The top is on!

Today was warm and sunny with a light breeze. Mercifully, there were no wake board boats on the river. We began around 2 p.m. and ended  work about 4. Temporary positioning blocks, (shown at right), were clamped to three cross members. These will hold the top off the adhesive until everything is lined up for clamping. 

Captions are above each of the following photos. Click on a picture to enlarge for a closer look. 

Dia was waiting when the finished top came down the drive, delicately balanced on the back of the pickup.

David, Jim, Major, Paul and I maneuver it though the gazebo and down the ramp to the Albin.

After the rafters and longitudinal stringers are liberally buttered with 3M 5200 adhesive, the top is placed on the positioning blocks.

That's me on the coach roof and Jim on the aft cabin top. We are aligning the registration marks on the underside of the top with center line marks on forward and aft cross members. With the marks lined up, the positioning blocks are un-clamped and removed. This settled the underside center line of the top on the center line of arched the rafters.

Ratcheting nylon load binder straps are looped over the top. They are attached at each end to 2x4s lashed fore and aft between the cleats on each side. The top's arch becomes apparent as the the straps are tightened.

Taking up more slack in the straps completes a pleasing curvature.

The top is now held in place by a clamp on the aft stringer and by the screws securing the light mast brackets forward. After everything was clamped, screwed and strapped down, more 3M 5200 adhesive was applied along the insides and outsides of the longitudinal stringers and rafters. We used 2 1/2 10-ounce tubes of the adhesive, applied with caulking guns.

And, at the end of the day, Ms. Bettencourt is all strapped up, waiting for the adhesive to cure. 

Our present plan is to let her sit like this for a week or so. Then we'll bolt and screw the handrails on each side. The fasteners for the rails will pass through the top into the stringers. At that point, the top will be firmly and finally attached to the boat.

If anyone wants more details or needs questions answered, just use the comment box below and I will respond quickly. Thanks for following this project.

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Still waiting for the Big Event

In the last few days I have installed a new engine water pump and a new alternator belt and I have given the engine box a thorough cleanout. I have also been doing some epoxy filleting in the area over the windshield where the new top’s first cross member lies and some other pilot house area filling and fairing to get things ready for an interior paint job.

The top is finished and awaiting transport to the boat. I think it looks quite nice, with four coats of two-part epoxy paint.

Like many other things on this project, surface preparation for painting has turned out to be more complicated than expected. The framework we built on the boat to support the top needs to be smoothed. In addition to surface sanding, I want to knock the sharp edges off the rafters and supporting structure and to fair the intersections of wood to fiberglass with epoxy glue. This turns out to be harder than expected because the fir lumber we used for the project is really quite dense. And the pitch in the wood is gumming up sandpaper at a prodigious rate.

Meanwhile, it seems that it has been raining here, briefly and violently, about every 15 minutes. I am reminded of a time I worked on a ship in Apra Harbor, Guam, during the rainy season. It was possible to chip paint, be driven below decks by rain, return to buff rust off the spot you just finished chipping, then apply red lead primer only to have it mostly washed away by another furious torrent.

So, I am doing inside the boat work now and waiting for next Wednesday when we will try again to install the new top – weather permitting.

The Big Day Draws Near

The top is finished. My friend Major and I repaired the bird nest damage and applied the fourth and final coat of two-part polyurethane paint last Thursday. I removed my tools from the guest house garage. Dia will be moving her vehicle back in there tomorrow.

The journey

Wednesday afternoon, myself and three fellow geezers will lift the top from the table where it was built and take it to the Albin. It will be about a 150 yard trip, most of it easily accomplished on the back of my pickup. Moving it from the truck to the dock will be a test of strength and agility, but we have measured and we are confident. This last part of the journey will be over water--across a bridge and through a gazebo, then down a long ramp to the dock where the Albin awaits.

The process

I have simplified the installation plan. Instead of sticking the top on with epoxy glue mixed on the jobsite, we are going to use 3M 5200 adhesive. The 5200 comes in tubes and is applied with caulking guns. This  will be much easier to use than epoxy glue, since  it requires no small batch mixing and can be worked for about three hours after application. The epoxy would have been much messier. The 5200 will be relatively flexible after it cures, while epoxy provides a much more rigid bond. I think 5200's flexibility will be a benefit, since the hull and top framework will flex some, particularly going on and off the trailer.

