Preparing the Toe Rails and Rub Rails

October 31, 2015

The next item on the to-do list was to fabricate the new toe rails and rub rails.  Having just a little bit to work on the boat prior to: 1. watching the first half of the Gator game, and 2. trick-or-treating with my kiddos, I got right to work in the....mid-morning - sleeping in on the weekend is still important to me :)

I gathered my mahogany boards (3) and proceeded to the wood shop.  I selected the 2 boards to be used for the toe rails and the other for the rub rails.   

Over the previous weekend I took measurements on the rails, and I also took notes on the shape and dimensions of the originals rails.  The original toe rails measured 1 and 1/8" in height by 5/8" width.  The new toe rails would take the 1 and 1/8" height, but would measure nearly 3/4" in width.  I ran the toe rails through the planer to take off the cupping that was evident in the boards. I planed the boards to just proud of their eventual width - 3/4".

After planing all the rails I used the finish sander to clean up the markings caused by the planer.

The next step was to joint at least one side of the boards, and I attempted this on a small jointer I have.  However, the boards were of such length and the jointer disproportionately sized for the job that I eventually relented to my hand planes for achieving a jointed edge.  After several passes and constant measuring I achieved the result I was looking for.

With at least one edge jointed on edge of the boards I proceeded to rip the mahogany stock, creating blanks for the toe rails.  I ripped the toe rails to 1 and 1/4" (height), and ended up with 9 pieces in total.  I will need 3 pieces for each toe rail, so I have enough pieces to select the best of the lot for each toe rail.

One of the two mahogany boards ripped into 5 blanks for the toe rails.

I had selected one of the three mahogany boards for the rub rails, and followed the same preparation steps.  The rub rail blanks were ripped to 3/4" (height), with a base width of 7/8".  I ended up with 8 blanks for the rub rails and will need three pieces for each rail, thus I will have two left over pieces. The next step will be to cut scarf joints in the material selected for the individual toe and rub rails using the template I have prepared.  I created a template on top of a sled that I will push through the table saw to create the necessary scarf joint (see earlier post on this scarfing sled). 

As a public service announcement....NEVER! stand directly behind the table saw as you cut your stock! :)  Sometimes the material can be under a lot of pressure due to the way the grain is running, and as one cuts, this pressure can be released and cause the board to ride up against the blade...producing a missile launcher effect!  Yikes!

I had to pull this out from the exterior of the shop!

Total Time: 5 Hrs.

Taking Measurements of Original Toe and Rub Rails

October 25, 2015

I'm now getting a little anxious when I go a few days without doing any work on Alva Anne, so I answered the call and at least did some prep work for the toe and rub rails.  I just needed an hour, man! C'mon, that's all I'm asking for; just give me an hour!  In fact, the hour was all that I needed to satiate this junky's need for a fix.  The kids were busy capitalizing on the new "elective chores" program - a way for the kids to help Dad around the home while earning some "mad money."  So with one vacuuming and one pressure washing the drive way, I took advantage of the hour and scratched some notes that would come in handy in the near future.

Turns out the toe rails are 1 and 1/8" in height, and 5/8" in width.  The length of the toe rails are 18' 1 and 1/2".  They are essentially a rectangular in profile, but with a slight round-over on the outboard and inboard sides at the top portion of the rail.  

The area where the jib track mounts to the rail was perfectly flat, as one might imagine, and stood 1/8" proud of the balance of the toe rail.  My thought here was that years of sanding and varnishing "eroded" the areas outside the jib track, thus creating the raised area that can now be seen.  My plans for the new rails will be to set the extreme height of the rails at 1 and 1/8", with a slight round-over, and then mount the tracks in their proper position on the rail.

I took note of the stylized portion of the rail - this is the aft portion as it transitions into the taffrail.

The underside of the rails also have a channel routed into them, and serves as a place for the polysulfide to ooze throughout and create a water-tight seal.

Next step is to begin to prepare the stock for fabrication - pretty mahogany will require a lot of maintenance...of well, "baby, your worth it!"

