Sunday, March 24, 2013

Doing "Bright-Work"...Doh!

After Paul returned from his adventure across the Gulf, we decided it was time to start working on the teak around the outside of the boat. It didn't look horrible, but it definitely needed a face lift. We looked up the different types of marine varnish, and went to several stores checking them out and talking with the store clerks about the best way to approach this task. 




We are fortunate to have two great marine supply stores within about 1/2 mile from us. First we went to Blackburn's, a local marine supply store up the street from us. We learned a lot of information from a personable female clerk who appeared to know a lot about this topic since it was her particular line of work for many years. Then we went to West Marine and talked with a man who showed us several different types of varnishes, and we decided to buy two quart sized cans instead of a gallon. We were somewhat nervous that this wouldn't be enough, but we also didn't want a big gallon can onboard the boat. Remember...no space!







According to the store clerks, we bought 3 grits of sandpaper: 80, 150, and 220 grit. Paul started sanding with the 80 grit and I joined him with the 150 and 220. Lots of work. Good for the saggy arms though. :) (And I don't mean his.)









We took the old varnish off pretty well, but didn't take it all the way back to the wood...still bits of it left as you can see in the pics below.









We were so fortunate because the weather cooperated with us so we could get most of it done before windy, cold weather came back. It was a gorgeous day...and week! We were in luxury with 70 plus degree temps each day, not a cloud in the sky, very little wind, if any, so just the perfect type of days for sanding. None of our sawdust ended up on our neighbors boats, thank goodness. 












See our dust!! All on our own boat. Not a bad sanding job, huh? But, boy, the arms are tiring fast. Now I know why people are buying boats without wood on them. This is hard work! Did I mention how OLD we are? How come we're doing this type of work? HUH??? What happened to that elusive word, "retired"??

I decided to go down below and do something different for awhile, so I put my McGyver skills to work and duct taped the poor, ripped up life-sling bag. It was a mess, and the velcro on it was almost kaput, so I replaced that as well. I think, or at least am hoping, it will last us awhile longer now. We need to repair as much as possible, because we're finding that the prices on anything new for the "boat" are extremely high. Even the varnish for the boat was $58.00 a quart...yes, that's a quart! Did I happen to mention we got two quarts? Pricey! But it's all for the love of our boat, Sea Casa.









Oh, by the way, Paul finally wet sanded the old name off the back. It's almost time to christen our boat with her new name. That calls for a celebration!!  Several people here at the marina mentioned that there's a ritual one must go through before renaming your boat...you have to have a virgin urinate on the bow of the boat at midnight during a full moon. (Any other stories out there?) Personally, I think they're trying to make us look like idiots...kind of a hazing for boaters. I can see us out there doing it, (pretending I'm a virgin...haha...Hey! Don't laugh...I used to be!!!) and them all peeking out their ports giggling at us. Yep, I can see it now. I think we'll risk the bad luck and just skip the ritual part.  Anyway, the big decision for us now is where to put the new name, on the back of the boat, or on the sides. I think we'll go with the sides. S2's have a small rear end (unlike their owners) and the name may be too scrunched up there, and I like the idea of having our name on both sides. 


When all the sanding was complete, Paul washed all the sawdust off the boat, and the natural wood color came out of the wood while it was wet. Whew...it was so pretty. You can see it in this pic.



At the end of the day, we both decided it was time for a well deserved beer, the favorite brewski of our Louisiana son and daughter-in-law. (Yes, Chris and Michelle, that's a Land Shark beer he's guzzling!) Brewed by "Margaritaville Brewing Co." in St. Louis, MO. Some things are still made in the USA! I wouldn't mind having one from where our son, Jason, lives in Missoula, Montana...my old stomping grounds. Moose Drool is a strong, but very good beer, while Summer Honey Ale is light, has a touch of sweetness, and really quenches the thirst. They are brewed in Missoula, in the Big Sky Country. We're good with Land Shark today. 


Done with the sanding; job well done, time for food! Let's eat!! We'll start the varnishing tomorrow. 






Ok, next day...we started taping off the boat, and I finished that job while Paul started varnishing. I took pics after we had 3 coats on it. Here's what she looked like:












The bright work is starting to look better after each coat. The next shots show 4 layers of varnish on the wood. We want to sand again, then put on a 5th coat and be done with it. We were told that if you just take Brass Wool (like Steel Wool) and rough up the wood every six months, followed by a coat or 2 of Varnish, that would keep the wood protected and looking good. No need to take it back to the wood again, if it's kept up.






