January 2, 2023

Further 15

Monday

Briefly, I finished up the hull sanding with some light work on the few small patches I’d filled last time.  Afterwards. I vacuumed and solvent-washed the hull while the staging was still set at hull height, and to help me identify any areas that might require additional attention later.

With hull work done for now, I broke down the staging, planning to rebuild it presently to deck height, but in the meantime I took advantage of the good access to the lower part of the hull so I could restrike the waterline (aka top edge of the bottom paint).  I began by checking the boat for athwartships level; she was out by a smallish amount, listing to starboard according to the after level.

In small increments, I adjusted the jackstands till the boat was level at bow and stern.

Earlier, I’d marked and documented the existing paint and striping lines, as well as the apparent “actual” waterline, or scum line visible on the paint.  It was clear from the original condition that there was a bit of droopiness at the aftermost end, only the last foot or so, but rather than just remask to the existing line–still mostly visible after sanding–I wanted to correct this line and, more importantly, set up properly to strike the boottop later in the process, which would be more significantly impacted.  These photos date to the beginning of the project.

So in my usual way, I set up horizontal level beams at stem and stern, using layout marks I determined from my notes and previous photos (specifically at the stern), then used weighted string between the beams to mark the new line on both sides.  I’ve done this dozens of times and described it almost as often, so I shan’t detail the process again here.

The end result was a series of pencil marks on the hull, to which I could strike the new masking tape line to define the bottom edge of the hull paint, i.e. the top edge of the bottom paint.  I didn’t change the position of the line in an oberall sense; most of the new line ended up right at the original location, but there was some minor adjustment and repositioning at the ends as expected and desired.

This left the way clear to move the staging to deck level, where I planned to spend the next weeks doing surface prep and repairs as needed.  I’d start that next time.

Total time billed on this job today: 6.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 31°, fair, dew point 27°. Forecast for the day: Mostly sunny, 43°