Two Coats

Done? Maybe. Maybe one more once we're back in our regular (covered) slip.

So Worth It!

So here we are Christmas morning, putting a second coat of floor finish down. The first coat looked fantastic and we are thrilled that all the prep is paying off. I didn't take a photo until after we'd scuffed it in preparation for the second coat. So one picture is scuffed first coat and the other is freshly applied second coat. The satin finish is really nice and looks great with the walls. Happy day for sure!!!

Can it be?

Yesterday we applied an oil "sealer" that really brought out the color of the wood. Today we are applying the first coat of finish!!!

Sanding

Guess what I'm doing? No, BESIDES blogging... YES, sanding. Still working on the edges with 80 grit. Will we ever be done prepping? At this point, I think the answer is "no". Sigh.

Project Overload-Christmas is Coming!

Well we were disappointed to not make as much progress as we'd planned to last weekend. We had a kind of a big deal Christmas present to purchase, something we'd spent weeks searching for, and we had a line on "the very thing." Acquiring it and showing it to others involved ended up taking the whole morning and most of the afternoon... By the time we were done, all motivation to sand was gone. We went home and watched the Niners beat the Patriots instead.

Which leaves us with a LOT of sanding yet to do before we can apply the finish. We have events Saturday, Monday and Tuesday, which will make it challenging to find time to get this done. I hope to get a lot of sanding done Friday (taking a vacation day) so we can get this thing wrapped up over the weekend and get ready for the NEXT project, which will be unveiled after Matt opens his Christmas gifts.

We'll also soon have a project provided by my parents, which I believe I may have mentioned previously--some new pieces and parts for our windlass. Namely a new wildcat, a reversing kit (for letting the chain out with the motor) and a wireless remote. I'm not sure when those items will arrive as I haven't heard from the windlass company since they received my chain sample a week ago. I think I'll wait at least a week before I follow up, though, as we have enough else to work on for now!!

Ten Days 'til Christmas

So here we are, ten days before Christmas. Are we at the mall finishing our Christmas shopping? Of course not. We are on the boat finishing our floors. Ok, not (re) finishing yet. Still preping. Matt is optimistic we will finish this weekend. I'm less optimistic. We shall see.

Stripping!

So after a pretty full day yesterday of sanding the sole in the saloon, we had removed the finish from about two thirds of the floor and we were both exhausted. I only sanded for about an hour while Matt sanded for several hours but even just that hour left my arms feeling like spaghetti. I bought some "environmentally friendly" stripper and we tried it in a small corner. It didn't get all the finish up but today Matt was able to easily sand the remaining finish off. So we decided that I'd apply the stripper in the vee berth and galley while Matt continued sanding in the saloon.

It's been about 45 minutes since I finished applying the product. All Matt has left to sand in the saloon is the edges. I'll start scraping the forward area in a few minutes and we plan to sand it next weekend when it is totally dry. We plan to leave in about an hour so we can be home for the Forty Niners game.

Hopefully we will be able to apply the first coats of finish next weekend.

Oops we just discovered we don't have the proper grit sandpaper for the edging attachment on the Festool so we will have to finish up the saloon next weekend as well. Just the edges shouldn't take TOO long. Famous last words, right?

Projects!

We currently have the boat at our old marina, all the better to knock out a couple of projects. We're having a little canvas work done by Keith McElroy, refinishing the sole (aka floor) and doing some work on the shower floor where water was seeping into places it shouldn't be seeping.

So far in the shower, I have pulled out all the teak from around the base of the shower walls and found a few soft spits. We are still debating next steps but it needs to dry out anyway.

Meanwhile Matt has been sanding off the old finish of the cabin sole in the saloon. I did some when he went to get us lunch. It is kind of a workout and the vibration is a bit tiring. I just went to OSH and purchased some "environmentally friendly" wood stripper to try out as well. One nice thing with the sander is it is almost dust free. Pretty amazing-German engineering at its finest. It is called a Festool and Matt borrowed it from work.

Keith measured for our projects earlier this week and will have everything done before we head back to the delta in early January.