Sole Strippin'

We did it! We got the cabin sole stripped yesterday. It wasn't pretty at first but we got the hang of things and through sore backs and shaky muscles we managed to get it all stripped in about 5 hours. We were originally planning to use a heat gun to strip the sole however, after reading more info on the process and finding that heat gunning areas with little to no finish left on it can be a major pain, we opted for the chemical stripping route.

It started out rough. Real rough. Real annoying. And more than once I caught Ron having a major tough talk with the stripper/scraper/sole/boat/you name it. But, as is usual with most boat projects, you get the hang of it after a bit and the quality and quantity of progress gets better and better.


Bare spots and minimum finish on most of the floor



Edges taped and floor hatches removed. We opted to remove the metal frames from the
hatches to make refinishing them easier.  Good thing too, LOTS of dirt and grime wedged underneath.

Lessons Learned:
This project taught us a lot about stripping wood, mainly to disregard the directions on the can and find what works for you.



What we used.
NOTE: The following 'lessons' are based on our personal experience and
DIRECTLY oppose instructions provided by the manufacturer.
Follow our 'lessons' at your own risk.

 1. Use metal scrapers- The directions specifically said to use plastic scrapers for the project. So we did. For the first couple of hours. And we got NOWHERE. We were having to reapply stripper 3 to 4 times to make any progress. Talk about a real downer. For a while we thought maybe we'd underestimated the time commitment this project needed and that maybe our day or two estimation was a bit....stupid. I was on my hands and knees putting every ounce of muscle and weight behind that stupid plastic scraper and still was barely managing to get any finish up. Holy hell.

Then, in a desperate attempt to start making progress, Ron made a trip to Home Depot and came back with a super stiff plastic scraper and two metal scrapers. I got the new plastic scraper, definitely an improvement, but still very.slow.going. Ron on the other hand was tearing it up with the metal scrapers. Soon I grabbed the small 1 1/2" scraper and was amazed at the difference. Not only was it easier to actually get the finish up but I could also tell by feel where there was still finish and where it was down to bare wood. So.much.better.

It probably only took us about 2 hours to get the entire floor stripped once we were working with metal. If you choose to work with metal scrapers, I would HIGHLY suggest you use brand new scrapers instead of used ones to avoid putting more scratches in the wood from using a bent scraper.

2. Don't wait 15 minutes- Again, the instructions say to let the stripper sit for 15 minutes before scraping. Uh-uh. Don't do this. When we waited for anything over 10 minutes the paste would dry out and be a total waste. We found that it worked best to put the stripper on a small area that takes 1-2 minutes to cover. Once covered we started scraping the first area covered and were able to easily remove the finish...all of it.

Get that finish rolling!

3. Don't mess with poor ventilation- We had the hatch above the v-berth open with a nice breeze blowing through, which worked perfectly but at one point we had to close the door to the cabin for a couple minutes to get behind it and we could definitely tell. A bit creepy considering you've had your face close to the stuff for going on 3 hours.

4. Where the gloves- One part of the directions we did follow was wearing protective gloves. While doing some taping my hand brushed across one of the floor hatches that had stripper on it and within a couple minutes I could feel some fairly intense burning where my skin touched the stripper. I wouldn't even think this job could get done if you weren't wearing gloves. Yow.

5. Get in the groove- Once you get used to the feeling of how to get the finish off you can really get into a groove and make progress pretty quickly. I'd estimate that if we'd found our groove from the start we could have finished the project in about 3 hours instead of 5.



The bare spots were hit once with metal scrapers, the parts that still have finish were done 2-3 times with plastic scrapers



Again, bare areas from metal scraper and finished areas after using plastic scrapers

 We were so dead tired at the end of the day that we didn't even get an 'after' picture taken. Heck, we could barely manage to rub some mineral spirits over the floor and climb (shakily) back down the ladder. I'll be sure to get some next time.

I told Ron that I don't care if it takes us putting multiple coats of polyurethane on every year, we're NOT doing that again. But that might be my sore muscles and tested mentality talking.

Glad to have this part done!

C'mon Spring!

It looks like this weekend might just be a good weekend to get to the boat and get some projects started! About time! We're keeping our fingers crossed that the predicted weather holds out so we can start making some progress. Although we still have quite a bit of snow still on the ground it looks like it will be sunny and almost 60 for the most part. But then again, as I look out the window there is a snowy mix coming down. Oy.

With any luck we'll actually have a boat related update for you next week so don't forget about us, we're still here and we haven't given up!

Let's get this sailing season started already!

Still Here

Waiting

We're still here. Still frozen. Still waiting for a warm-up.

In other news, our davits should be arriving this week and our sails have been cleaned, mended and a new sacrificial strip put on the genoa. These will all be added to our massive "boat stuff that's not on the boat" pile that is consuming our spare bedroom.

Everything else that is left to do on the boat (refinishing the cabin sole, painting the saildrive, waxing/polishing hull) is dependent on warmer temps. Can't wait for those nice, sunny, WARM spring days to get here!

Until then....we wait.

It's All About Who You Know

Early last year our good friends Matt and Jessica notified us that they had won a new main sail cover on one of the sailing forums. They didn't have a need for a new cover so they offered it to us. They're pretty awesome, no?

Our current cover isn't in terrible shape but it is a bit worn and doesn't quite fit our mainsail all that well. The top of our main sail has a bronze plate on it which had torn a whole in the top of the cover (that is not made for this specific sail). And the hole is only getting bigger.

Last spring when we spent our first weekend on Hullabaloo, we took off the old sail cover and got measurements for the new one. We then emailed them to Jessica to be forwarded on to the company.

Long story short, between not hearing anything from the company for a while and getting word that they were backed up on jobs, we were beginning to wonder if we'd ever see the thing. No real biggie since we have a usable cover and the new one didn't cost us a penny.

Fast forward almost a year and we get a big box delivered. The first thought to cross my mind was, "now what did Ron order?". Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and unfolded a beautiful, new, hole-less main sail cover!!

And now here's the "Hey, look at this cool new boat stuff we have. Doesn't it look great in our house?!". Man, that's getting old.

Looks greaaaat on the carpet. The foot shot just adds to the mood.

Holes/zippers for the Lazy Jacks and grommets (nicer than the plastic hooks the old one had)

Looks really big laying across the living room. I hope we didn't screw anything up!

It's not always about what you know, but who you know. Thanks again Matt and Jessica, you guys are the BEST!