Exterior

Anchor Platform

Submitted by dasein668 on Sun, 07/01/2007 - 17:03.

After the storm damage a couple of years ago, we neglected to replace the damaged platform, instead using it as-is with a new roller installed. It was functional, if ugly, so the project got put off for a bit.

During the spring of 2007 however, we decided to take care of the jagged old platform and replace it with a new, lower profile unit.

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Bilge Drain Plug

Submitted by dasein668 on Wed, 05/30/2007 - 09:43. |

After our winter bilge flood, we were greatly looking forward to the addition of a bilge drain to prevent any unfortunate reoccurance of that unfortunate event. Installation of the bronze plug was a quick, and simple procedure.

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Spring Prep: Flood!

Submitted by dasein668 on Wed, 04/25/2007 - 08:34. | |

Well it's been a pretty horrid spring here in Maine, with two large April snowstorms, followed by a tremendous rain-and-wind northeaster that slammed us on Patriot's Day. But as it always does, the weather finally began to improve by mid-month and on April 24 I finally got the cover off the boat. Unfortunately, there was a nasty little surprise waiting for me.

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Bow Repair

Submitted by dasein668 on Fri, 10/13/2006 - 15:05. |

Remember the damage to the bow? After suffering through two seasons, I finally got the patch covered with topcoat. This spring I managed to fill, fair, and prime the damage, but persistant rains prevented me from getting it painted.

I took advantage of a nice warm October day this fall to make good the repair. After masking off the repair, I sprayed several light coats of Alexseal topcoat using a Preval sprayer.

These sprayers aren't exactly a fine finishing tool, but I managed to get good coverage without it looking too horrible. From a few feet away the repair is only noticeable by a slight difference in gloss due to the slight orange peel. Good 'nuff! At least it is green now!

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Bug Screen

Submitted by dasein668 on Sun, 09/03/2006 - 09:46.

I don't know how it is in other parts of the country, but anyone who has ever cruised in Maine knows that the bug situation can be intense at times. Sometimes I almost believe the old saw about the mosquito being the Maine State Bird. After building our nice new forward hatch over the winter of 04-05, we needed a new bug screen solution for it.

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Cockpit Awning

Submitted by dasein668 on Wed, 08/30/2006 - 23:15.

Since I am, shall we say, somewhat prone to sunburns, we decided during our 2005 cruise that a cockpit awning would be a valuable addition. In fact, we have even rigged a mickey-mouse-awning using a quilt in the past. Obviously, something a little better needed to be built.

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Deck Refinishing—Stripping the Deck

Submitted by dasein668 on Sun, 05/01/2005 - 00:00.

Winter 2004-05

Thanks to the generosity of Tim Lackey we were able to store Dasein indoors at his heated boat barn during the 2004-05 winter, as we intended to paint the hull during the off-season. We wanted to make the most of this opportunity, so once the boat was inside we made the decision to also take care of the decks and toerail, thereby completing our entire slate of exterior projects. We knew this was an ambitious project, but we were feeling aggressive and decided to dive right in.

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Deck Refinishing—Prepping the Decks

Submitted by dasein668 on Sun, 05/01/2005 - 00:00.

Winter 2004-05

Once all of the deck hardware was off the boat, it was time to get down to brass tacks and prepare the decks for paint. The decks were, frankly, in appaling condition. They "featured" gelcoat that was so severely crazed that in many places the gelcoat was actually coming off in chunks. This crazing was not localized, but rather, quite consistent over the entire deck, cockpit, and cabin trunk areas. Clearly this needed to be addressed, and the notion of crinding out each crack individually was ludicrous. A different approach was needed.

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Deck Refinishing—Fairing and Surfacing

Submitted by dasein668 on Sun, 05/01/2005 - 00:00.

Winter 2004-05

The next part of the project was to fair the new glass surface. While the new glass provided a relatively good surface to start with, it certainly wasn't ready for paint.

More Grinding

The first thing to do was give the new glass a preliminary grinding. After scrubbing the decks with a ScotchBriteTM pad and fresh water to remove any amine blush, I attacked the glass with the DA and 40 grit paper. In many areas the glass was quite resin-rich, and I wanted to remove an pools of hardened resin. As I went along I did find a handful of air pockets that we had missed, but therer were probably only 5 or 6, and they were tiny. I ground these areas out entirely. In general however, I was careful not to cut into the new glass. What a mess. The picture only begins to allude to the wonderful fun I was having.

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Deck and Hull Priming

Submitted by dasein668 on Sun, 05/01/2005 - 00:00.

Winter 2004-05

After the fairing and surfacing was completed, it was time to turn our attention to finally getting primer and paint on the boat. We primed both the hull and deck together in a single day.

Taping and Tacking

The final prep work before finish primer included taping off the new toerail and sealing up all the openings in the deck surface. For most of the taping I used the expensive 3M Heavy-duty silver tape. For the toerail however, I used the expensive tape only on the edges of the rail that were against the deck and hull, then covered the rest of the surface with the less expensive blue maksing tape, using almost 2 full rolls of 1.5 inch wide tape.

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