Drop Board Retainers | Varnishing

The sapele drop board retainers required fresh varnish, as did the sapele piece which joins the upper and lower acrylic drop boards.

So the first task was to strip them of all the old varnish. Here we are doing so, using the excellent water-based stripper which I used for the hull.

The stripped retainers were sanded back to bare wood.

I then applied eight coats of varnish in line with the Epifanes instructions. This entailed thinning the first three coats with 50%, 25% and 15% thinners respectively, and then five more with 5% thinners.

For whatever reason, this did not go well. I ended up with patches on each retainer where the varnish had not fully soaked into the sapele. I have no idea why!

So I sanded the varnish back to bare wood and started again, using the same regime.

This time it seemed to go better but I committed the cardinal sin of using varnish which was obviously past its best for the sixth coat rather than open a fresh tin.

Predictably this resulted in a surface like orange peel ... so that was dry sanded by hand with  P220/280/320 and then wet sanded with P400 to get a flat finish before the final two coats were applied. Like this.

I then remembered that I managed to get a superb varnished surface on the transom, and wondered what I had done differently. I checked the blog and found that I had previously thinned all varnish with 10% thinners.

So I used 10% for the seventh and eight coats and guess what? It turned out great! Here they all are.

A long winded but successful project, with drop boards now ready to fit.

Toe Rails & Grab Rails | Varnishing

I worked on preparing and varnishing rails in parallel to installing hardware and fittings.

The rails in question were the toe rails on the cabin roof, and the grab rails on the companionway hood and slide.

The rails had all been sanded back to bare wood as part of the upper hull repainting exercise, so merely required multiple coats of suitably applied varnish.

Eight coats were applied in all.

The first three coats were thinned according to Epifanes guidelines, and the final five were thinned with 5% thinners. All coats were lightly sanded between applications.

This is the starboard toe rail and the companionway hood grab rail after the eighth coat, with masking tape still in place.

And here they are after the tape had been pulled.

This is the companionway slide grab rail, with tape in place.

And with tape pulled.

Not looking too bad!

Portlights | Installation

When I installed the portlights the first time round I used white sealant and immediately realised that it clashed with the stainless steel surrounds, so this time I used clear sealant.

The first task was a test installation of all four portlights to make sure that everything still fitted and that I was comfortable with how to do it.

The outer flange of each portlight had to be held firmly in place against the hull with its screws fitted, so that the nuts could be applied from the inside.

Here is an outer flange taped to the topside, holding the screws in place.

And here is a view of the machine screws from inside the cabin.

The acorn nuts can now be fitted and tightened, as here.

Finally the tape is removed and installation is complete, like this.

That was quite straightforward, so now to try it with lots of slippery sealant all over the place!

It actually went very well, with little or no drama. Here are the portlights installed on the port side.

This is the rear portlight.

You can see I even made sure that the screw heads were aligned fore and aft!

The clear sealant seemed to cure more quickly than the white, and it had started to harden around the joint between the inner and outer flanges before I could clean it up. It also cured lumpy and unsightly.

Clearly those joints would need to be resealed, so I obtained some sealant remover. This is it.

This is the port rear portlight, suitably anointed with remover to clean out the joint.

That worked very well, and I was able to remove all the softened sealant from inside the joint with a sharp sliver of wood.

This is the joint between the inner and outer flanges after cleaning.

Finally I applied a new bead of sealant around all the portlight joints, shaping them with a wetted finger and cleaning up with methylated spirits.

This is the port rear portlight, fully sealed.

That looks OK! Onwards and upwards …

Lazarette Hatches | Installation

I installed the lazarette hatches alongside the other hardware fittings.

I recalled that this was a bit of a drama the first time round, so I did a dry run using plain nuts instead of new Nylocks before committing to the final exercise.

This is the port hatch, test installed.

It was a lot easier then I expected.

Here are both hatches, dry fitted.

Happy that both hatches could be refitted without any trouble, I went ahead and sealed them in place with fresh silicone rubber sealant and new Nyloc nuts.

This is the port hatch, with installation tools.

Having decent tools is the secret of success with this type of activity.

Finally, here are both hatches fully installed.

Now, what's next?

