Crunch Time.......

The major projects are complete; now that only leaves the 1000's of little chickenshit details. US 111 is in the final phases of completion of this winters' refurbishment. The varnish brushes have been put away, along with the countless rolls of sand paper and masking tape. We have now moved onto drill motors, screwdrivers, and Life Caulk. The tape and paper on the decks has been removed, and we are slowly going over every inch of her to make sure we haven't missed anything. Below are a couple of current pictures.............

As you can tell from these pictures we have a lot of little things left to do, but I keep reminding myself that it is not a beauty pageant crown that we are after......

The boat is scheduled to be splashed on Monday morning, April 6 in Alameda......... We will spend the next week finishing the odds and ends that are left and load her up for transport Sunday afternoon......

Shhhhhh.........

No bottom paint.............Some bottom paint...............

Some more bottom paint....................

Somethings are just better kept a secret...................

Murphy's Law........

Okay, let's talk about this Murphy.......Who is he? Why does he do what he does? I do not like this Murphy guy.......

Recently here at work, in efforts to reduce our power bill a tad, we have decided that we needed to replace all of our high bay light fixtures. The new fixtures came in, and our electrical department started replacing them one by one. Yesterday they made it into the auto shop (aka: The Hayward boat yard). Towards the end of the day, there were only two fixtures left to change out, and those just happened to be located just above the boat. All involved, including our electrical Super, electrical project manager, and our auto shop foreman explained to our electrician doing the work; that if he does anything to that boat, he might as well just pack up his tools and head back over to the union hall and look for another job.

This is were Murphy comes into play...... Our electrician started changing the fixture over the foredeck, very cautiously might I add. He laid some cardboard over the deck and made sure that he stayed well clear of the boat with the lift that he was using. Just as he was making the final connections, his side cutters slipped from his hands and impaled the deck of the boat. OK, so not really impaled, more or less put a gouge in the teak deck. The story I get, is that he started packing up his tools and figured that he was heading back to the union hall.

Well, we all understand that "Shit Happens" and do not let people go for an honest mistake. On a positive note; the new lights work so good you can really see the gouge in the deck. I will be way ahead if this is the worse that happens. So, back to work on the other projects, and try to get the boat back in the water before too long.........

41 Days And Counting.......

There are 41 days left until the first gun of the 2009 season, and US 111 is still in the Hayward boat yard. We can see the end, but in all reality we only have 32 days left until she HAS to be launched to make the first race. Not much time if you weigh in the fact that Knarr US 103 also needs to be hauled and a bottom job done in the same time frame.

Yesterday we applied the final coat of varnish to the cabin, combing, king planks and margin boards. The phenolic is almost complete, with only the hatch rails and wear strips left to finish. We have a ton of stainless steel hardware and fasteners to polish and install. In the next couple of days we will finish all the final touches and remove all the tape from the decks, only to cover the top half of the boat and start working on refinishing the bottom. Below are some pictures that I snapped before heading home Sunday night..........
So far the work done is looking good, now let's see if we can beat the calender..........

Polish, Polish, Polish..........

Gel coat, paint, and stainless steel; pretty much sums up everything else on US 111. She may have a pretty wood cabin and teak decks, but the rest of her is a pretty standard fiberglass folkboat.

Her hull is white gel coat, with a dark blue waterline. Gel coat is a pretty forgiving material to work with, and quite easy to maintain; as long as you are willing to put in the elbow grease from time to time. I will warn you all now though, that a nordic folkboat is one of the most time consuming boats to rub out and polish if you have previously let it get away from you. Another note, the process that I am describing below is not for a painted hull.

I start by wiping the entire hull down with acetone. This will remove any built up wax residue. Then I apply 3-4 coats of the 3M Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound. (I have used just about every product on the market today, and the 3M line is hands down the best out there) Buffing each coat with an electric polishing machine. Please remember that there is a grit in the rubbing compound, and that you are actually sanding the gel coat. If you come to a spot with minor scratches, an extra coat or two will not hurt it. Most blemish's can be removed this way. (Another side note: Gel coat will burn and discolor if you are too aggressive with the polisher. The bottom edge of each strake is notorious for this)

The hull is looking pretty good at this point, but don't fall into the trap that a lot of people do. Finish it. Once I have completed rubbing the hull out, it is time to start polishing. I start by wiping the entire hull down again with acetone, or hot to warm water. This will remove any left behind compound; then dry completely. It is very important to have a dry surface, or the polishing compound will not be as effective. Using the 3M Finesse It polishing compound, I apply 3-4 coats and buff to a high sheen. This will leave the hull with a nice "Wet" look. Wipe any haze left behind with a soft dry cloth, and you are done. Sounds easy enough, but US 111 took me approximately 15 hours to complete.

