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I haven't blogged since the month of may, maybe I am becoming a bit lazy.That does not mean I haven't done a thing on my sailboat. First, I finished fixing the rear end of the lateral hulls. The rear of the port side one was looking slightly different that the starboard side one because of the repairs I did over there in 2007 (geezz so many bad memories from that time when I discovered all that rotten section). So rather than attempting to redo the angle corner at the rear of the port side hull to make it look lite the rear of the starboard side one, I simply eliminated that angled corner on both sides by making them flush with the floor all around the cabin. Some plywood offcuts were enough plus a fiberglass ply and some epoxy finished the job. Now there's no difference at all between the rear end of the port side lateral hull and the starboard side one.
J'ai également mis le mastic noir entre les lattes de mon simili-teck sur mon plancher de cockpit. Le travail de masquage est de loin, ce qui prend le plus de temps.
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I also applied the black caulking between the teak imitation strips on my cockpit floor. The masking job is by far what's the most time consuming.La compagnie Glass-Shield ne conseille pas l'utilisation de leurs produits par grandes chaleurs ou directement au soleil. Oui mais, j'ai comme pas tellement le choix. Quand c'est nuageux, c'est que la pluie s'en vient. En soirée, la rosée va se former sur ma surface fraiche peinte avant qu'elle ait finie de durcir. Je me met donc au travail le matin aussitot que possible. Mais on est a la fin de juin et les journées sont chaudes. J'applique la peinture avec des rouleaux de mousse 3 mm me permettant d'obtenir le plus beau fini possible mais en raison de la chaleur, la peinture épaissit rapidement a l'application et adhère au rouleau, laissant un fini semblable a ce que j'aurais obtenu s'il y avait eu beaucoup de poussières dans ma peinture.
C'est évidemment une fois le travail terminé que j'apprend les trucs du métier. Il faut une seconde personne avec un pinceau-éponge imbibé dans du solvant, pour faire disparaitre les marques de rouleau et le picotage, immédiatement après l'application de la peinture. Je vais retenir ce truc quand il sera temps de peindre les coques. En attendant, j'admire mon travail. De loin, ca ne se voit pas trop. Et puis, je dois encore appliquer un enduit anti-dérapant "Kiwi-Grip" sur mon plancher et le dessus du toit de la cabine. Ce qui va cacher une bonne partie de mon travail. Le reste, il sera toujours possible plus tard, de passer un petit coup de papier sablé fin, genre 220, pour faire disparaitre le picotage, puis appliquer un peu de peinture au pinceau par dessus.
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I was then ready to tackle one important step, painting. Citadel was no longer producing their two-components, polyurethane based paints, so I choosed the paints from Glass-Shield. They recommend the application of an epoxy primer first despite the fact the boat is already made of fiberglass and epoxy. There is also a detail to fix, to take apart once and for all the wooden frame holding the tarps over the boat. If it took a good week to built, in 2007, I turned it in a pile of pieces of wood and half rusted screws in 2 days.The Glass-Shield company does not advise using their products when it's hot or in direct sunlight. Maybe so, but I don't have much choice. If it's cloudy, it's because rain is not far. In the evening, dew will form on the freshly applied paint before it has hardened. So I get to work as early as possible in the morning. But we're in end of june and the days are hot. I apply the paint with a 3 mm foam roller that can give a very smooth finish but because of the warmth, the paint sticks to the roll as I apply it, leaving a finish similar as if there was lots of dust in the paint.
It is obviously once the job is done that I learn the tricks of the trade. A second person is needed, with a foam brush wetted in thinner, to brush off the roller marks and the rough finish, right after the paint is rolled on. I'll remember that when it will be the time to paint the hulls. Until then, I take a look at my job. From a distance, it does not show too much. And besides, I have to apply the Kiwi-Grip anti skid coating on my floor all around the cabin and on the cabin roof. Which will hide a fair part of the job. As for the rest that will stay visible, it will always be possible later, to sand off the rough finish with some fine grain sandpaper, like 220, and then apply another coat of paint with a good quality brush.
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I reused somes pieces of wood from the frame, to build myself a sturdy platform on which I can stand when I need to work on the parts of the hull high above the ground, at the front or at the rear.C'est de cela que le plancher de mon cockpit a de l'air, avec le mastic noir appliqué entre les planches de simili-teck. Je me fais dire par des amis qui viennent jeter un coup d'oeil, que mon cockpit a de l'air d'un cockpit de bateau luxueux.
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This is what my cockpit floor looks like, with the black caulking.applied between the teak imitation strips. I am told by friends coming around to give a look, that my cockpit looks like the cockpit of a luxury boat.
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The installation of the teak hand-rails on both sides of the cabin roof, as well as the "dorade" box ventilation traps that let the air get through but not the mist, adds to the boat's look. One can also see on the floor, the polygonal shapes made of Kiwi-Grip, its white slightly different than the white of the Glass-Shield paint, emphasize them in a way that I like very much.Le dessus du bateau est maintenant rendu dans un état de complétion satisfaisant pour le moment. Je suis maintenant rendu a la finition de la coque centrale. Il reste encore un peu de fibre de verre a appliquer a l'arrière tandis qu'a l'avant, c'est surtout du glaisage et du sablage qui doit etre fait afin de faire disparaitre les jonctions et les bandes de renforts.
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The top part of the boat has now reached a state of completeness which is satisfactory for the moment. I am now working on finishing the center hull. There's still some glassing to be done at the rear while at the front, its mostly mudding and sanding that needs to be done to make vanish the junctions and reinforcements strips.