A Beautiful Weekend...

So this weekend was the first since the back end of autumn that we've had two consecutive days of dry, reasonably warm weather;  the sun was out, clear blue skies and 15 degrees on both days!

Also for the first time we were able to tie the winter cover fully up and out of the way so that sanding yesterday and varnishing today was done in relative comfort - a great relief to my back!

Link to Winter Cover

At this point I should probably mention that this was the first time I've ever varnished when my working surface was warm and there was a gentle, but steady breeze.  This was a whole new experience!

I decided that this weekend would be a good time to give the cabin entrance woodwork a refurbishing coat as it had a reasonable chance of drying by the time we locked up at the end of the day.  Glad I opted to varnish this area before starting on the rest as it gave me a good idea how quick and slick I would need to be in doing the major stuff.

I was amazed how quickly the varnish started to dry, to the extent that I ended up using a slightly thicker coating so that my leading edge didn't dry too quickly.  Too little loading on my brush resulted in a distinct drag so I needed to increase it in order to avoid that.  I wondered whether to add a very small amount of epifanes thinner to help but decided against it.

I have ended up with a few small runs but am not too unhappy with this as they will be sanded out next weekend before the 6th coat.

The pictures I have uploaded this weekend show my efforts but I have also added in a couple just to show the varnish close up and how it isn't entirely perfect just yet. Again, I'm not too worried about this, the main thing is that I'm building up valuable microns of varnish depth.

Link to Cockpit Refurbishment

Finally, after running out of time last weekend I got the Locker Covers varnished with their 5th coat, and a refurbishing topcoat for the cabin cover.

Link to Locker Covers

On a final note, what a treat to spend the whole weekend in the sun, in short sleeves for some of the time and avoiding a red face by remembering to put some sun factor cream on!

A long day

The weather forecast for yesterday was better than today so domestic chores were ditched and off we went to the boat.

Charm has never been fitted with an anode so the other half set about lining up and drilling holes in the hull to install one we'd bought earlier.  Remembering the most useful piece of advice ever given in practical life; "measure twice, cut once" the anode has been installed without incident!

I carried on my usual task of sanding and varnishing so can now safely say I'm over half way! Yesterday took longer because I was working on my own for most of it (as the other half was otherwise occupied). Rain arrived towards the end of the afternoon but luckily I'd done the cabin sides and was able to finish the cockpit under cover before I finally lost the light.

Shopping and locker covers today so will update photos from this weekend's efforts on the relevant pages later.....