Total Time: 1 Hr.

Second Coat of Deck Primer

October 20, 2015

When I made it home from the office I made immediate plans to take advantage of the fine fall weather here in the sunshine state by getting a second coat of primer of the deck of Alva Anne.  Knowing that I would be ultimately finishing up in the dark I arranged some work lamps prior to delving into the meditative sanding process.  With lamps set up I turned to the bow, and with 150-grit paper and gloves to protect the fingers, I set out to work my way from front to back - bow to stern for the boating enthusiasts. 

I took my time around the tight areas: base of the bow pulpit, around the stem fitting, etc., but made good time in the open fields.  I also sanded the small amount of fill work and fairing work that I had done in the prior session (transom, poop deck, and foredeck cleat).

After I wrapped up the sanding work I vacuumed the entire deck and cockpit (small boat, went quickly), and then proceeded to mix up a batch of the Interlux PrimeKote.  While I awaited the 20-minute induction period I went ahead and wiped down the areas that I would be painting with Interlux 2333N brushing thinner.  This thinner is recommended as not only a thinner for brushing the PrimeKote but also as a solvent to remove any residual dust residue or contaminates.  

I used a foam brush this time for the areas that were hard to get good contact with the smaller diameter foam roller.  Again, the tight areas were the base of the bow pulpit, stem fitting, around the deadlights and navigation lights on the cabin sides.  The foam brush worked well for the primer, and I imagination I will have to take greater care during the finish coat applications.

It was a straightforward session on the boat.  Applying primer to the deck is making for dramatic improvements in the appearance of this class plastic. 

Total Time: 2.5 Hrs.

Primer Coats: Topsides (2nd) and Deck (1st)

October 18, 2015

It was to be another full day on Alva Anne, but with excellent sailing weather now showing up in Florida, I am super motivated to get her in the water.  My near term goal is to get the primer coats on in order to then turn my attention to the brightwork dry fit installations which will, in turn, allow me to apply varnish coats to the brightwork while I am applying the topcoat paint.  So with sufficient motivation, I began sanding the deck areas.  I approached the Sea Sprite as a bit of an over-achiever - I spent countless hours hand sanding every nook and cranny on the deck and cockpit of that boat, and I had the skin of an alligator upon completion of that sanding work.  For the Dory, "good enough" was what I am going for.  So with that in mind, I used the Porter Cable 8335 for the larger fields, and then came in with the hand work around the tight spots.  In those tight spots, I made sure to remove all loose and flaking paint, but primarily made sure that the old (well-adhered) paints roughed up sufficient enough to take new primer.

I began at the bow and worked towards the stern.  The boundary between the non-skid and finish paint lines took a bit of time, and thankfully there is a limited amount of that.  The aft portion of the sidedecks, cockpit seats, and poop deck went fairly quick as you might imagine.  I skipped the cockpit floor during this session as I was in a race against time (setting sun).

I used 80-grit PSA pads on the right-angle sander and 150-grit sheets for hand work.  I thought, at one point, about breaking out the finish sander, but knew the 8335 would allow for the fastest removal of the old paint.  Upon wrapping up the sanding work I vacuumed most of the sanding dust from the surfaces and then thoroughly wiped the boat down with solvent to remove an residual dust.

In a prior session on the boat, I had over drilled the fastener holes for the deck cleat.  Needing to have this filled so that I could continue on with the priming, I went ahead and mixed some epoxy and thickened it to fill these over-drilled holes.  I will come back later and fair the deck and then drill pilot holes for the eventual drilling and tapping necessary to accommodate the new machine screws for the deck cleat.  The foredeck core is in good shape - no leaks - and I want to keep it that way, so in order to prevent future, accidental water intrusion, I over-drilled the holes and filled with epoxy in order to isolate the fastener holes from the deck core.  This is a time consuming process but an easy one in order to ensure that the boat's coring is protected.

Because I had some of the thickened epoxy leftover from the foredeck cleat holes, I applied the balance on a few areas across Alva Anne's bottom that required a bit more fairing filler.