Tomorrow, I will start preparing Ms Bettencourt to receive her new top. I am going to lash 10-foot 2x4s on edges, fore an aft, between the cleats at deck level on either side of the pilot house. The nylon strap load binders we will use to arch the top over the rafters will attach to these 2x4s. Also tomorrow or Tuesday, I will clamp some 2x6 scraps to two or three of the rafters with the top edges of these blocks about a inch higher than the tops of the rafters.

The vision

Here's how I see it working on installation day: We will butter the tops of the rafters and longitudinal members on the boat with the 5200 adhesive. This will involve running  beads of adhesive down the centers of the support members, then spreading the stuff on the tops of the boards with putty knives.

When this is done, two geezers will assume positions on the boat, one in front of the windshield and the other on top of the aft cabin. Then, the dock geezers will lift the new top and help the boat geezers maneuver the top onto the temporary blocks clamped to the rafters. When this is accomplished, the top will be resting about an inch above the freshly-prepared adhesive beds on the rafter tops. Next, we will align the marks on the underside of the top with the marks on the forward and aft members before releasing the clamps on the temporary blocks, allowing the top to come to rest in the correct position on the rafters.

We'll secure the top forward and aft on the centerline with screws and clamps.

Finally, a half-dozen or so nylon load binder straps will be deployed over the top and ratcheted down to curve the top and snug it into the adhesive on the rafter arches.

I am sure the straps will require a lot of adjustment and re-tightening to get the arch right and to achieve full contact of the top's underside with the rafters and longitudinal stringers.

We'll stop at that point on Wednesday afternoon and let the whole thing sit, strapped up under tension and embedded in adhesive, maybe for a week or so.

The final part of the job will be installation of the grab rails. These will be affixed with bolts and lag screws through the top and into the longitudinal stringers.

The forecast

The Weather Service is calling for sunny skies, temps in the mid 80s and a 50% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. This whole evolution should be very pictorial, so please stay tuned for the next report.

Late Bulletin: The Weather Service has changed its forecast and is now calling for cloudy skies with a 60% chance of rain. We may have to re-schedule.

Late, Late Bulletin: The probability of showers Wednesday afternoon is now 70%.

Very Latest and Final (for today) Bulletin: 12:30 p.m. Visibility zero in rain. Called everyone and cancelled installation for today. The next day everyone to can get together is Wednesday, May 23.

Mother Nature Strikes!

Up at dawn

I started shortly after first light this morning and sanded the hardtop yet again. I disposed of much dust, taking great care to have a pristine surface. I rolled on the third coat of Snow White Interlux Perfection two-part paint. It was done about 10:15 a.m.

A beautiful result

After cleaning up my tools, I left the roll-up garage door only partially closed in an effort to get some air flow and dispel noxious paint vapors. There was about an 18-inch gap between the bottom of the door and the concrete sill.

I went inside for a shower and a cold drink.

The honeymooners arrive

I was away from the job site a couple of hours. That was all it took for a pair of Carolina Wrens to start construction of a nest in the roll-up garage door mechanism which happened to be centered over my still wet paint job.

Carolina Wrens are perky little things and they have a very pleasant call. But they are not neat nest builders. This pair must have been new at the job too, because they had spilled more dried grass and twigs on my wet paint than they had managed to stuff into the door lift box.

As it turns out, this variety of wren is the South Carolina State Bird. Here's what a South Carolina website says about them:

"The Carolina Wren, sometimes referred to as the Great Carolina Wren, was adopted as the South Carolina state bird in 1948, replacing the Mockingbird. It can be found in a wide variety of habitats including fields, woodlands, and swamps.

Carolina Wrens build their nests in the holes of trees, on fence posts, or in the eaves of houses and barns. However, the wren is also known for nesting in unusual places such as bags, boxes, flower pots, and even shoes. Both the male and female participate in nest-building, but the female generally adds the finishing touches prior to laying her eggs."


Salvage attempt fails

After locating and shooing the pair out the side door, I swept away much of the debris with a dusting brush and tried to wipe the rest off with a solvent rag. The result was not pretty -- an obvious basketball-sized smear on an otherwise glossy surface.

