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Larry's LogWe went back to work the next morning; Diane with removing the tape and me drilling out more blisters. David, from Sylvester, came over to pick up his DVD order and also brought us some fresh bread from the mini-mart. Pete, from Neptune's Pride, also came over to pick up his stuff but had a slight mishap; he fell in the water getting out of his dinghy. He was unhurt except for his pride. He rinsed off, paid us and we talked for a little while. We then continued working and a little before lunch, Steph stopped by to give Diane back her clothes (borrowed by Tom's cousin) and to get a small shopping list that she was going to get for us at Plaza Mayor. Steph came back around 4 and we agreed to get together again around 6 since they were leaving tomorrow with their company. We continued working for a while and then took showers and waited for them to come over. Tom's cousin and her boyfriend stayed at the boat - they were still pretty tired from the trip from Seattle so it was just the 4 of us that evening. It had been really nice to see Steph and Tom again and although we thought we would see them in Bonaire and maybe the Las Aves or Los Roques, things like that are always uncertain. We had a nice evening talking and when we walked them to the dinghy, it was with some sadness. Friday Elias started working for us, starting about 8am (a bit too early since we hadn't even had breakfast yet). But he waited and we got him started about 8:15, removing the remaining boot stripe tape that Diane hadn't gotten. I started drilling out the blisters again but I didn't get started until about 9:30 since I had to find the other electrical extension cord so Elias could use the buffer we bought to compound and wax the topsides. After he finished the tape, I had to make sure he was compounding the gelcoat correctly (I only had to show him once) and then I started my work. Diane had helped remove some more boot stripe tape but Elias was so much faster at it, she soon didn't have anything left. Elias is a very good worker and a nice guy so he was worth the cost (his wages plus giving the marina a little to bring in our own worker). He continued working on the compounding in the afternoon while I continued the drilling. I was getting close to finishing but there were certainly a lot more than last time. (2 years ago). Diane mostly stayed in the boat doing some emails and cooking. The compounding was definitely helping but there were some stains in the gelcoat that wouldn't come out with just the compound. Tomorrow I would try to find the FSR (an acid that helps remove stains from gelcoat) and see if that helps. If not, maybe a light sanding with 1200 grit would do it. We continued to work Saturday (not a surprise). Elias did the compounding by both machine and by hand, and I continued drilling the blisters. Diane did some of the waterline cleaning but it wasn't doing much, unfortunately - the chemical wasn't strong enough to remove all the staining. Elias removed most of the waterline stain using the rubbing compound but in some places it was just too imbedded in the gelcoat. Still, the topsides looked much better and would look pretty good once the wax was on. The line on the starboard side from the old bootstripe was still evident so I could just tape off the area and start the preparation for painting. I didn't want to start that though until the port side was done. A little after lunch, I figured I had found all the blisters I was going to find and started grinding the bottom of the keel with the angle grinder. A section about 2 feet square was in bad shape from the grounding we had in Chichiriviche, almost 2 years ago, although it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There were also some large scratches on the sides from the same incident. I ground off all the peeling paint and chipped epoxy and exposed the bare lead again. I had done this before in Trinidad, on a much bigger scale, to get the lead to hold the paint better. I had learned at that time that lead does, indeed, corrode and needs primer to hold bottom paint. We finished up at a little before 5 and had some beers with Elias before he took a shower and left for the day. He would be back on Monday since the yard didn't want workers here on Sunday when there was decreased security, especially since the break in of our friends on Plenum. Since tomorrow was May 1, and 'Labor Day', it was a holiday anyway and the yard workers had started celebrating early and some were pretty drunk already. Elias was actually pretty annoyed that they were so drunk at that time of day. Anyway, we cleaned up and he left for the day. A little later, Janice and Weedie came over so we could all go and have dinner at the Syrian Club just down the street from the marina. We had all been there before a few times, by dinghy, when we had been to the Maremares party and wanted something to eat on the way back to Bahia Redonda. The last time was probably 2 years ago. It was a very large private club but they let us in with no problem and we had an excellent meal. The setting wasn't luxurious but the food was great and very reasonably priced. We saw there was a wedding getting ready to start later on and Diane looked in and said it was very pretty and nicely arranged. That was in the main clubhouse; we ate in the large, covered open area near the canal. We walked back to the boat and thanked Janice and Weedie for coming over and they went back to Bahia Redonda. Sunday we got up a little later than we have been recently and Diane made a nice breakfast and we