This is the point that you can apply any Fancy speed secrets that you may have. Anything from carnuba wax, to the super slick Teflon waxes available in your local marine stores. I'll leave that decision to you. I am completely happy with the way that she polished out, and the added work now, leaves less in the future. As long as I stay off the docks, watch things floating by in the water, not hit anyone, and hose the hull down after each day of racing, I will only need to apply 1-2 coats of the polishing compound each season to keep her looking sharp.

Like Frosting on A Cake.......

Okay, not really...... But looks similar. While waiting for the varnish to completely cure and dry, we could move our efforts elsewhere. The best move for us was to the cabin top. Originally we were planning on simply filling the chipped gel coat and polishing out the cabin top. Once stripped of all the hardware and everything else that had been glued down; it was very clear we needed to take a more drastic approach. All the hardware seemed to come off a little harder then I had expected. Even the wood handrails pulled the gel coat off down to the fiberglass below. Next to the jib leads someone had placed white non-slip tape to cover the divots in the gel coat from the blocks hitting it. At one point in time the boat had a second set of organizers that served as turning blocks. Those since have been removed and the holes patched. Too many issues to just fill and polish. So that leaves us no other choice then to just refinish the entire cabin top.

We started by sanding the gel coat. We do not really have the time to put a coat of fairing compound over the entire cabin top, but we could use the gel coat and then add the fairing compound in just the low spots to build them up. We then sanded everything smooth with 180 grit sandpaper and tapped it all off for painting.

We first sprayed two coats of Sterlings, linear polyurethane primer and allowed it to cure overnight. The following morning applied 3M spot putty to any pin holes and spots that we missed and allowed it to dry. An hour of shooting the shit and cleaning up the mess around the shop, the putty was dry and we could sand the cabin top with 220 grit; preparing for the final gloss coats.

Using Sterlings, linear polyurethane (Three part) top coat. Sterling is a high solids, low VOC sprayable gloss coat; that in the past we have great luck with. We sprayed one tack coat, allowed to dry for 60 mins. and then applied a heavier second coat for color. After about 30 mins. the paint is cured enough that we could remove the tape and allow it to dry to the touch overnight. Below is a picture of the cabin top the following morning.You can not really tell in this picture, but our janitorial crew played havoc again. They must have come in just after we left for the night and swept the shop, because there was a ton of dust in the paint. In most cases, this particular top coat continues to shrink for some time as it cures, and most of the dust will just pop out. Seven days later, we decided to bite the bullet and color sand and polish out the cabin top. Not exactly what we wanted to waste our time doing, but a job worth doing is a job worth doing right.

First you sand the entire cabin top with 600 grit, then followed by 1000 grit, then by 1500 grit and finally with 2000 grit. Four coats of rubbing compound, followed by four coats of polishing compound, about 3 days and this is what you have...............

Not too bad for a couple of beginners......... So, this may not be the first boat that we have rebuilt; but nevertheless we are very happy with the way that this portion of the project turned out. Next up; the phenolic is here, and a couple more coats of varnish, then put everything back together and head below the waterline.

The Evolution of Good Varnish

A little back history.........My grandfather owned a couple of sailboats, first was a Cheoy Lee Offshore 27 and later a C&C 41. The Cheoy Lee was your typical offshore 27, lots of wood and tons of varnish. The C&C was the opposite. Just a small amount of wood work on trim pieces and such. I tell you this because I could never figure out where my father learned how to varnish. Well, according to him, my grandfather puts varnish on like he is whitewashing the back fence. So, as the story goes, my father had two choices; he could clean up after his father and redo it when he wasn't looking or learn to varnish and clean up after just himself; and that was where it all started.

