Thursday, June 25, 2009

8 x 10 Glossy (Actually 1.66 x 16 Ft that is)











I finally hit a major Milestone last weekend, the first coat of varnish. I was having quite a bit of anguish and was fretting over spraying the varnish (not having done this before), using a new HVLP spray gun (I know what it stands for but what does it mean for my spraying task), working with the 2 part Interlux Perfection, getting the right mix for spraying and working with the weather to avoid spraying during humid condtions (would cause the finish to be foggy). All is well that ends well and it did worked well.
I set the kayak up on a rotissiorie type set up with a crank at one end and a stick with holes in it to hold the crank and kayak at various angles of rotation. This allowed me to coat the entier boat at one time. My first coat was light as I did not want any runs. I increased the volume that I mixed by 12% on the 2nd and another 12% on the 3rd coat. One more coat and that should be it. I wet sanded between coats with a spray bottle and 320 grit sand paper.
Working for a filtration company, it was a natural to set up my own clean room. Much easier than to try to get all of the dust out of my shop and much more successful at keeping dust, Cotton Wood cotton and bugs off of the wet varnish. Keeping dust off of the finish is near inpossible but with a tent and HEPA filters no dust was around to spoil my fun.
QOD: To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

Monday, June 1, 2009

Wired




The detail work continues. I've had to work out all of the details of the rudder lift. As mentioned the rudder will be spring loaded in the down positon. The tube with elastic cord can be seen on the left side of that fuzzy picture. The tube is actually an old aluminum arrow. Also somewhat shown are the 3 cable casings that I routed and secured inside the boat. I needed this all done before I could varnish the inside. I put 2 coats everywhere I could reach inside the boat and 1 extra one in the main hatch and cockpit area to handle the exta wear. I also had to put in 5 other little details like the hatch loops as shown (unfinished).




QOD: It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere. Anges Repplier (1855-1950)