All in all, we're pretty happy with it and appreciating the fruits of our labors. One last sand, a coat of varnish and we're done. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt, we will be doing it again in the future. It will be interesting to watch how the salt waters will affect it; how fast it will deteriorate. We're hoping we will only have to do 1 sand/coat every six months. I'm sure we could continue to varnish 10-12 times, or until the cows come home, which they'd better not...remember, no space. I imagine it would last longer, probably look nicer, and give us a few years of time off from it. We're ok with the way it is now and we'll just follow up. There are probably a guhzillion different ways that people do this...and we just added a guhzillion and one to the list. 

11 comments:

  1. Lot's of hard work but I know it's worth it!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Pam,
      Yes, it is hard work, but it's most definitely worth it. In fact, we're getting out today (another beautiful day) to sand and give it the last coat.

      Hope everything is going well in your life. How's everyone? Give them all my love. When I think of AoH and how hard we worked to get it going, it sort of breaks my heart that it's not up and going anymore. We did good, though, huh? You were terrific at running the meetings...a natural. It was a fun time.

      Thanks for keeping in touch and for following.
      Happy trails,
      Diane and Paul

      Delete
  2. If yall see a fly on your wall, that is me taking the trip with yall! Beautiful boat, just getting better!
    Linda GJ

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    Replies
    1. Hey lady,
      Thanks for your comments and for following our blog. It's always nice to see your emails pop up. If I see a fly on the wall, I'll think of you! haha.

      Hope you're feeling ok, I'm thinking of you. Oh, wanted to tell you I love the painting of your dog. Perfect. You really capture the character of your animals. Good job.

      Take good care, big hug to you,
      Diane and Paul

      Delete
  3. You know you are really hooked on this lifestyle, when you have a beautiful clear warm day and the first thing you think of isn't "Oh, nice weather for a picnic," but "Sweet! Great weather for ... varnishing!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ain't it the truth? We look forward to the beautiful days here so we can both get out and work on the boat, like today...another gorgeous day! We're having one of the longest Springs here that I've experienced yet, and we're thankful. The winds are pretty extreme some days though, so we can't work much then. We want to get all the "fixes" done so we can start SAILING!

      Did you two buy a new boat? I saw your post on the changing of the name, but the pics are showing a CAT, and I thought you two had a monohull. I know you'll enjoy it. That's what I wanted originally...a CAT. I'm enjoying our monohull though. We will be doing our christening ceremonies in the next 3 weeks. I like your new name...sounds very "Bond-like". :)

      Thanks for your response, I always love hearing from you.

      Diane and Paul

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  4. Hello~ Wow, the wood is beautiful, your boat is beautiful!! So glad to see you, I enjoy the posts so much. Great work, now enjoy your sailing.

    xo
    Tina

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    Replies
    1. Hi Tina,
      Yes, we'd really like to get moving...having to wait til Paul is approved by insurance co. before we can go anywhere. Frustrating. We have to have a captain go with us to be sure we can manage on our own...and they have to sign off when we're ready. It makes sense, but it's also quite expensive to pay the captain for all this. Living on SSB doesn't allow for a whole lot, thus we have to wait until we save up the $ to pay the captain each time.

      We're enjoying living on our boat though. It's especially nice when the wind whips up a bit at night, and it rocks us to sleep. So nice. Love that. Getting very used to it now.

      I love your new name: bluetearose...very nice.

      Hope all is well there. Are you in Maine yet? How was your winter?

      Great to see your post...take good care, Tina. I miss seeing you.

      Diane

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  5. Great Job! Your looking terrific. And most definitely don't trust your boating neighbors and there suggestion of p..'ing on your boat as part of the renaming ceremony hahaha. Keep having fun. Can't wait to join this way of life, and yes we have teak too.. so we will likely be following your leads. :) Deb and Glen

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  6. Thanks for the post. Nice to hear from you! Well, we didn't P-- on our boat, but we did get rid of anything that had the prior name on it. I need to post our new name on our blog soon. We've just been busy with lots of other things going on.

    I know you're ready to get going. It will come very fast, as time just seems to zoom by. Of course it doesn't do that when you're anticipating something, but, for us anyway, it seems like the weeks are up before we can get everything done. We can't believe it's the end of May already.

    I bet the weather up there is getting nice. Living on Galveston Bay here, it's perfect wind for sailing. We're going today!! :D


    Best wishes to you both,
    Diane and Paul

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the post. Nice to hear from you! Well, we didn't P-- on our boat, but we did get rid of anything that had the prior name on it. I need to post our new name on our blog soon. We've just been busy with lots of other things going on.

    I know you're ready to get going. It will come very fast, as time just seems to zoom by. Of course it doesn't do that when you're anticipating something, but, for us anyway, it seems like the weeks are up before we can get everything done. We can't believe it's the end of May already.

    I bet the weather up there is getting nice. Living on Galveston Bay here, it's perfect wind for sailing. We're going today!! :D


    Best wishes to you both,
    Diane and Paul

    ReplyDelete