I also mixed a batch of epoxy thickened with West System's MicroLight fairing filler and applied it with a squeegee across a patched hole on the poop deck.

Finally, I hit a small area on the transom that held a navigation light.  After the first two coats of primer I noticed a few pinholes showing through, so I took a moment to pass the squeegee across this area.  After the fill work was done I tapped off the non-skid lines as well as the deadlight frames and the running lights on the cabin sides.

Next, I mixed up another batch of the PrimeKote two-part epoxy primer.  Having a couple coats on the topsides under my belt and the experience of mixing the primer I had a good feel for how many total ounces (Part A, Part B, and thinner) I would require for a pass on the deck and a pass on the topsides.

The painting work, especially primer, goes fairly quickly.  I use foam rollers that can stand up to the harshness of solvent-based paints, and the small diameter of these rollers allow me to get into tight spots with good results.  Again, I worked from the bow to the stern prior to transitioning to the topsides.

I left the faired area on the poop deck free of the primer for obvious reasons.

I also purposely left this area on the transom unpainted.  I feel good with the number of coats of primer on the topsides, and will shoot for at least one more coat for the deck.

Total Time: 8 Hrs.

First Primer Coat & Brightwork Fabrication

October 17, 2015

It has been awhile that I have had a full day to work on the boat, so after a relaxing morning I got right to the day's tasks.  I had prepared the topsides in the last few days with final sanding and taping off the waterline, so I was essentially ready to go today.  My first order of business was to mix the Interlux PrimeKote at a 3:1 ratio of Part A to Part B, and then set aside for the 20-minute induction period.  

During the 20-minute induction period, I made my way over to the boat for a final solvent wipe down - using AlexSeal's degreaser.  Keeping a clean rag as I moved around the boat, I removed any residual sanding dust and any other potential contaminate on the surface the topsides.

Painting was straight forward.  After thinning the PrimeKote with Interlux's brushing thinner 2333N, I applied the primer with a solvent-stable foam roller.  I've had great success using the foam roller both in primer applications as well as topcoat applications.  With topcoat paint it becomes a bit trickier to find the right thinning ratio to allow the paint to law down nicely, but after a few coats I manage to produce great results. 

I actually made two passes around the boat.  I didn't quite know how much of the primer to mix up in this first application, and ended up mixing 19 ounces of Part A, 6 and 1/3 ounces of Part B and thinned it with 6 ounces of 233N.  the ~31 ounces of paint was a bit much and rather than waste the paint, I decided to take a chance on the risk of adhesion issues and went ahead and applied it.  There is really no way that the paint was cured, but it did appear dry to touch.  

After I had used up the primer, I turned my attention to fabricating more of the brightwork that required replacement.  I grabbed one of the boards left over from the material used to fabricate the new coaming boards.  Next on the list for new brightwork would be the taffrail and the vertical boards trimming out the companionway.  Making sure I could cull the blanks from the particular mahogany board that I set aside, I then ran it through the planer to reduce its thickness to match the original material.  Most of the original boards showed signs of severe weathering, sanding, and general neglect.  After considering the material lost through years enduring weather and sanding and neglect, I figured 3/4" thickness was the original dimension - I went without that.

After the board was to the thickness required, I used the original brightwork pieces as templates to pull the new boards from the mahogany blank.

I then used a jigsaw to remove the new pieces for the companionway trim as well as the taffrail, and then shaped those pieces by hand and through the use of the random orbital sander.  There will no doubt be some final shaping required as I go to install the new brightwork, but 95% of the work is now complete on these boards.

I then turned my attention to the coaming return boards.  These boards make the return to the cabin sides at the forward end of the coaming boards.  These boards also had an original 3/4" thickness, and so I used scrap pieces from the board that I pulled the taffrail and companionway trim pieces from.  I traced the shape of the return boards onto the new blanks, and recreated curves and angles to match the original.  I cut the new return boards from the blanks with the bandsaw, and finished the boards with mechanical and hand sanding.  Again, as mentioned above, there will be some final shaping required as I install the boards.

