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Friday

After my  usual round of light sanding, vacuuming, and cleaning the exterior woodwork, I turned to the final section of the cabin sole, at the aft end in the galley.  Reserving the small hatches (along with several other small pieces from other parts of the cabin) for later attention down on the bench, I stripped the old varnish from this last section, completing the raw stripping task.  The next step would be to sand the surface, but I’d await that till I completed the exterior varnish work.

Afterwards, I applied the fourth coat of varnish to the exterior teak, which was now starting to look pretty good.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
-2°, Clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sun, then becoming cloudy, highs near 30

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Thursday

As usual, I began the day by sanding the brightwork with 320 grit paper, then cleaned up the wood and surrounding decks to prepare for the next coat of varnish later in the day.

Meanwhile, I continued work on the cabin sole.  This time, I stripped the largest section, located in the main cabin.

Afterwards, I applied the third coat of varnish to the exterior brightwork.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.75 hours

0600 Weather Report;
Partly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Partly sunny, highs in the 20s

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Wednesday

After cleaning up some overnight snow, I got to work on the brightwork, and sanded all the new varnish lightly to prepare for the next coat.  Afterwards, I vacuumed and solvent-washed as needed.

This all took a little longer than I’d hoped, and with the need to set aside a couple hours at the end of the day for the next coat of varnish, my time for other tasks on board was limited.  I decided to work on the cabin sole, dividing the work up over the next few days as time allowed.  The existing sole was heavily varnished, and in several places the varnish had lifted, creating a yellowish appearance.  The remaining areas were in fair condition but well worn, and it was time to strip the sole and start fresh.

Starting in the forward cabin, I used a heat gun and scraper to remove the old finish from the sole.  The finish itself wasn’t that difficult to remove, but access was tight in this area.  I removed the folding doors to allow better access to the aft corner of the space.

I’d continue with the cabin sole work as time allowed over the next few days, but now it was time to start the next coat of varnish on the exterior teak, which wrapped up the day’s work.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.25 hours

0600 Weather Report:
8″ of snow overnight, 25°.  Forecast for the day:  clearing,  windy, highs in the 20s

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Tuesday

After finishing up the last of the masking, and other final preparations, I applied a sealer coat of varnish to all the newly-bare wood.  With an afternoon commitment, and not knowing how long the varnish work would take, I started earlier than later to ensure completion and to better gauge future days’ varnishing timing.

Total time billed on this job today:  3 hours

0600 Weather Report:
10°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Increasing clouds, snow by evening, high around 30

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Monday

To begin, I finished up the final bits of sanding and prep, taking care of a few tight hand spots and the anchor platform.

Afterwards, I cleaned up the boat and shop, and vacuumed and solvent-washed the deck and trim as necessary to prepare for the day’s main focus, which was to start masking off the newly-bare trim for varnishing.  By the end of the day, I’d  completed most of the masking, with just a little remaining to complete next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
34°, partly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  growing colder, mainly sunny.

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Friday

During the day, I finished up most of the remaining sanding work, starting with the starboard eyebrow trim and coaming, then working around the taffrail before moving on deck to hand-sand the handrails and various coachroof trim.  Later, I sanded the cockpit coamings and surrounding trim, leaving only the hard-to-reach pockets at the forward ends of the coamings for later attention–my hands couldn’t face any more just then.  I’d also have to finish up the anchor platform, which I’d not yet touched.  But the bulk of the prep was complete, for which I was grateful.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.75 hours

0600 Weather Report:
10°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sun, then increasing clouds, high in the low 30s

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Thursday

Now that all the old finish was stripped, it was time to sand the raw wood to remove any final vestiges of old finish and smooth the wood to prepare for the new coating.  Starting on the port side, I sanded the toerail, eyebrow, and outboard coaming through the grits as required to clean up the wood and brighten any weathered spots.  Because of the small size and various profiles involved, most of this work was by hand, though I could use a palm sander on the coaming.

I continued the work on the starboard side, completing the toerail sanding before the end of the day.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.25 hours

0600 Weather Report:
5°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, high in the 30s

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Wednesday

Picking up where I left off, I continued stripping the brightwork on the port side, finishing up the outboard side of the coaming and the eyebrow trim and handrail on the cabin.

I moved my operation from the staging to the deck itself so I could continue with the remaining brightwork on the cabin top and inside the cockpit.  As with all the other wood, this woodwork was in basically good condition beneath old and weathered layers of Cetol.

During the rest of the day, I removed the old finish from these remaining areas, completing the raw stripping work on deck.  A few removable pieces, such as the swashboards and cockpit table, remained to be done, but I could do those on the bench anytime.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
0°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, temperature rising to the low 30s

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Tuesday

Before getting back to the brightwork, I decided to finish up the garboard drain installation.  To begin, I dry-fit the bronze assembly and drilled and tapped the hull for four #10 machine screws that would secure the fitting.

After cleaning up the bonding surface, I installed the fitting with 5200 sealant.  I left the plug out and placed it, along with its wrench, in the boat for safekeeping.

I continued work on the starboard side of the boat, and stripped everything else I could reach from the staging, including the outboard side of the cockpit coaming and cabintop handrail, and then worked around the taffrail.

I continued my way up the port side, starting with woodwork that was in more or less the same condition as the starboard side.

By the end of the day, I’d stripped the port toerail and rubrail, along with the remaining half of the bow platform.

Total time billed on this job today:  7 Hours

0600 Weather Report:
0°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, high around 20