Fine sandpaper and paint brushes, hear it?

[TomY]

I sure do in my harbor. These few weeks when it warms up enough to 'paint', I hear the sound all around me on the harbor. Bottom paint, topsides paint, varnishes, it's a flurry right now.

The Schooner Rebecca, designed and built (at Benjamin and Gannon), on Martha's Vineyard in 2001, gets a light sanding for a spring maintenance coat of spar varnish.

The boat has sailed a lot in 17 years with 2 Atlantic crossings, extensive cruising in the Caribbean and Mediterranean. She now sails the coast of Maine and New England.

Most of the brush noise is on land. The sheds are full so work is overflowing onto the harbor. I'm a design builder so I find staging enthralling. This mobo has a tall topsides. The pipe staging has been set so the, sander - followed by the roller and tipper - can each reach the edge of the toe rail. You can usually tell the amateurs by their staging (or lack of). This old boat will look brand new in a few days.

 

[TomY]

Speaking of staging, I watched a young couple wrestle with a heavy buffer on a hull, at head height. What a work out that would be! Good thing they were young and the boat, small. All they needed was a plank and some cribbing that's lying all around a boat yard.

I stand where I intend to work on the hull, hold my hands at a comfortable height and measure up to the center of that work area. That measurement is how much I need to raise my feet.

I'm refinishing the toe rails on my boat. Not a fun job. I especially hate working on my knees, on deck. So I decided to do the toerails - inside and outside - standing on staging. Being a centerboard boat helps but the toerail at the bow, if you want it at waist level, is a little high.

I use step ladders often for boat staging. The bow step is an 8'er, heavy duty. The base is wider on an 8'er making it more stable and the heavy duty rated is plenty strong enough, even for two and a plank. Plus is often the case, boats are tightly packed in.

That wasn't too bad. A couple short weekend days and one side is stripped and ready to seal. Standing comfortably it was easy to strip, scrap and sand at work bench height. We are also tucked into a hill so that complicates things as well. Saw horses, cribbing, the hill,....a few more planks

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

A buffer at head height is no issue so long as you’re contacting it with greater pressure on the side of the wheel that’s moving downward. The friction holds it up.

 

[Hagar]

For the buffer, get a bungee!
After getting tendonitis in both arms a few years ago I though there must be a better way. 25 feet of 5/16 bungee fastened to a halyard which is raised until the buffer hovers at work level. Used this at the yard last spring and caused a run on bungee at the local chandlery. Hint - Harbor Freight sells one with adjustable hooks for 10 bucks. Probably low quality but only needs to work a couple of days every few years.

 

[Paul D13]

Down to the bits and pieces.

 

[Sailm8]

For the buffer, get a bungee!
After getting tendonitis in both arms a few years ago I though there must be a better way. 25 feet of 5/16 bungee fastened to a halyard which is raised until the buffer hovers at work level. Used this at the yard last spring and caused a run on bungee at the local chandlery. Hint - Harbor Freight sells one with adjustable hooks for 10 bucks. Probably low quality but only needs to work a couple of days every few years.

I saw this for the first time in the BVI's at the Mooring. It works great. I guess when you have 100 boats to do you find some shortcuts.

 

[T Dunn]

It must be nice to have that much room between boats. I can barely fit a hand between boats on my port side and certainly can't get a ladder or staging plank in there. If all goes well I will be painting the port side tomorrow - a 4" foam roller has about 3/4" clearance. I taped plastic sheeting over the topsides of the boat next to me so I won't accidentally paint its hull too. This is the result of painting the starboard side late last week. No staging, just a step ladder.

 

[TomY]

Crunch time in the boatyards. The staging puts my work at ideal level to remove the failed varnish with a heat gun and push scraper. The last of the old finish comes off with sharp carbide pull scrapers.

More than 50 years of use/abuse (feet, docks and dock lines), has worn the top of the toe rails.

I take a sharp (long base) joiner plane to the tops. The rails - over and inch thick - stand up 2" high at the stern and gently bevel outward - to 30 degrees or so - toward the bow. They finish nearly 5" high at the stem, following the bevel of the flared bow. I shoot the original flat line back onto the tops.

Walking the joiner plane along the staging, the blade cuts a dotted line on the worn top edge. "Chic - chic -chic -chic", the plane sounds as flakes come off. Next pass is a dashed line as the shallow cuts begin to lengthen. Then finally a solid ribbon of mahogany comes off the top. Then I know the top line is true, once again.

Not much wood is sacrificed, more than a 1/16th, less than an 1/8". Then a slight round is added to the top edge with the joiner plane followed by a little work with a block plane. It's good to see the original crisp line put onto this lovely piece of mahogany, installed with through bolts every 10", 57 years ago.

This goes faster than I expect and I follow with a stout handled block sander with 80 grit paper to the flat faces of the rails. A flexible sponge wrapped in 80 grit restores the gentle round on the corners.

This too goes quickly as I can put my weight into the sandpaper. Surprisingly, I'm able to apply a filler stain as well, all in one day.

After an overnight dry, next comes a penetrating sealer - rolled and tipped onto the rails. I can't apply nearly as even a coat with just a brush so this step saves me time upfront, and in later varnishing.

The first coat is smooth enough to only require a rub with a 3M pad before a second coat is applied. Foam brushes for tipping are ideal for the rails. You can push the foam brushes, behind chainplates, etc.

The hard work is done. The entire rail is restored and sealed from the weather. The coats of varnish to follow will go fast with little sanding.

A lot of work? I realized going through my records, I've never stripped these toe rails. They survived well for the last 20 years(+?), with a simple annual maintenance coat of varnish. Fair trade for me: I'd hate to have to replace these.

Here's a photo of the rails (and my dog), 10 years ago.

 

[TomY]

It must be nice to have that much room between boats. I can barely fit a hand between boats on my port side and certainly can't get a ladder or staging plank in there. If all goes well I will be painting the port side tomorrow - a 4" foam roller has about 3/4" clearance. I taped plastic sheeting over the topsides of the boat next to me so I won't accidentally paint its hull too. This is the result of painting the starboard side late last week. No staging, just a step ladder.

She looks great, Todd! That is tight. I'll remember that when bugs, tree pollen and road dust go into my varnish job.

 

[Will Gilmore]

That looks SO satisfying.
No. 4 Baily plane?

- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[TomY]

That looks SO satisfying.
No. 4 Baily plane?

- Will (Dragonfly)

No. 5 Bailey, Will(I finally got around to checking it). The toe rails came out great! With a coat each spring, I'll never have to do that again unless I own the boat at 85-90 years of age.

Spring 2018 commissioning, is history. I'm floating and rigged, but many boats are still launching in our harbor. It was a late, cold spring, again. Haulers and riggers tell me their traffic was (is) behind by as much as 3 weeks.

I'm allowed to work with the launch crew (I've earned it over the years). I was again awarded the fastest launch and step by the crew. Simple old boats like mine - if they stay simple - are the easiest and fastest to launch and step the rig (my wife and I step the mizzen and add the booms).

Add complexity in rigging, electronics, sail handling and the time to step your rig can easily triple (so the riggers tell me).

Varnishers were busy. Rebecca, a schooner from Martha's Vineyard had to wait for weather to coat.

They got their weather, it just took patience.

 

[dirt rd]

Beautiful work Tom. I too love good varnish.

 

[markwesti]

014 by mark westi, on Flickr
IMG_3301 by mark westi, on Flickr