The deck job is the last big remaining project on Lucy Maru. When we put down the new plywood last year, like good little boat workers, we epoxied and primered the deck thinking we were going to paint it. Since then we have found SaniTred, a two part rubber that we will use instead of paint to completely waterproof the deck. When using this rubber however, it is best to apply it to a raw surface, bare wood, metal, concrete etc., so that it permeates into the surface itself . This is a bummer for us, since that means we have to sand all our primer and epoxy off first.
Now I heard somewhere, that as a method of torturing prisoners, the prison guards would have the inmates build something only to tear it down, repeating the cycle of building and destruction until the mental state of said prisoners would be near collapse itself. I thought of this story often as I proceeded in sanding off the primer that I so carefully applied, wondering if this is the time I will succumb to the torture of boatwork.
It wasn't.
Only one thing saved me. Ok two. One was that Travis sanded most of the deck. Yeah!
And two was a revolutionary idea and technique that made the work possible, even... not terrible. Ready. Ta da... sanding by foot. Now I hesitate to broadcast this patent worthy idea so freely, but the wave of enthusiasm cannot be stopped. I'm thinking sanding shoes, adjustable size, with vacuum attachment of course. Read while you sand. Dance while you sand. Sand, sand, sand all day long! DeWalt are you reading this?
11 comments:
My mom used to have this old upright floor buffer that could be fitted with sandpaper rounds. From time to time she would sand down the hardwood floors in our house, then re-stain, apply paste wax and then buff to a high shine. That buffer/sander would have been great for you guys. No stooping, no bending, it was a smaller version of what they use in hospitals.
I think you're on to something!
If you used belt sanders you could do the shopping too?
Yeah Jomamma, in fact we wondered why we haven't seen anything smaller of the floor sander vareity at the Depot or something. Seems like that would be really handy.
MLC- A lot of the marina people thought it was too funny to see me doing this with my foot, in fact the comment was, Wow, that takes some coordination, but in the end, even Travis , did it with his foot a bit. Anyway it really made the work soooo much easir for me!
Rob- I did't think of the belt sander! That thing kills my shoulder everytime, so I bet the foot is the way to go. I wonder if it would take me on too much of a ride, perhaps all the way to the market even. Is that what you had in mind?
Differing skill levels, sistah - I would probably kill myself trying to do that! Impressive though, and quite creative :)
I was rather thinking of my rollerblades when I made the comment, so with two belt sanders( and a couple of miles of lead) you could maybe ride to the supermarket! or just simply do "figure sanding"???? ahh! put my comment down to "later life crisis" :o))
so, did you guys get married yet?
Sam.- we didn't but we got the marriage license. So if we don't flake out we'll do it in the next couple of weeks.
ok... well i just wanted to make sure i didn't miss anything! if your neighbors are anything like our neighbors, everyone already considers you married, anyway!
Yeah, they call Travis my "old man". He He. Are you guys thinking of doin it or is it more or less what's the point?
no, we don't like signing contracts! we thought it would be cute if when we're 80, we're still introducing each other as boyfriend/girlfriend! haha.
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