First of all I managed to get the cockpit locker lids finished. All the expoxy was cleaned and sanded and then the top and sides was given 2 coats of light blue International Interdeck. The British weather was determined to stop me with some nice frost on the sanding table:
But I wasn't to be put off and sanded the expoxy off the cockpit lids Here are the usual before shots where the epoxy has been sanded back:
And after:
Please note that the actual colour is nothing like this. I'm not too sure if it was the lighting or something. Anyway I was pretty pleased with the overall result. Once they had dried for a few days, I was able to install them in the cockpit. Here they are:
Not bad eh? As you can see they are already getting dirty thanks to the great British weather!
Next was to clean the table base and the hardware itself. Remember the base?:
Horrible! After cleaning, it looked like this:
A whole lot better!
My next job was to paint some of the interior woodwork. Before:
And after 1 coat:
They still needed a little more paint on them (which I have done, but haven't taken any pics yet).
I have also given the ply panels at the rear of the boat a couple of coats of white gloss. This is just to freshen them all up. I would like to replace all of these wooden panels and will do so when I have a bit more time.
Getting the carpet on the port side of the cabin was next on my list. I had to remove the cabin support which was a little tricky as I had to clamp a spanner to each nut on the inside of the cabin and then go outside and try and unscrew them. Often the clamp and spanner fell off when I was turning the screw on the outside, so I would have to move the ladder, climb back in and do it again. Once this was done, I was left with the old carpet underneath which I scraped off and cleaned up.
I then measured up the carpet and cut it to size in the workshop. I had to cover the table and part of the floor with plastic as it was covered in dust (from some scruffy sod sanding INDOORS and not cleaning up after themselves) and I didn't want it to get dirty. I left a heater running in the cabin to warm the cabin interior surfaces as it was only a few degrees.
To glue the carpet down, you have to spray the carpet and the surface you are gluing it to, You then wait until it is tacky and press them together, You get a little bit of time to adjust the carpet, but not much! I then had to place and tape plastic sheeting around the cabin, so I could lay the carpet down flat when I was spraying the glue on it, and also to protect the windows and all other surfaces from the spray glue. Once it was on, I just left it to dry. I will cut the window section out at a later date. Here are some after shots:
So, that left me with only the rear panels to put back. However the bottom wooden support was loose, so I had to stick on some grab adhesive and brace it with a piece of wood:
Not a very exciting picture, but you get the idea! Once I have put the back panels and cut new ceiling panels the boat should look a hell of a lot nicer!
The next thing on my list is to sand, epoxy and paint the cabin steps. I have already sanded them and put the first layer of epoxy on. I now have to finish them off.
As to the future of this blog? I really don't know to be honest. Most people seem to have stopped Blogging in favour of Vlogging. I'm not sure if I have the patience to sit and edit video to some of the standards I have seen on other channels. So I will keep checking to see if my page views are increasing. If they don't, I will stop. Simple as that!
(Probably) More to follow....