I was 8 when my father bought his first boat. It was Thea, USA 108, also a Nordic Folkboat. At that time there wasn't much wood to varnish on her. A matter of fact, everything that needed varnishing could be thrown in the back of the truck and done in our garage; minus the toe rail. I remember sitting in the garage for hours on end, watching and asking millions of stupid questions. Come on, I mastered water colors in pre-school; how hard could this be? Boy was I wrong. I would bug him to let me try, and constantly he would tell me no. Every once in a while the planets would align just right, or he was tired of me begging and he would let me put some varnish on. It was usually on something unseen by anybody, like the bottom of the traveler. I learned then that you could screw up in a matter of seconds, and my moment to shine was short lived. He would fix what I messed up in the ten seconds that I had the brush in my hand, and I would go back to watching.

At the age of 27, I was given my own tub of varnish and a brush for the first time. I like to think that it was because he knew that I was watching and learning, asking all the right questions; but it wasn't. The Truth of the story was that the list of projects was taking longer then expected and he needed to get his boat in the water. Even at the age of 27 I was proud of the job that I did on the bottom side of the decks in the cabin. It wasn't long until I figured out that it was another place that no one would ever look. The following winter, his list was once again long, and he decided that it was my job to re-finish the mast. Since then I have been trusted to varnish just about everything, except the final coat on anything. To make a long story a little shorter, I am 32 years old now, and it is finally looking like I may get to finish a job.

Now when I say that varnish evolves, I mean just that. You can't just sand a piece of wood and slap some varnish on. You need to take your time, and remember that half of it is in the prep work. The sanding alone can be the difference between dinning room furniture and patio furniture. In the pictures below, most of the prep work has been completed. Everything that is going to be stained and varnished has been sanded first with 80 grit, then with 240 grit to remove the sanding marks. We then tapped everything off. (And yes, we now own stock in 3M masking tape)

Just before we left for the evening we vacuumed the cockpit, and blew the entire boat off. The following morning we would start the staining process.

The next day was spent doing just that, staining. I felt like the Karate Kid, "Wax on, Wax off." A whole day of it. It is pretty simple, apply a hearty amount of stain to the wood, let sit and wipe it off when it has absorbed to the desired color. It is just a messy job, and the stain then has to dry overnight, so you really don't know what the finished product even looks like until morning.

We are now into day three. We liked the color, and are planning on 10-12 coats of varnish before we are done. With tack rags in hand, we started the first coat. The first coat is a tricky one. When varnishing stained wood there really is not a good sealer that you can use without making the stain look blotchy, so we have found that you mix the varnish with 25% brushing thinner. The issue comes from the varnish being very thin, but it's just the first coat, so a light coat is okay. Day 4 we sanded lightly with 320 grit sand paper, wiped the entire boat down with paint thinner and applied coat number two. We repeated these steps on day 5 and day 6. This is what the wood looked like after 4 coats.Just after we left when finishing the forth coat, our janitorial crew came in to sweep out the shop for the following week. As you can tell from these pictures, they stirred up a ton of dust. Dust is not a friend when you are varnishing........

Coats 2,3 and 4 are pretty thick and it is time to plane down the varnish. We do this by sanding again with 320 grit sand paper. This time concentrating on making it fair and flat. Most of the wood grain is filled, and the remaining coats will continue to build in thickness. We cut and strip the tape. Re-Tape the entire boat again, moving the tape to the outside edge of the caulking around the deck. This will help seal the king plank and margin boards from any water sneaking through at the caulking joint. Day 7 and 8 were spent finishing all of this up.

Day 9 started with wiping down the entire boat with paint thinner and ended with applying coat 5. From coat 5 on, we let each new coat of varnish cure for two days in between. It has been cold and damp for the most part, and it is better safe then sorry. Day 10 we stayed busy working on other parts of the boat. Day 11 we sanded and applied coat 6. This was the schedule up to day 15 when we applied coat 8. These pictures were taken just after finishing coat 8.

This is were we are currently. We will stop varnishing for a few days, letting the varnish cure and move our efforts to re-finishing the cabin top, putting the phenolic on top of the cockpit combing, and polishing out the hull. I figure if we have any mishaps while these projects are being completed we still have at least 2 coats to go, to fix them.

