Preface : Sanding is one thing… sanding in 90 degree weather is another… it’s going to be a long summer! We finished fairing the inner face of the starboard float between Friday and Saturday. Nothing real exciting here, other than it’s (hopefully) finished – will know more when we spray the entire float with primer. The float was then hoisted, supports reversed, and then lowered to reveal the outer face (last one on this float!

Did some more fairing on the starboard float – ran out of QuickFair so wasn’t able to get as much done as wanted. I knew we were going to run out and had meant to order some at the beginning of the week so it might be here… Unfortunately I got caught up with work and spaced out. Remembered to order it Friday afternoon. Hopefully it will be here next weekend, but with this being a holiday week I’m unsure if it will arrive in time.

Hardly had any time this weekend to work on the boat – some personal commitments and work emergencies took priority. I also forgot the camera, so no exciting pictures of sanding in progress.. 😉 We’re going to consider the deck finished unless for some reason it looks horrific once the primer is on. Rotated the float on its side and applied the first layer of fairing compound with the notched trowel.

I didn’t expect to do any boat work today, but at the last minute this afternoon I found out I needed to have something for work done this weekend… the problem was that what I needed was still on the other side of the country. A quick call and some haggling got it shipped overnight for me to spend Saturday (and Sunday if things don’t go well) working on it. To make up for it, I cut out of work a few hours early, missed traffic, and headed down to try and get some work done on the boat.

Nothing too exciting this weekend. Dad and I spent a few hours playing duelling sanders (after I went and bought a second orbital sander). Took a few pictures… Overlaps actually look worse in the picture than in person (most likely due to flash and shadows). Hopefully won’t take too much fairing compound. While sanding we found a small void (about 1/4″x1″) where the deck slopes into the transom bulkhead. Sanded it all the way out and glassed over it with peel-ply.

I feel accomplished today. The starboard float is sitting in the garage drying right now. Will only need to hit it with the sander to clean up the keel at the transom and two areas of the bow, and then will be ready to fair. Started out by flipping the float to the other side and sanding all along the keel where we left it long. Had to make certain to get all the dry areas off.

Started today with cutting the holes for hatches while dad hit the side of the float with the sander from the deck lamination. Needed to get these all cleaned up to prepare to laminate the side of the float. He got off light – the sander has a vacuum attachment that sucks most of the crap up. The jig-saw I used to cut the holes… well, let’s just say that sweating while cutting fiberglass does not mix… My forearms have a nice shade of red prickles from resting them in fiberglass dust while cutting… oops.

Did not take any pictures yesterday – suffice to say that it consisted of putting some bog over the last areas on the float sides that we missed… While waiting for the bog to dry, we killed time by driving to a few different marine stores in town to look at motors. I know it’s about a year early, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do 🙂 Came back and spent a good hour or two doing the last of the sanding for this stage.

So I’ve been rather busy this week with things and haven’t had a chance to upload pictures or write progress. I’m back-dating it to when it occurred and apologizing for the slow updates 🙂 Things would go a little quicker if there wasn’t a waiting time involved in bog drying when it comes to fairing. Can usually do a few hours at a time until there’s a spot that just has to get filled in (almost always because we didn’t plank exactly right or similar reasons) – after that the area needs to sit until dry enough to sand without clogging the paper or just crumbling instead of smoothing.

Between an out of town wedding this weekend (and one next weekend as well), and the INSANE change of weather, there will be no work done on the boat this weekend. I am instead relaxing indoors where it’s warm. Central Texas is known for strange weather patters, but snowing in April is not usually one of them! Felicia from Utility Composites called me last week to ask how the Raptor staples I purchased from them have been working out for me and to let me know about a new product I might be interested in.