Some things you just don't anticipate

Progress has continued on my Pocketship but reporting on just a lot of sanding and painting didn't seem to be all that interesting. The Pocketship manual casually states that sanding the fiberglass on the hull bottom could take the better part of a day. That's true if your typical work day is 18 hours long. After a couple of days of continuous sanding and listening to a good part of my Itunes library I finished the sanding and started painting below the waterline with Interlux VXC Performance Epoxy. I chose this two part paint because I don't need antifouling and this paint is supposed to give a very slick but durable finish for trailering. It is supposed to take 3-4 coats but I have not been entirely pleased with how it covers and will be using at least 5 coats. This paint sets up extremely fast. It was quite a rush to roller on a 2 foot section and then to tip off air bubbles with a foam brush before the paint was almost dry.

These photos show that I have multi-tasked and also applied 2 coats of primer for the sides that will be painted with Interlux Brightsides Sapphire Blue. When I remove the masking tape for the white bottom I will re-tape and fill the narrow strip that needs primer.

And now for something that I just didn't think ahead about. I decided today to install the centerboard before I put on the last coat or two of white paint because I thought it was likely I would scratch up the paint while installing the centerboard. I carefully maneuvered the centerboard and myself on to the top of the hull only to discover that the garage door opener motor hanging from the ceiling was blocking me from dropping the centerboard into place. I contemplated having to temporarily detach the opener and then thought I'd try to see if I could shift the boat enough on its tire supports. I was able to slide the boat just enough and was able to carefully lower the centerboard into place solo and insert a screwdriver into the pivot hole. I had previously put a rope through the centerboard pendant hole and centerboard sheave to which I could attach the real pendant rope attached to the centerboard. I slowly pulled on the rope, it got a little stuck, so I gave a harder pull and my tape connecting the two ropes pulled apart. After much colorful language I spent about an hour trying to fish a line around the sheave and through the pendant hole. Luckily I remembered the access ports in the centerboard trunk to assist me in this formidable task. This time I made certain my splice would not come apart and managed to pull the line through successfully and got the centerboard in place for the SECOND time. The pivot bolt is now epoxied in place, hopefully never to be seen again.

My tentative schedule is to have the finish painting completed in the next few days and the boat ready for neighbours and friends to flip back again early next week. There is still hope that the boat can be ready for its sea trials before the frost is on the pumpkin.