Teak Decks Look Great, But Need a lot of Upkeep....Or Do They?

This was another one of the many projects that we have on our list. We have read many articles on refinishing teak deacks, and everyone seems to have an opinion on the subject. So, here is our two cents on it.

Teak is a natural hard wood, that is as pretty unfinished as it is oiled or varnished. Unfinished; teak will turn silver in color over time. USA 111 has teak decks, that for 23 years have had nothing done to them, except for a weekly summer bath of sea spray followed by a shower of fresh water and the occasional scrub with soap.The decks have turned silver, just as they should. The problem however is that over the years of washing and scrubbing, the soft grain in the teak has been removed. With the soft grain removed, we now have ridges in the wood, where dirt and mildew like to lurk. This happens in many ways. One is the stiffness of the bristles on the brush that you are using, another is a strong, direct spray of water from the nozzle on the hose. We believe that both have lead to our problem. Now the only question is, how do you fix it?

There are many products on the market that claim to refinish teak, without removing the soft grain. After trying most of them over years of boat repair and refinishing, I can say there are none. Actually, I haven't even found one that makes the teak look like the picture on the box by just following their simple directions. The most common issue that I find is that all the products on the market require you to scrub some sort of cleaner into the teak with a brush, which removes the soft grain.

Here is our answer........ I started by heading to West Marine and purchasing StarBrite brand Teak Cleaner (The gel formula) and the StarBrite brand Teak Brightener. They are not the cheapest products on the market, about $50 for the both of them, but I have found that they do the best job on the cleaning portion of the work. It is pretty simple. Start with a clean, dry deck. Then apply a healthy coat of the teak cleaner gel with a disposable paint brush over the teak in which you are cleaning; and remeber to only apply the product to an area that you can complete in about 5 minuts. (On the deck I did an area approx. 2' x 4' at a time) The teak cleaner is nothing more then a highly consentrated soap, and starts to soak into the wood turning it a dark color. Let the cleaner sit for about 5 minutes, then scrub with a scotch brite pad; working the cleaner into the grain of the teak. With warm fresh water, wash the cleaner from the teak. Then clean up the excess water with a dry towel. While the teak is still damp, apply a generous amount of the teak brightner with a disposable paint brush, and let dry overnight. (Do not wipe it off)

In this picture, I have cleaned the small area on the left and let it dry overnight. The entire right side was cleaned earlier in the day and was still a bit damp. Almost all of the silver in the teak is gone, and there is no dirt or mildew in the grain. I cleaned the entire deck this way. Half of the problem is solved. Now to retore the soft grain in the teak and make the deck look as good as new.

After the decks had a chance to completely dry, we started the refinishing part of the project. First off we sanded the entire deck with 40 grit sand paper. When finished we then sanded the entire deck again with 80 grit sand paper. If that wasn't enough sanding, we again sanded the entire deck one last time with 180 grit sand paper.

This is the deck after sanding with 40 grit sand paper.

This is the deck after sanding with 80 grit sand paper.

After sanding the deck the last time, we jumped right in and started tapping off the deck to get ready to stain and varnish; So needless to say, I don't have any pictures of the final sanding. I guess you'll just have to wait until we are done varnishing to see the end result............

Check Another One Off The List........

The major projects seem to be wrapping up. The King plank was one of those projects that we all knew how to fix, but no one really wanted to do it. Just the thought of taking a router to the center of a teak deck and pray that you don't screw up, just didn't seem like the best idea. However there was no other way. So we did just that. After gluing together, what seemed like a thousand pieces of timber to make a pattern of the king plank; Soren headed back to his shop to prepare a jig to not only router out the existing king plank, but one to rough cut the new inlay. I didn't have my camera with me to get any good pictures of the jig, or the progress; complete with saw dust flying. Here, the majority of the old king plank has been removed. The saw dust has been vacuumed up, and all that is left is about 4 hours of clean-up around the ends of the teak deck planks. USA 111 is a true wooden boat from the deck up, complete with wood deck ribs underneath. The builders topped the ribs with 3/8" marine grade plywood, then with 3/16" thick teak planks for the deck, and 3/16" thick mahogany for the king plank and margin boards. Take note, none of the inlays on the deck are screwed. Instead the builder used teak deck caulking. This may have been the demise of the old king plank all along. The caulking allows the teak in the deck to shrink and swell. So, the little bit of movement may have allowed the old king plank to twist when stood on, causing it to crack. It makes sense to me, and no one is arguing or coming up with a better answer, so I am running with it.

