Monday, January 7, 2013

nothin' but taillights

The weather was warm enough, just barely, to get a second coat of varnish on the rub rails, tiller and boomkin yesterday.  I sanded the first coat with 150 grit sandpaper and with each new coat I'll bump up that grit count to 220, 320 and then maybe 400 grit "wet" sandpaper for the last couple of coat.  That sounds like I'm creating a very smooth, shiny surface.  But no, it is a work boat finish - always was, always will be.  (But she'll look pretty good from a boat length away.)


I've got five more coats of varnish to get on the boat and I will have to pick and choose my days over the next several weeks.  Days at 50 degrees or above will be few and far between this time of year.  In the meantime, when it is too cold for varnish, I'll be taking care of other tasks such as new taillights mounted up high and dry up on the pvc trailer guide post.  Above is a first effort, which I think will work with a few modifications.

Replacing the guide posts means saying goodbye to all those stickers I have collected the last few years.  I confess to being a bit sentimental about this.  The  Eastern Shore, Oriental, Beaufort, Onancock, Oxford, St. Michaels, Crisfied, Rock Hall, Portsmouth Island....there are a lot of stickers that bring back a lot of memories.  I guess I'll have to get back on water, collect some more stickers, collect some more memories.


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I'm heading west in a few days.  The forecast out there on the coast, while a little cooler than usual, looks pretty nice.



steve

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