut a couple of dados in the edge of 2x4s and screw a chunk to either side of the companion way. I called it the Jethro Bodeen look..


Finally after visiting as many boats as I could and trying to adhere to the KISS principle, I cobbled together some pieces of plywood, made some compromises, and glued them in place.


After we got things primed and one coat of paint on the cabin top, we made a couple of simple drop board guides out of some of the teak we brought with us. Once the painting is done and we attach them with sealant, we'll add plugs for the screw holes and varnish them.


We scored some 1/2" acrylic from our neighbor's garbage pile that was crazed something awful on one side but looked pretty good on the other. It will serve the purpose well for the time being.


We have some new 1/2" smoked acrylic for the slider, but that will have to wait until after the last coat of paint. For now, the plastic wrapped plywood will do...

[mbd]

Thanks for the update Tony. Love the new signature.

[ebb]

Looking around corners, you got some beautiful work there, Tony!

That gray 'primer' stealth topsides full shot has a real modern look to it. Like it!

(ebb's right behind ya, finally getting littlegull's deck & cockpit painted...

Never, never never too late!!!) Happy for you.