After cleaning up the edge of the teak planks, removing the remaining teak deck caulking and the few tidbits of mahogany that the router didn't we were ready for the new king plank inlay. Instead of using the caulking again, we opted to go with the tested and proven option of epoxy. The new inlay was fitted to perfection, and embedded in the deck with West Systems Epoxy. We clamped it down and left for the evening, allowing the epoxy to cure.

Over the next couple of days we tapped the new king plank off and prepared it for caulking. Once the tapping was finished we were able to run a thick bead of black teak deck caulking around the perimeter of the new inlay. (Free teak deck tip from Soren: The longer you can leave the caulking to dry; before cutting it, the better the finished product will be.) I guess the caulking shrinks a lot, and continues to shrink until completely dry. Soren says 2 weeks should do it.

Now we wait. It would really suck if this was the only project that we had to do, but it wasn't. So, we just moved on to other ones and left this one alone for a while. Trust me, we all were counting down the days. It was like that scab, that you just have to pick.

After waiting the suggested 2 weeks, it was time to cut the caulking and remove the tape. Using a very sharp chisel we sliced the caulking to the top of the tape. A little sanding of the caulking, and it was time to reveal the the finished product. After the tape was removed we sanded the new inlay.

This isn't the greatest picture. (I never seem to have my camera when I should. From this point on, I am leaving the camera in the truck.) Now, in this picture we have already sanded the new king plank, stripped and finish sanded the margin boards, and re-tapped the deck. This project is ready for stain and numerous coats of varnish. So, check this one complete.........

It Once Served A Purpose......

Now time to hide it and forget that it was ever there. I am talking about the other unsightly hole left in the bulkhead once I had removed the non-working knotmeter.

As you can see in this picture, the hole was pretty rough. Soren laughed when he saw it and said, "It looks like someone grabbed a beaver by the tail and cut it out." There was an unvarnished teak plank that screwed to the outside that served as a spacer so that we could close the cabin door. The bulkhead itself is built of marine grade plywood with a mahogany veneer attached to the inside and outside of the cabin. The inside veneer was in great shape, (Except the hole), but the outside left a lot to desire. The veneer had been chipped up pretty bad around the edges.

Now, how do you plug a 4" hole without anyone knowing that it had been there? You could just epoxy in a new piece of wood and try to get the joint as tight as possible, but if you looked close enough you would still see the plug. We didn't want to laminate the inside of the bulkhead, but we were considering re-laminating the outside. That would take care of the outside. Now the question is how do you hide the plug on the inside. Like that of a lightening strike, I saw the wheels turning in Sorens head. He gathered his tools, loaded his truck and headed back to his shop for the day.

The following morning Soren arrived with an idea in his hand. Not sure how this would play out, but we told him to go for it. He truly has never done us wrong. So below he headed with a jig and his trusty router. Within minutes he had sawdust flying from the cabin. A few minutes later, and some epoxy mixing, he was finished.

Soren has recently purchased a new wood carving CNC machine. Basically, if you can think it, he can carve it out of wood. He has come through again for us. This was his design, on a 1/4" thick piece of mahogany, which he then inlaid into the backside of the bulkhead. US 111 has been permanently branded. It's a nice, classy, custom touch to the overall details of the work that we are doing. The oval shape hides the purpose of the inlay, and it will last for years to come. A little varnish and that issue is solved as well.

As far as the outside of the bulkhead goes, we again decided to laminate new mahogany keeping the wood grain uniform throughout the cockpit. Soren epoxied a round plug into the hole keeping it flush with the exsisting bulkhead. Then laminated new mahogany over the entire face. When all was done, this is what it looked like. A little finish sanding, staining and numerous coats of varnish; no one will ever be the wiser. (Unless you are reading this blog)