Mar 30 - Refit Update

The painting of the deck, house and cockpit non-skid areas was completed yesterday. Two coats of Awlgrip Cream color mixed with #2 sand have been sprayed and provide a nice, light contrast to the rest of the Oyster White finish above decks. It feels pretty good walking around, and it's nice to have that non-skid feeling of security underfoot when going forward or working on the house areas. Down below, the refinishing and varnishing is well on its way. The floor has been entirely sanded, and most areas have received 8 coats of polyurethane. There's still more finish sanding and such to go on the trim and a few bulkheads, but it's good to see progress. I've been told that all the visquine as well as the tent itself will be off the boat in about one week, and the interior varnishing should be complete, so we'll have to wait and see how all that goes. Also, the deck gear is scheduled to be re-installed next week as well which will, finally, put me to work alongside the crew to ensure sealant is used properly and everything is as it should be. Some woodworking projects need completion: the new rubrail and a table support down below. Also, the lazarette cover, dodger, and new hatch turtle need to be sprayed and non-skid applied as well. It should be a busy week....The Thai New Year's celebrations are April 13-17th, so I'm hoping everything is completed well before then. Pictures: Deck, house and cockpit after the non-skid paint was sprayed. Some of the tape and visquine has just been removed along the port side; there's a whole lot more to go!

Mar 22 - Refit Update

The deck, bulwarks, house and cockpit have been sprayed but there is so much visquine tenting off the area that I can't easily climb the scaffolding to take pictures. Tenting is done to prevent over-spray getting on Infini's topsides or the neighboring boats, as well as to prevent dust from settling on her. An extraction fan is also used during the prep and painting process. We've seen the belowdecks doors and drawers getting sanded and varnished in the shop, and the new hatch turtle is getting built. If the weather holds, the non-skid areas of the deck should be sprayed next week.
Picture is of the new hatch turtle. When completed, it will be resin coated, fiberglassed and then painted.

Mar 18 - Refit Update

Well...there's not much new to report. Progress on the deck has been (for us) agonizingly slow, and painting has yet to commence. We're hoping that the prep work on the entire deck and cockpit will be completed before week's end and that paint will be applied, at least to the bulwark, house and cockpit areas that are smooth. The non-skid areas are then painted separately, as the newly painted areas have to be well dry before the crew can move around and tape them off for the spray application of non-skid. Waiting is the hardest part....

Mar 6 - Refit Update

It's all about the deck now. As many of us know, decks take a lot longer to prep than the hull topsides, especially when everything on deck has to be removed, holes filled, gelcoat cracks repaired and the entire surface is gone over by finger, checking by tactile feel for irregularities or an area that needs further sanding. The lads have been at it "a while", and it looks like it'll be "a while" until finish paint is sprayed. Can't rush these things, especially as we want the deck to come out looking as good as the hull. Picture: Although dark, this is an interesting picture as it shows Mr Gig (white shirt and cap) talking things over with a few of his crew. Note all gear has been removed from the deck and bulwarks. Sandpaper, epoxy putty, some mastic for temporarily filling of holes, and yards of visquine covering are seen.

Mar 1 - Refit Update

We are a blue boat again! After playing footsie with late afternoon rains the last few days, the painter sprayed the third and final coat of Flag Blue Awlgrip in the early afternoon yesterday and it had plenty of time to tack off before a 15 min squall hit Boat Lagoon. The extensive hull prep, visquine tenting, spraying the surrounding pavement with water to prevent road dust, along with using a large extraction fan for any airborne dust...as well as the meticulous hull wipe down and the talent of the guy applying the paint, resulted in a beautiful finish coat. We're expecting heavy rains due to a tropical storm hitting northern Thailand, so I doubt the next few days will be too productive. But...it's good to be blue! The picture surely doesn't do justice, but once the visquine is removed it'll be easier to take better views of the hull.