Sanding, sealing, and dry dock plans

Hello! Happy end of June!

Few things irritate me more than sanding upside down. Holding a sander above your head is one thing, and then applying extra force to actually SAND is just taking the piss. All while it's vibrating and you're being covered in dust and-and-and, eurgh, fuck it.

Last month I left with only the wardrobe mirror and trim to finish, but that is now all done and it is FANTASTIC:

Anyway back to the bathroom; I finished the sanding a few weeks ago, and that feeling of running your hand along a smooth piece of wood is a wonderful dopamine hit:

And then EPOXY! This is what I should have done the first time round, and why I'm re-doing it now — a solid, water-tight layer for a wet environment. I could see the mouldy wood developing, which was my cue to learn from younger Nick and do it properly.

The first coat I did a little thick in some places, which didn't level out properly; lots of little pools that make you think "ah well this was done by an amateur." It was the first time I'd used a foam roller without either a) a tipping brush to smooth it out, or b) a heat gun to help it flow, as my brother recommended and I ignored.

There are only so many photos of epoxy and varnish you can take without them looking identical.

But that was satisfying to sand back (by hand this time), and I ended up doing 3 coats just to make sure. And then onto the Epifanes; I'm doing the matt finish again which means 2 gloss coats underneath for UV protection, of which I managed to do 1 last weekend (24 hour drying times...).

I then ordered glass for the shower, a whole big sheet of acid-etched 6mm toughened. That, a towel rail, finishing the varnish and sealing up the corners, and it'll be completely done. We're close!

And in 6 weeks (SOON 😬) I'm taking the boat to the dry dock for 10 days, all booked with a sandblaster and welder coming, then the welder had to cancel... but luckily I found someone else a few days later, highly recommended by my neighbour (and I can see the work he did, it was excellent). There's a chine to trim, new deck, weed hatch, and tiller tube to install (I'll have tiller bearings!!!), new anodes to weld... and then I'll paint the engine bay and hull with bombproof epoxy, and ideally the roof if I have time.

The new tiller setup I'm particularly excited about; previously steering the boat felt like stirring a bucket of bolts. It'll be an all-out 10 days, and I can't wait.

In other news, I missed writing weekly updates so I started another blog to document something a little different...

ringing.blog

Weekly updates on Nick’s obsession with bell ringing.

(Subscribe if you'd like to gift me dopamine.)

Here's me from a few weeks ago:

Until next month!

- Nick