December 21, 2020

Arietta 15

Monday

I spent the morning in the cockpit and surrounds, finishing up the masking.  I covered the coamings, sidedecks, trim, hatch openings, and stern pulpit, and forward of the cockpit I covered the remainder of the deck with plastic sheeting, masking it securely to the toerails and bow casting as needed.

The well-masked, papered sidedecks would allow me room to kneel or crouch and reach the furthest depths of the cockpit from the sides during spraying.

The new waterline passed just barely clear of the forward trailer pads, and for access I needed to lower these for now.  The boat was bow-heavy without any forward support (the V-shaped centerline stem fitting was also retracted for access to the hull), so I added an external stand to help support the bow during the work ahead.

Next, I draped the entire trailer in plastic below the boat’s waterline to protect the trailer from overspray.  I secured the plastic with some clamps to the trailer and boat here and there to help hold the weight and take the pressure off the tape.  I wrapped the tall bow support and trailer tongue, and later wrapped the supports for the loading guides aft (not seen in these photos).

Right below the waterline, I added a strip of masking paper, since overspray on plastic tends to flake away and cause problems later.

To finish up the day, I prepared paint and spray equipment for the primer to come, otherwise readied the shop, and washed the cockpit and hull with the proprietary solvent designed for this purpose with the paint system.

Total time billed on this job today:  8 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  31°, clouds and fog.  Forecast for the day:  Clouds and fog, 33°