Long Friday
My girls went with me in the morning, to help prepare Meritaten for varnishing and painting. Both got a scrub pad and worked hard on preparing cockpit for varnish.
While they were busy scrubbing I vacuumed the deck and both whale decks again and taped few opened seams on starboard whale deck. I want to try Sika sealing, maybe it will work.
The problem is that these seams which open during the season are now mostly closed - wood got enough moisture from the air during winter that it came back to it’s nominal dimensions. Seams will probably open again during hot summer days but then I will just add Sika to seal the opening and inhibit rain water from entering the hull. After season, when wood will swell again soft Sika should not stop it from swelling and deforming planks. It will probably damage varnish on the seam but that I will have to live with until I properly glue seams with mahogany stripes and thickened epoxy.
Came out pretty well. It will be even less visible under varnish and will disappear completely in few years when I clean whale decks to bare wood and stain them dark again - but that will have to wait, right now varnish is still in good shape so no need to remove it yet.
We started sprinkler season, my daughter was the system operator today.
After that we went to my small workshop, where Glypto resides, and had a short lunch.
I drove them home and after some rest came back to boatyard for evening shift. The aim was to tape everything on deck, in preparations for primer painting which I plan for tomorrow.
Tedious job but time well invested - I can then paint freely which speeds up the job and makes the effect tidy.
Tomorrow I will vacuum again and solvent-clean the whole deck. First layer of primer will follow - if weather permits.
I noticed that someone went on deck with shoes when I was away. To warn such guests I marked the ladder upon leaving. Hopefully curious guests will take this into consideration.