A fourth topcoat impends

A new quart of paint is on its way from Savannah and should be here tomorrow. Perhaps I will sand and roll yet again in a couple of days. I have installed an exhaust fan in a screened window. I will keep the doors closed. I will hope for the best.

"Assembly of Japanese bicycle...

...requires great peace of mind." That phrase, from Robert Pirsig's 1984 book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, came to mind whilst rolling primer yesterday.

Before I am through with this project, I will have rolled and brush-tipped ten coats of primer and paint on this structure, top and bottom.

In the present moment

Cultivating peace of mind is imperative when faced with applying ten coats of paint. It it is not productive to think about when this job will be over. The trick for me is to keep my mind in the present moment; to focus on technique, and to breathe as deeply as my respirator allows.

I already knew that there is a lot more to painting than cracking open a can and swinging a brush. So it comes as no surprise that I find myself in another marathon operation. It started when the weather moderated earlier this week, and it is still going on.

So far I have applied two coats of two-part primer (sanding after each coat) and three coats of two-part topcoat to a four-inch band around the top's underside perimeter. Yesterday morning, I rolled and tipped a full coat of the primer to the sky side of the top. This morning I sanded that coat with 120-grit sandpaper discs. This afternoon I applied a second primer coat. Tomorrow morning I will be sanding that coat with 220-grit.

After that, only three coats of topcoat paint remain before the top is finished and ready for installation on the boat.

But I am not thinking about that now. All I am thinking about now is painting--and all the mixing, measuring, sanding, dust removal and cleaning up that must be done between coats.

Surprise, surprise

I was surprised by one development during the painting marathon: The quantity of stuff that will be going to the landfill when the paint job is done.

In addition to the expected empty paint cans and stirring sticks, the trash bin includes:

Paint tray liners which must be discarded after each coat, one-time use measuring and mixing vessels of various sizes, paint rollers, disposable paint brushes, sandpaper, innumerable spent sanding discs, paper dust masks, respirator cartridges, countless disposable vinyl gloves, paper towels and cleanup rags. My Tyvek coveralls  may make it through the last coat, but probably not. The size of the waste heap increases markedly as each coat is applied.


My Paint review

I am using white Interlux Epoxy Primekote for the undercoat, and Interlux Perfection topcoat paint in a color the company calls "Snow White". Both are two-part paints. They are not particularly difficult to use.  Each part has to be carefully measured before the two are mixed in the prescribed ratios. Both primer and paint require a 20-minute "induction time," which means you get to do something else while it somehow cooks itself into a workable state. There is a special thinner, Brushing Reducer 2333N, that can be used to thin the topcoat up to 10 percent when applying the paint in hot weather. The Brushing Reducer is also used for cleanup and to wipe sanding dust off the surface between coats.The topcoat flowed on nicely when I did the underside and only minimal brush tipping was required. The result on the underside was a glossy, smooth and very hard surface. It is supposed to last 7-10 years before needing renewal. So far, I like the stuff.

Questions, comments, advice?


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Painting -- fits and starts

I have this thing on its back with two coats of toxically aromatic primer applied around its perimeter. I badly want to roll two coats of the fancy Interlux Perfection topcoat over the primer, just to see how it will look. I want to flop the top over and roll on the first layer of white primer just to see this top finally looking like a top.

But it is raining. It has turned cool. The humidity is around 100 percent. It would not be smart to paint under these conditions.

So, within sight of the finish line, the project comes to a halt.

Oh, and about the budget

This is probably a good time to admit to being over budget. So far the overage is just a little less than $200. That is not too bad on a budget of $2,500. The last-minute paint decision is to blame. I have a good supply of the one-part polyurethane, but shifting to two-part paint meant an unexpected expense. I also had to buy a new respirator, because I cannot find fresh filter canisters for my trusty 2007 model.

The good news 

There are at least a couple of positive things to report.

First, I am glad I chose Interlux Perfection paint. Interlux has great technical support. In addition to rapid and cogent replies to my frequent email questions, the company also has a good set of ‘how to’ videos on its website. I have watched all the Perfection videos two or three times, and that’s probably why I am not painting in the rain this afternoon.

