I read that the problem with dreamers is that they forget that someday they have to wake up. With boatbuilding this transition from somnambulance is quite rude. Reality smacks you in the face like being hit with a cast iron frying pan. Perfection is simply unattainable. The pristine becomes the good enough. The possibilities of failure too numerous. Each thing we do is complex to the point of presenting many points for the ingress of imperfection and the egress of high standards. On the plus side, dreams can prevent errors. I am a morning person. I function best before noon. By one o'clock I have a clamp around my head and my brain slows down. I usually try to keep the afternoons open for brainless operations that require little thinking. The blessed alternative is taking a nap. I was at the point of painting the dorade tops. Normally we would do one side at a time with epoxy, primer and paint. It was past noon so my brain was in some lagoon floating on a rubber air mattress. Before I started the process, I lied down for a bit. Dreaming is the equivalent of thinking without encumbrances, so my mind drifted. Somewhere in that ephemeral floatation I came upon the solution for coating both sides at once thus eliminating an extra day toward completion. I merely had to support the top with the pvc tube and a screw-in bolt. Someday I will dwell on the complexities of dorades and design, but not today. Maybe when on vacation I'll attempt it. These dorades are quite intricate little devices.
This is the top coated both sides with e-pox-e. It is supported by the blue (OK, turquoise) PVC tube and the bolt resting on the tubafour. It worked pretty well. While I am on the box tops, I'll continue to blather on about them thus assuring that the dead horse is thoroughly beaten (not stirred).
I painter the inside of the PVC tubes and cowls red with Fusion plastic paint. The dorade cowl seem to be red in all the boat pictures I've seen. Who am I do go against the flow? I still have to paint the exteriors. Stay tuned....
Lotsa high quality boring repetitive stuff this week. Welcome to our life. I really cannot fathom why you two guys that read this junk every week remain faithful to it's perusal. The above is a close up of the process of deck painting. The bumpy stuff is the nonskid, i.e. sandpaper. Note some of that bumpy stuff has escaped the corral and occupies the space where the normal paint should be, S0..........
Offscrapen zee gritty stuff and paint another coat. Remember, the process is primer coat, tape off. coat the taped area with paint, shake on the grit into the wet paint, remove the tape, paint a coat over all, scrape off the stray grit, put on the third coat and Voila (viola??) it's done! So, this said, the decks are done.
These ladies do not help. They're just looking for water. Wet epoxy looks like water. They are gentle, but land on you and sting when accidently brushed, thus sacrificing their lives and providing you with a remembrance of their passing so you celebrate their existence and sacrifice................................. as it should be.
With the tops being finished, we installed the ports on the port hull. We still have to Cut out the big deadlight (above my head, not in my eyes) and install it.
What's the difference between a Sharpie and a Shar-Pei? I don't know, you two guys should figure these things out on your own.
Paint and paint and paint....................sickofit!
On to the beam troughs (troffs?)! This is the place where the short beam goes. It is short.
This is the place where the long beam goes. It is long. We coated and glassed the final beam troughs. All that we have to do there is primer coat them and they're ready for the next phase.
Oh, Yeah, here is the latest, true-to-scale architectural renderings of the latest pod modifications. Front view- upper left; side view-upper right; top-view lower left; Budge's symbol-signature lower right. OK, everyone, scratch your scalp and say "Huh?"
And painted and painted. You two guys think it's easy???? So on to next week! We will finish the tumblehomes before we go and put primer on the beam troughs. I will work on finishing up the dorade tops. After over two years of blogificating, I fear that I'm becoming repetitive. Have I said something before? Then I realize that what we do is all repetitive. The learning curve, once learned, is discarded for a new process to learn and, once perfected, again discarded for the next challenge. Sheesh! We need a break.
The Music♫: Leonard Cohen "Famous Blue Raincoat"
In a mood.........
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