Monday, June 21, 2010

I know its summer

Me beginning work on the transom.

I was the only one in the marina working outside today. I had the stern to finish, and the Epifane varnish was not going to listen to excuses like its too hot to work. I had already put that job off, and my 72 hour timeline in between coats was wearing thin, which meant I had to varnish today with no sanding, or varnish some other day with sanding. The answer seemed pretty simple to me. I have to say here that I love the Epifane varnish. Other then the no sanding between coats, which is an obvious blessing, it covers well and smooths out to a nice gloss. I learned that flat surfaces like rails should be Epifaned out of direct sunlight as the finish will flash and look matte, but as this was not a factor today, I slathered myself in sunblock and began the work.

A small piece of the transom was rotten and needed to be replaced.

Travis works on filling the previously removed bungs. We drilled all those little plugs out last year to expose the screws so we could replace the whole plank. This year, that seems like a bit of an over kill, and we have decided to replace only the small rotten section instead.

T and I have perfected the dance called "rolling and tipping". He rolls the paint on and I follow with a brush and smooth out his bubbles. We're using Petit Z-Spar which gave us good results on Me Voy. Its tricky to get just the right mixture of paint and solvent, but when that magic happens, the paint lays beautifully, with great shine and no brush strokes.

I'm not as happy with the final coat on the deck house as I would like to be. The paint was very runny, and there are some obvious runs. Yuck!. I hate it when something turns out less then perfectly acceptable, but I'm think I'm gonna have to let this one go, and move on.

Lucy Maru has become our sole focus as we are trying to get her ready for this upcoming wedding. Mixed feelings abound as to this ritual that seems so strange to us but so important to both our families. How do we make this experience meaningful for us? We'll be working on that and the rest of our Lucy Maru list this week. So, if you're sitting in your office, or your home or even your boat, take a little air-conditioned breath, send us some good vibes and pray for rain in the Baltimore area.


4 comments:

Mid-Life Cruising! said...

We're sending some good vibes your way! Can you feel them? =)

rob said...

Me too! mind you, it aint be all roses here either so send em back when you have finished with them, will you please :o))the family that woirks togeather satys togeather (or something like that)

Travis and Maggie said...

Thanks a bunch. I think it worked! We have a much better perspective and attitute about his whole thing, definetly figured out some stuff the last couple of unbearably hot and therefore unworkable days. Hey Rob, I didn't know you had a blog, and when I wandered over I caught only a glimpse of that beautiful boat that gave you that trouble on your last excursion. Wow, looks like a sweeeeet ride, and so clean....

Jamie said...

I had to laugh ~ I didn't realize the dance had a NAME! But Brock and I are quite familiar with that of which you speak. We even have the same roles ( he the roller, me as the tipper). Works great and it's rather nice to know that it's a familiar ritual dance to other couples as well. She's looking great!