And, the light mast and grab rails are beautifully varnished—three coats of  Cetol Natural Teak on everything and three coats of clear ultraviolet protectant over that. They look good. (All this was done a couple of weeks ago, when it was dry and much warmer). I have even assembled all the stainless steel screws, bolts, washers, nuts and brackets that will be needed to fasten the rails, the mast and the top on the boat. Everything seems to be ready.

More about tech support

Getting information about products and help with technique via the internet is easier than ever and usually so much better than  talking with the Good Ole Boys at the marina. Has anyone other than me noticed, however, that conflicting advice often arises from the same sources? Take, the paint company, for example. If you compare the information on their internet product data sheets with the instructions on their paint cans and advice from their videos it is easy to arrive at three different recommendations on how many coats of paint to apply and drying times between coats. In the final analysis, the decision becomes a well-informed consumer judgment call. Perhaps that's not bad.

Meanwhile, we continue, patiently

...waiting for the weather to improve so we can paint some more.

Walking the dog back

It looks like the top fabrication part of this project is in the home stretch. The paint has been ordered and is on its way here. The unpainted top is sanded and my friend Major and I moved it out of the shop and into the carport yesterday. I went through the shop with a leaf blower twice, moving clouds of epoxy sanding dust out of the soon-to-be paint shop. I looked like a snowman after the second pass and I still have a strange taste in my mouth, despite the dust mask I wore during the blowout sessions.

The plan is to let the remaining dust settle, then move the top back in and roll on two coats of two-part epoxy primer paint. (The working attire will include respirators).

Meanwhile, I think it might be interesting to take a brief look at the thinking behind three major decisions. These were: Marine plywood substrate construction versus molded or formed fiberglass lamination; epoxy versus polyester resins, and two-part versus one-part polyurethane paints.

Back when I did process analysis, we would often take a project apart after the fact to see what worked and what didn’t work. We called this “walking the dog back.”  We looked at the key decisions and whether they were good or bad relative to outcomes.

This is my companion Gladstone, who often observes boat work around the place, usually from an up-wind and relatively dust-free vista.

Gladstone was once a celebrated adult professional at a puppy farm. He is now retired.

The Wood Decision

I had been thinking about doing this project for a very long time. I studied various ways to build boats with resins and fiberglass. I learned what is involved in building molds and forms and laying up resin and fiberglass to make rigid shaped structures. I decided this approach would demand levels of skill and patience I do not possess.

Later, I explored a number of wood boat building sources, finally zeroing in on how to make small wooden boats and canoes using the stitch and glue method. Often, these boats are made of marine plywood encapsulated in fiberglass cloth and resin. This looked like a good approach and something I could do, so that’s how I decided on a plywood substrate.

Epoxy

Polyester resin is less expensive than epoxy resin. Colors can be mixed with polyester resin, in some cases obviating the need for painting. Polyester is more resistant to sunlight’s ultraviolet radiation than is epoxy. 

But, polyester resin will not penetrate wood.

Epoxy resin, on the other hand, can send viscous tendrils into underlying wood fibers, increasing its bond to the wood, and the strength of the structure. That attribute, plus the fact that I have had some experience working with epoxy resin, were the main factors in the epoxy decision. 

Two-part polyurethane paint

I had been planning on using a one-part polyurethane paint. Going to two-part was a last-minute decision, prompted by an old boatyard hand who pointed out that two-part polyurethane paint delivers a harder, more reflective and more durable result.

Keeping water out of the vulnerable underlying plywood  is the key to a long and useful life for this new top. The epoxy moisture barrier has to be protected from ultraviolet solar radiation. Deciding for the best paint available for DIY application was a no-brainer. I haven’t worked with this stuff before. I will report on how hard or easy it is to use in my next post.

This project has aged Gladstone considerably. He will be very happy when it is over.

In summary

Those are the reasons for the key decisions. Whether they are the best decisions will become known in future years. I am confident. And I am looking forward to getting back on the water some time soon.

And next week...

...unless some major wheels come off, the priming and painting should be completed. After that, I will be recruiting some strong and agile friends to help maneuver the top down the ramp and into position on the dock alongside the boat.  We will do a trial fitting to the framework on the boat before we glue and bolt it down for keeps.

Please share your ideas, feedback

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