20th May 2010

Managed to get a huge amount of filling done tonight, getting a dab hand at mixing epoxy and filler thanks to the West Systems website.  I have also started to strip the lower part of the hull where the antifouling is, its a pain, nothing seems to strip it off, I want to get it back to the bare wood so I can epoxy the hull.

I also managed to strip the paint that was behind the sink and cooker and sand it off, the plan is to tile it with small matt mosaic style tiles.

Next visit will be on Sunday, want to get there early and get cracking as I won't be able to get to her for a couple of weeks.

18th May 2010

Managed to finish work on time and got to the boat just after 4.30 and spent the best part three hours sanding the epoxy filler from the weekend.  I managed to go through 25 sanding discs, thankfully it was a still evening, lovely and warm so I didn't end up wearing to much of the dust.

I also managed to bond in place the support timber and screw it in place, I'll need to cut some 6mm plywood at the weekend and bond that in place.  I also started to bond a small area that had de-laminated above one of the windows, being very careful not to bond the clamp in place.

Next visit will be Thursday when I'll be filling some of the low spots and sanding more of the back cabin.  By the end of the weekend I want to have the whole of the back cabin done.

17th May 2010

Below is the logo I intend to put on the transom when I get round to painting her.

It will be an oxford blue with a chrome shadow.

16th May 2010

Spent the full weekend down the boat, arrived Saturday morning at just after 8am.  The plan this weekend is to get into a position where I could epoxy and fill the new roof line so I can sand it later in the week.

Karen had done a great job of striping the sides, but there bottom layer of paint didn't want to budge and I want Sabrina back to bare wood for the epoxying, it will probably be the first time in many, many years, or even since she was first built that shes back to bare wood.

I had at this point, already gone through over 60 sanding discs of various grits, I'd been to screwfix the day before and bought another fifty 60 grit and ordered another fifty 240 grit, although during the day I managed to almost run out of 120 grid discs.

I was pleased with the sides, I still need to tidy up where it joins the deck as neither nitromors or the sander will reach, elbow grease here we come! You can see the

Karen spent the afternoon striping the transom, she managed to scorch the wood in places as there was only a single layer of varnish on it.  Thankfully 120 grit, followed by 240 sorted it out.  I need to take the rail off and also the name badge and do the whole thing, but you can see the rich colour that it will be when sealed.

I spent Sunday finishing striping the inside and round the windows, three coats of nitromors and plenty of elbow crease, there is still more to be done, but you can see she is already looking better for it:

 

I also found time to remove the "fetching" vinyl that was behind the sink and cooker, the plan when I do the galley is to tile the back using small pale matt tiles, mosaic style.

Karen keeps saying that its a wonder I haven't killed myself yet, well I came a step closer today. We reinforced the canopy yesterday, screwing it to the sleepers that Sabrina sits on and adding new 3"x2" reinforcing timbers, the down side, when I walked into the frame, it hurt!

13th May 2010

I spent a couple of hours this evening sanding down the epoxy'd panel that I had made the day before, it worked a treat, 12 sanding disks later you can see the result.  Its as solid as a rock.

12th May 2010

Things at work lately had been getting a little mental and I'd worked the last weekend, plus many late evenings so decided to take a lieu day and go and work on the boat.

I'd been feeling like I had not been achieving much and all I seemed to be doing was cutting out rot so I decided to actually change tact on her and do some work on the rear, which I didn't think would need that much work.  There are a patch of rot on the rear where someone had spliced a new piece in and not sealed it properly.  I'd already pulled most of the rot out and decided to finish cleaning it up and splice in a new piece.

I was sat on board having some lunch with Karen (thanks Babe x) when I noticed daylight through the panel, I though it was just where nails have gone through, but on further examination I realised it was more rot!

I cut out the rot and decided to use epoxy, plus epoxy filler to glue in the new piece, you can see the new panel in place with the filler going off, as the new panel is slightly thinner than the old one, plus the old one has a slight curve in it, the only way I could think was to use small pieces of wood to hold it in place.  The obvious problem is the epoxy, I knew the support pieces would stick so I only allowed the smallest of overlaps.

I also decided to start striping the rear panel, using nitromors a heat gun and a very, very sharp scraper.  You can see the results below, the panel on the left is ready to be sanded and epoxy'd.

9th May 2010

I'd not spent much time on Sabrina over the last couple of weekends but managed to rebuild the rear hatch cover.  The cover was still covered in vinyl and I assumed that it should be ok and might just need a little filling, but like most things on her once I'd striped off the covering I found that the plywood was shot so I decided to cut a new piece from an off cut that I had.

The problem that I wanted to avoid was having to shape the roof, all the edges on Sabrina are curved, its one of the things that I love about her.  My woodworking skills are not bad, but if I'm not "in the zone" then it doesn't always work out how I expect, plus once glued, it ain't going to come apart again.

However it worked out and I was more than happy with the result, photos will follow when I mount it.