The coaming boards with their return boards will be mahogany, but I decided to keep the seat trim and aft cockpit trim the original teak.  These boards were in great shape, other than having been silvered by being exposed to the elements.   

I cleaned the boards up dramatically with sanding, and will treat with varnish prior to reinstallation.  It was a good, full day on the boat, and I ended up making great progress toward getting Alva Anne in the water by the end of December.  

Total Time: 7.75 Hrs.

Sanding & Taping-off the Waterline

October 16, 2015

The task for the evening was to prep Alva Anne for her first coat of primer.  Leaving the office this afternoon, I swung by the tool depot to exchange a defective sander and then stopped by the local marine chandlery for some Interlux 233N and other various painting supplies.  Saturday will be the day that Alva Anne gets her first coat of primer, and begins her journey towards looking 20-years younger! 

The black 'splotches' that you see across the sheer lines and the large patches on the transom are a result of me trying to shield the epoxy work from the harmful UV rays of the sun.  

These painted areas were the first order of business this evening.

Using the Porter Cable 8335, and 6" 80-grit PSA disks, I made very quick work of the protective paint.

Once the sanding was finished, I worked my way around Alva Anne with Alex Seal degreaser, removing sanding residue from the factory scribed waterline, including 4 to 5 inches above this line.

With the topsides "freshened up" a bit, I couldn't help but get excited to see a fresh coat of white paint on her...the rebuilding phase of a boat renovation is so satisfying.

The port side of the hull ready for primer!

Once I had the surfaces clean of sanding residue and any other potentially annoying contaminate, I moved into the taping phase of this evening's work.  The previous owner struck an extremely high waterline.  The only thing that I could reasonably consider as justification for such a high waterline was the fairly heavy 5hp Yamaha outboard that was a permanent fixture on the transom.  The older model (80's) was in fact pretty stout in terms of weight.  But even this fairly heavy outboard should not have necessitated such a high waterline - there was actually bottom paint on the extreme lower portion of the transom, near centerline.

My intent is to bring the waterline back to more of the traditional Typhoon look, but I wanted to reserve some room for a "margin of error."  I located the original factory scribed line - the line  that is molded into the hull as the boat was originally laid up - and then proceeded to apply 1.5" tape above the scribed mark.  This will provide me with a waterline that is raised 1.5" from the factory scribed waterline.

The engine that I will be using to come out of the dock (and for approaching the dock) will be a Nissan 3.5hp - a good size engine for this size boat.  The engine is light enough that I will be able to pull it while sailing and store it below.  I also returned to the original fold down bronze motor mount. This particular motor mount can be removed, leaving a small bronze cleat for which the motor bracket attaches to.

With the tape applied, I called it an evening.  In the morning, I will finish wiping down the topsides and begin to mix the epoxy-based primer.

Total Time: 1.5 Hrs.

Topside Sanding, Part 3 & Bottom Fairing

October 11, 2015

Rummaging  through the work shop I came across 6" PSA disks for the 8335....yes! I'm in business!! The forecast today called for a high of 75 degrees with low humidity...a perfect day for sanding, and boat work in general.  I donned the full-face respirator and began sanding on the port topsides.  Using 80-grit pads, I made my way from the bow to stern in 1 hour!  Yep, blazing a trail with the 8335 versus the porter cable finishing sander (painfully slow).

The yellowish areas is a primer on top of white gelcoat - a paint job by the previous owner.

After finishing up the port side, I moved over to re-sand the starboard side with the 80-grit pads - as well as the stern.  The topsides are now ready for primer paint.  In the coming days I will tape off the waterline and apply the first coat of Interlux Primekote.

After finishing up the topside sanding, I turned my attention to sanding the first round of fairing filler on the bottom.  I worked my way around the boat, including rudder, in pretty quick fashion.  I noticed several low spots on the previous filler application, so I reserved time today for a second round of filler to be applied.  

The photo below shows the first round of filler (lighter purple) and the second round of filler to correct the low spots (dark purple).

Total Time: 6 Hrs.