Hull Hardware Fittings | Installation

With painting the upper hull largely complete, it was time to refit all the hardware which I removed many weeks ago.

But before I could start that, I needed to finish painting the inside of the Dorade boxes.

First I masked off the front cabin wall, to prevent paint drips. Like this.

Then I abraded and cleaned the floor of each Dorade box and applied a third coat of gloss using a brush with its handle cut off short to allow access through the inspection ports.

A roller was used to apply the gloss and the brush to tip it out and paint the joins and corners. Here they are.

That worked well.

Leaving the Dorade boxes to dry I proceeded to dry fit all the hardware fittings, to be sure that everything still fitted and to familiarise myself with the various methods of installation.

Everything went into place without any problems.

One other thing I did test before final installation was the fit of the boom gallows and the support poles.

Here they are successfully fitted. You can see the rubber mallet that I use as a 'persuader' to tap the gallows into place on top of the poles.

The first fittings to be installed were the halyard lead sheaves on the cabin roof.

These have very limited contact with the surface, so I used butyl tape to make gaskets on which to bed the footings rather than use a sealant.

Here are the port sheaves installed, showing butyl tape roughly in place and the installation tools.

When the sheaves were securely in place and bedded in I trimmed off excess tape with a sharpened wooden spatula, like this.

That worked well and I think it is a good solution.

This is the butyl tape in question.

I found it was too thick and unwieldy for installing small fittings - it's 2mm thick and strongly resists flattening out - but it seems to be ideal for making gaskets for screws, bolts and similar fastenings.

All other fittings were reinstalled with white marine sealant. This is it.

It is Geocell Marine silicone rubber sealant, and is ideal for non-permanent waterproof bonding of fittings, hatches, portlights and the like.

It comes highly recommended.

Here it is in the gun, ready for use.

A bottle of methylated spirits is essential for cleaning up squeeze-out and associated mess.

The meths works really well with kitchen roll, keeping deck, tools and hands clean.

This is the port forward mooring cleat, fastened to the Dorade box in the forward deck well.

These are the port halyard cleats, on the cabin roof.

This is the starboard jib sheet lead and cleat.

And here are the port stern mooring cleat and boom gallows stanchion support.

This is the upper rudder pivot eye bolt in place.

And this is the port anchor chock.

The machine screws for the ventilator bottom plates were held in place with lumps of Blu Tack during installation, while sealant was applied and the Nyloc nuts fitted. Like this.

And here is the starboard plate after final installation.

The port and starboard Dorade box inspection port surrounds were installed. Here they are.

And here they are with the inspection ports in place.

Here are the centreboard pendant thimble and cleat. I used butyl tape to install the cleat, because it is subject to high stress loads and requires a strong bedding.

I fitted new Nyloc nuts throughout where required - all the used nuts were discarded.

A selection of good tools were essential for this activity. Here they all are, in the forward deck well.

That's pretty much it for the hardware fittings. There are a couple more parts to go on, but they aren't on the critical path.

Onwards and upwards!

Companionway Slide | Painting the Interior

I was getting ready to varnish the grab rails, which would mean working on the companionway slide.

So before I started that I decided to finish all paintwork on the slide by refreshing the white eggshell finish on the interior.

This is the same paint that I used when repainting the inside of the cabin last year. It is a tough, trade spec, solvent based, interior paint. Here it is.

I sanded the surface with a P120 grit ready for paint, and then applied two coats of eggshell with a roller, as I did in the cabin. Like this.

That looked good, so the slide was set aside to dry until needed.

Topside Panels, Seatback Tops & Transom Skirt | Final Coat

I was very happy to be applying the final coat of gloss to the topsides, because that meant that repainting the upper hull was complete. Such joy!

I started at the rear of the port topside panel and worked my way forwards and around the bow, painting the upper breast hook en route, and then down the starboard side to the stern.

Lastly I painted the transom skirt, completing the upper hull.

This what it looked like.

And is the transom skirt.

And here is the view from port with the tape pulled.

Lastly this is the transom skirt with the tape pulled.

Looking good!

As usual now, I thinned the paint with 5% Epifanes Easy Flow conditioner.

Now I can think seriously about refitting all the hardware, but I must finish painting the rudder and inside the Dorade boxes.

I do believe the end is in sight...