Pretty in White

Today was really awesome to see some noticeable progress on the boat!  With only nine work days left, we are really battening down the hatches, and all sails out!

The ladies took on the task of sanding the existing fiber glass and epoxy, preparing for another coat, and hopefully our last.  Its a big project to try to get the epoxy even throughout the deck, and we are learning a lot about craftsmanship.We are using foam rollers and foam brushes to make sure to get epoxy in every crack throughout the hull.  Corin and Sara worked on the starboard side while Connie worked with our community volunteer Rachel on the port side.

Dan and Zeb, our mast experts worked with Andrew and Steven to start attaching all the hardware to the new mast that Dan has made for us.  Its a really big project making sure everything lines up correctly so that the sails can be attached correctly the first time.  We will have the mast done next week and will see how it looks on our clean boat! 

While the fiber glass was getting a new coat of love, the inside hull and gunnels got some love as well.  We started painting the inside white, keeping with the original, classic look of this sail boat.  What a difference a fresh coat of paint did for our spirits.  The boat is looking new and ready to sail....hopefully!  Chris, Justin and Scott worked hard to get a first coat of paint throughout the hull to the cabin entrance.

Chris and Justin took the lead this afternoon, heading up our group discussion at the end of our work day, they did a great job reviewing what got done today, as well as what we need to focus on next time, and even set a timeline for the rest of our time until the big unveiling at the start of May!

Crewmen Overboard!!!

 
 Today we were sailing the rough seas without our full crew.  We only had four crewmen available to work on our project today due to a preparation meeting for the Mountain Alliance Alternative Spring Break trip.  Sara, Connie, Cole, and Corin worked extra hard to finish some important pieces to help make our boat float!

We made up for our small crew today with admiral Todd joining in on the fun today.  He worked with Cole to caulk the rest of the cracks and crevases in the hull of the boat all the way to the front of the bow.  He can be seen preparing to work in the bow section of the boat.







When Cole was not caulking, he pulled double duty sanding the port and starboard sides, preparing the fiber glass for another layer of adhesive to be applied.










Corin worked with Dan, our community volunteer on finishing the foundation for the mast.  Corin has been working in the tight cabin space for the past few work days and he is relieved that the mast is almost ready to be permanently attached to the hull of the boat!  

Connie and Sara are still our masters of fiber glass, working hard to finish sanding, and then reapplying another layer of adhesive over the existing layers of fiber glass.  We are hoping to add one more additional layer of adhesive before we sand the deck smooth, ready for paint.

Abandon Ship!!!!

 First Day of Spring is here!!! With such lovely weather, why not work outside again!  We started today by setting some goals to accomplish during our time today.  1- set the rest of the fiberglass around the deck of the port and starboard sides, 2- put a second layer of adhesive on top of the first fiberglass layer at the bow of the boat, 3- get a substantial amount of caulking 5200 in the cracks of the hull, 4- work around the mast area and make it ready to set.  Thats a lot to do!








Corin worked alongside Dan and his father who were volunteering today to help out with the mast.  They set the end cap for the keel housing and the mast back stud.  They will be ready to build the base plate of the mast next week! We cant wait to get our new mast fashioned to really bring this boat some new character!

Justin and Steven worked caulking the cracks in the hull and are now finished with all the ribs up to the start of the cabin, this is a big accomplishment!  Andy worked with Paul, another community volunteer, to fashion the rear supports for the transom and caulked around the transom area today as well. 













Sara, Connie, and Cole worked on finishing the fiber glassing and along with our volunteers Zeb and Rachel, they also sanded and applied the second coat of adheasive to the dry fiber glass from last week.











Our ideal day of working in the sun ran aground as the sky decided to test our waterproof caulking work.  We quickly abandoned ship and picked up all of our power tools, and pushed our boat back onto dry shore (inside the shop) and continued working.  We made the most of the day today even with our cloudy skies above!  We will be short a few crewmen on our next work day but will work hard to finish caulking and fiber glassing the boat.

Red Clouds at Night Sailors Delight

Today was an exciting day because we began fiber glassing the top of the boat. With a small crew it was easier to work on such a delicate portion of the project and not get in the way of other workers. We brought our creation into the light for the first time by taking it outside on such a beautiful day to utilize the well ventilated spaces of the great outdoors to work with completing the bondo, fiberglassing, and 5200 caulking.  Sarah, Connie and Cole with guidance from our captain Scott were given a demonstration of how to fiber glass before being turned loose to apply and smooth the fibers into position around the exterior of the boat.  With their hard work, the exterior roof of the cabin and entire front of the bow is now neatly covered with a fine coat of fiber and resin.  Hopefully when we return from our break (we dont have school this Thursday!) the fiberglass will be hard and we can continue working on the final portion of fiberglassing the starboard and port sides flanks.






