March 9, 2020

Scupper 258

Monday

Over the weekend, I applied another coat of varnish to the tiller (4) and swashboards (2).  So to start the day, I lightly sanded these again, and applied the 5th and 3rd coats of varnish, respectively.

I decided to make a simple template of the transom so I could help the sign shop make the lettering to the correct arcs.  In this case, the owner’s choice of lettering featured an interconnected font, and I felt it was worth the extra effort to ensure that the vinyl was properly cut.  With a piece of leftover pattern plastic, I marked the key points on the transom, mainly the top edge (deck camber), the centerline, and the two corners where the deck met the hull.  With these marks made, then down on the bench I could lay out a horizontal line between the two transom corners and determine the height of the deck crown (9″ over a width of 74″).  I made plans to bring this template to the sign shop in the near future to finalize the graphics.

I reinstalled the reinforced starboard cockpit lid, one of a few small and otherwise insignificant tasks I expunged from my short list this day.

I spent most of the rest of the day’s time getting the boat ready for “being complete”, picking up where I left off.  I’d gotten the interior mostly in order and put together last time, but had run out of time before I could clean up the decks.  Now, I removed most of the protective plastic I’d had in place since shortly after the paint was complete, leaving only the cockpit for now.  It was nice to see the decks fully exposed again and with the deck hardware in place.  This meant that afterwards, I could dismantle the staging to make more room around the boat, and to prepare her for a yard move later; for now, I planned to leave her in the main work bay, as current weather aside (it had been mostly warmer than usual and no snowstorms for some time), it was still winter, and I didn’t want to expose the boat to the elements just yet if I didn’t have to.

That meant that I would be working in my other bay for the upcoming projects, and to prepare that space for the other boats, I was ready to move Scupper’s mast out, which had been in the bay since mid-winter at the beginning of the mast-painting project.  Now, all spar-related work was done, and to prepare the mast for moving outdoors as well as for transportation whenever that happened, I wrapped the mast and furlers in plastic sleeves, securing the plastic and rigging within well and often with tape and small stuff as needed protect the mast (and boom).  Afterwards, I moved the spars outdoors where they’d await the boat’s departure.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  32°, mostly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Partly sunny, 60°