Cockpit & superstructures varnish - preparations

Early morning was I on place, with a plan to varnish cockpit and deck hatch.

I inspected my “masterpiece” varnishing on port side. Now when it hardened it does not look that bad. There are sags in one area, a few more here and there but no “vacations” anywhere. Which means that main purpose of varnishing is reached - protecting wood. That it became not perfect aesthetically - well, I’ll correct it next year anyway.

After some more scratching my head and looking at all angles I finally decided that this will do this year. I disassembled temporary platforms around the boat and decided moving on to remaining jobs before we launch Meritaten.

Started with taping all areas around elements to be varnished. Taping takes always long time but in this case it proved to be good: while doing it I noticed that it started to rain and snow. Well, so much for varnishing today - it’s too humid to risk this job.

At least I’m done with the boring part: taping.

Before leaving I sprinkled water in Meritaten’s plastic tent - to keep her hull from drying - and drove home.

I need to book launching soon.

Jobs remaining for launch:

cockpit and deck hatch varnish (can be done on water but easier on land)
mechanical log greasing and assembly
putting Ettan into keel-stern post gap (this is where I suspect water seeps in during the season)
antifouling
putting back life lines on deck (can be done on water but easier on land)
sealing & mounting deck hardware (can be done on water but easier on land)
cabin vacuuming
mounting ceiling planks on pilot berth & fo’c’s’le (can be done on water)
water-pump impeller check/change and engine test-start (can be done on water)
oil change in gearbox (easier done on water)
new hinges on cockpit hatch (can be done on water)