 Justin and Corin worked applying the 5200 caulk in every single crack they could find in the bottom of the hull and around the ribs working their way towards the cabin from the stern.   They realized that the caulk is very difficult to apply and secure in place.  This will be a fun project to continue next week.

Chris finished the bondo today and with a little sanding will be ready for paint!  He is excited to finally be done patching the boat up and can now start working to help Corin install the rear panel wall for the cabin soon. 

Our community partner Dan also came in to lend a hand today and brought with him a very special piece of the boat which he had restored in his home wood shop.  The Mast!!! it look wonderful and Andrew and Stephen will be excited to finish putting it together with all the proper hardware and rigging lines next week.
Today was certainly an exciting day as we have officially moved into another stage in our boat restoration project.  We are moving along as planned and cannot wait to be in the water as this warm weather sets upon us!

We're done! ... with sanding.

This past trip to restore the boat was a huge day of completions. Beginning on the outside of the boat Connie and Sarah have completed all the pieces of fabric for fiber glassing to begin. They used a lot of both physical and mental energy in order to create the fewest number of pieces of fabric and made sure that all those pieces matched up so that once the boat is finished being fiber glassed it will look great.













Jumping inside the boat Chris has finished up the major areas of the boat that needed to have bondo used on it. These areas have been sanded down and are ready to be painted over.

 Justin, Andy and Cole have finished sanding the inside of the boat out between the ribs, on the ribs and under the ribs. They have also cleaned out the cracks in between the ribs and on Tuesday we will be putting 5200 into the cracks to solidify those areas.

 Lastly Corin has cut the door leading into the cabin out of the plywood and has gotten it to fit really well. The last step in that will be the instillation of the door itself.





 In all Thursday was a very productive day leading into this following Tuesday. Since we won't be meeting on Thursday we'll be doing a lot of work that requires time like placing the 5200 into the cracks, caulking under the ribs and beginning to fiber glass the outside of the boat. We're starting to see lots of progress on the boat and we'll be starting new sets of projects on Tuesday.

Are we done with Sanding yet???

Almost!....Done with sanding.  Today we worked hard trying to finish the rest of the sanding projects we had started.  We are finishing working on the inside of the cabin, and the grooves between the ribs in the hull.  Andy worked removing old calk between grooves and did some sanding around the top hatch today while Steven and Justin worked sanding the bondo and inside of the cabin.

Chris is almost done applying bondo to weak areas around the mast, and hull which once dry, can be sanded to match the rest of the wood and will provide a hard surface that will hold up to the riggers of the rough waters we may encounter!

Corin worked with both of our community volunteers, Paul and Zeb, to finish cutting out the back wall of the cabin with a jigsaw.  This was a tedious project that will support the weight of the cabin roof, provide added shelter from the elements and will also support an additional seat for more sailors.

Connie and Sara are working on cutting the fabric for our fiberglass out of the templates they have designed to match the top decks around the boat.  It is our goal to start to apply the fiberglass on Thursday which will be a much welcomed change from the amount of tough love and sanding we have put into our boat so far.  The girls can be seen here working to attach multiple templates together in order to make fewer cuts and gaps in the fabric, which they feel will be more beneficial and less work when applying the glass.

Additionally, we have decided to start learning new sailing terms and will put forth effort each workday to come ready to discuss some new terms and hopefully share new knowledge about sailing so we will be prepared for our maiden voyage on Watauga Lake

Sanding the rough edges away.

Today was a little shorter than most, with our membership meetings starting at 6:30, we had to make the most of our time.  Chris and Andrew finished patching the holes with BONDO which filled the shop with lovely aromas (we had to open the big door).  You can see from the pictures that the area around the mast drop-in has been fixed as well as a rotten wood section towards the rear of the boat.  These areas are ready to be sanded down and shaped to match the surrounding wood structure.

 The sanding has come a long way and we are working on finishing the details that were skipped throughout the bulk sanding phase.  Chris is shown sanding around the caps of the hull as Steven  Cole pulls calk and fiberglass from the cracks in the floor of the hull.  These cracks will be filled with a new bonding material which will hold up better on the water and over time.  It is a very tedious process and we have found rotating people through this section of work is very helpful.

 

 

 Connie and Sara worked on finishing the outlines for the deck of the boat, and have started cutting fiberglass fabric.  Next week we are going to work with a community volunteer to learn how to apply the fiberglass!!

We are finishing the sanding details around the hull and are almost ready to paint and start rebuilding the boat!! everyone is starting to get excited and can really see the progress we have all made.