November 2, 2017
Steadfast 7
Thursday
I vacuumed the deck areas and freeing ports, then solvent washed the caprails and areas immediately around the freeing ports to prepare for masking and covering the deck areas for the next steps. Then, I focused on masking off the freeing ports–one of the unique and highly functional features of the boat’s design, but time-consuming areas to deal with when refinishing.
The masking for these openings had to accomplish several things: first, keep out the dust during sanding efforts; second, keep out overspray (most importantly); finally, they also had to avoid or eliminate little pockets that could catch and accumulate dust throughout the process. Working from outside on high staging and leaning over the caprail, I first masked off the deck areas and bulwark liner, as well as the inside of the wooden bulwark strips. This would be the first and main defense against overspray, as these pockets would be open during the process so I felt all areas needed to be covered though only the lower section below the wooden strips would actually be sprayed.
Although I completed all the masking steps at each freeing port location before moving to the next, the photos below show just the first step on several of the openings.
With the inside of the openings masked off carefully, I covered the opening inside with masking paper, taping it to the tape I’d already laid around the perimeter of the openings. This paper was the main defense against dust and overspray getting into the deck areas. The final step in the masking process–taping the seam between paper and perimeter from the outside to seal that little dust-collecting gap–would happen from outside the openings, but I’d do that a little later when I had the staging at the appropriate height. These photos, in order from first to last, show an evolutionary progression in how I went about the masking, with commensurate results.
Now that the major work on the freeing ports was complete and they were well sealed into the decks, I covered the entire deck with plastic sheeting, taping it securely to the edge of the caprails all the way around. Since I had to leave the shop on other business during the afternoon, this was as far as I got; some final plastic-taping details remained, as well as the final masking in the freeing ports.
Total time billed on this job today: 4.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation: 50°, cloudy, a shower. Forecast for the day: clouds and showers, around 60