Almost There.....

 The Dinghy is just about wrapped up.  I have some more fasteners on order.   Very frustrating that I have to order from 2 different sources and have two shipping costs.  JD only lets you order in boxes of 100.  Not the best solution when you only need 20 of something and the other place has only a limited selection.  I have decided to anchor the bow and stern seat with clips at the hidden (back) side.  I will use the new table brackets I just received as they are way too big for the table attachment I was planning.  That will cover the stern, then I just need something for the bow.  All the other hardware is in and the center seat is in. I refinished the port birth side strips and all the sliding doors and drawers from the main cabin.  Now all I have to do when it gets warmer is refinish all the surrounds and the other wood trim.  Keeping everything on the inside in a matt finish.  The new electrical panel cover is finished and I can start to mount the electrical switches, et al when I am ready.  I just received the new LED lights for the cabin.  Not pretty but very functional.

Dinghy Almost Done

The dinghy finishing is almost finished.  All of the varnish is done and the rails are all assembled.  I am awaiting more silicone bronze fasteners to finish the bow and stern board.  I am struggling to figure out the best way to install the seat boards.  The center seat is easy as I can get to bothe side to drill and counter sink from underneath.  The Bow and Stern have me stuck at the moment.  I can gain access to the front leading edge of each to drill and screw but not at the back.

 I could use adhesive.  I could figure out some concealed clip.  I could attach from the top down at the back as it will never be sat on up tight to the ends.  I am leaning towards the concealed clip or cleat method for right now.  Just have to figure out how to do that.  I have a week until the other fasteners come in.
  

More Varnish.................

And, more rain.  Very humid.  Hopefully these early layers don't get foggy, just a little dull.  5 more coats to go. Not really worthy of a picture.

Varnish, sand, Varnish, sand, Varnish,sand........

The multi-step process of varnishing all the trim for the dinghy has begun.  Everything is laid out in the basement and I am also doing the main forward hatch and the new electrical panel door at the same time.  It is actually a very cathartic thing to do but does take a long time without a break. 

 Last night I strung together 3 hrs to get the first coat done which will basically seal up the back sides of everything.  The front sides will get the multi-coat process.  I always aim for seven coats but usually get fed up and bored after five coats.  My makeshift paint room, the basement with a box fan in the window, works out OK but of course it will be raining most of the week so my dry times are about double what they would normally be.  After 10hrs my first coat was still tacky.  Hard to keep dust down for that long. 

Red Mahagony 225

Who would have thought that mahogany wood would look so good with a mahogany stain.  The builder of these fine tenders had instructed me to sand all the mahogany trim as needed and blending all the intersections while easing all the edges.  Then use a red mahogany stain.  Just brush it on and wipe it off again.  It made a huge difference in blending in all the light and dark spots on the wood and brought out some of the previously unseen grain.  I was very happy with the product of a weekends sanding and then staining.  This week it is onto the many steps of varnish that will seal and protect the wood from the ravages of nature.

Plumbing

Having installed the refinished water tank in the forward compartment I needed to plumb new lines and pumps.  I purchased a Whale galley foot pump and have been struggling on the best place and way to mount this.  My original plan was to mount in the cupboard under the sink and cut out a slot in the wood face to allow the foot pedal to protrude into the cabin. 

Not wanting to cut into something I could not replace I went back and looked at it many times.  I was about ready to begin when it occurred to me that I was making this harder than it needed to be.  The pedal did not need to protrude into the cabin space and become a trip hazard in an already narrow space.  If you want water, just open the cupboard door and step on the pump.  Now the tricky installation simplified.  the pump will be mounted to 3/4" marine ply that will be cut and formed to the cabinet/hull and secured down to resist the torque applied by the pump pedal.  I installed the new sink spigot in the counter top and a new Forespar sink drain.

The counter top turned out to be made of 1-1/4" thick mahogany.  Not suitable for a spigot designed for a 3/4" top and only 1" of threads.  I had to hog out a recess with a forstner bit which was really sloppy because the hole had already been made for the spigot so the forstner had nothing to center on.  This and the fact that I was upside down and backwards in a cabinet that I couldn't fit my shoulders in.   And I found a bit that I missed painting behind the sink.

Dingy Paint

 I spent the holidays getting paint on the dingy.  The first couple of days included all of the sanding and finishing of the mahogany trim, rounding, etc.  Then the filling and fairing of the hundreds of screw holes that are required to keep the plywood firmly attached to the oak structure. 

Then it was off to the paint booth for a couple of coats of primer.  I severely underestimated the amount of paint required for priming and painting with a siphon spray rig.  I had some gray left over from priming the decks and used that on the outside of the dingy with the thought that the contrasting color would alert me to paint wear on the bottom faster.  I purchased another quart of white primer (prekote) for the interior.  Used both of them up and could have used more on the exterior if I had my choice.

I also had two quarts of Brightsides LPU for the finish.  I had an old can of Off White and a new can of Hatteras White, which was to be the finish color.  To stretch them out as much as possible I blended some of both for the initial coats and finished with the final coat in the Hatteras.  The inside looks great and the outside which received an extra coat looks like it use more. 

It almost looks like the primer (grey) in some locations was not accepting the paint into the grain.  I don't mind that you can see the grain pattern, it is a wood boat.  So now the painted dingy is back in the front guest room and the mahogany trim, seats, etc. is all in the basement waiting to be varnished.  Then I can put it all back together but i can tell it will look pretty good already.  Very happy with the dingy progress

.