watched an episode of The West Wing, on a DVD borrowed from some friends. While Diane cleaned up below, I put more water in the tanks and washed down the deck - it had gotten really dirty. Diane then washed out some of the clothes we had been using to work on the boat (really dirty) and by then it was time for lunch. After eating, Diane stayed inside and did some cooking. I started the taping for the new boot stripe after cleaning the area with the special wax removing solvent I bought from the States. I finished taping the starboard side, both the top and bottom, after making some adjustments to the line. The taping went fairly quickly since I got 2 other pieces of scaffolding that I could move easily myself. Supports and wood planks were in scarce supply but since t was Sunday - I could just get the ones I knew weren't going to be used the next day. I finished it about 5 and quit for the day. Elias started at 8:30 the next morning as we had asked. He also kindly brought us some fresh bread which we asked for. There is no market here and the only way to go shopping would be by taxi. Diane had provisioned pretty well before we went into the yard, but fresh bread, naturally, must be bought daily. (Its difficult to bring groceries up the ladder.) He continued compounding the forward part of the port side and I started cleaning and taping the aft section. That took most of the morning and I had to wait a bit while he finished so I could finish taping the port side. I then started him wet sanding the bottom on the starboard side since the job Diane did wasn't good enough for the new paint to be put on. He finished the bottom after lunch. So, by the end of the day, the entire boot stripe was ready to be cleaned and primed, the bottom had been completely wet sanded with 80 grit and the topsides had been cleaned, compounded and de-waxed where needed. It was a tough day, hot with some breeze in the afternoon, but we were making progress. After we finished for the day at about 5, Diane brought down some beers and we just relaxed and talked for a while. My Spanish was getting better; I could understand most of the conversation with Elias without any translation by Diane (her Spanish skills were still better though). Tuesday was another hot, tiring day. Elias came at 8:30 and I got him started doing the first coat of wax on the port side topsides. He started in the back while I started painting the primer on the boot stripe. I had sanded it a little more and then cleaned the area again with denatured alcohol. The primer went on easily but reaching the stripe wasn't always easy on the port side. The yard staff had put us in the middle of the yard (it's relatively small) and the Travelift had made a large trench where it went through the wet ground (the water table was pretty high and drainage poor). This filled with water when we or the boat next to us used the water and made it very difficult to set up a scaffold to reach the forward port side. They had filled it in a little but not enough to completely fix the problem. So, every time we had to move the scaffolding, we had to maneuver the legs in the mud and put a little piece of wood underneath a leg or two to prevent it from sinking. In any case, we managed and while Elias finished compounding the topsides, I put the primer on for the boot stripe. That took all morning since I had to move and maneuver a small milk crate to stand on while holding the paint in one hand. In the afternoon, while Elias started on the waxing, being careful not to get any on the new primer, I cleaned up the bottom of the keel again and got out the metal primer to put on the lead. Working in the shade finally, I re-sanded the lead with the angle grinder, the drill and by hand where the equipment couldn't reach. After cleaning the lead with alcohol, I mixed the 2-part zinc chromate primer and applied it. Anyone who knows about painting will understand that it's the preparation that takes all the time. By mid-afternoon, it had started to thunder and threatened to storm but the clouds broke up and moved off luckily. By the end of the afternoon, the hull was 90 percent waxed with the first coat, the boot stripe was primed and the lead was also primed. Tomorrow, I could paint the first coat of the new boot stripe and start fairing the keel with epoxy. Wednesday was another day of pretty hard work. The morning was occupied, for me, by finding some things I needed to do the epoxy work on the keel and getting Elias started with lightly sanding the boot stripe primer. Then he got started putting on the liquid wax on the port side. Since we were facing north, the port side was always in the shade in the morning and the starboard in the shade in the afternoon. He almost finished the second coat of wax of the port side before lunch. Diane mostly kept busy doing the little things so Elias and I could do the jobs we needed to do. I put the first coat of the one part polyurethane on the port side boot stripe before noon as well. It would need more than one coat but it seemed to be going well, and we seemed to have more than enough paint. After eating, Elias started sanding the starboard side boot stripe primer and I started bringing down the stuff to start the epoxy. He finished the sanding and started doing the second coat of wax on the starboard side while I started cleaning and then painting the starboard boot stripe itself. When I finished, there was still more than three-quarters of the quart left, so we'll have at least enough for 3-4 coats. Once that was done, I started doing the keel on the starboard side. First, I cleaned the part I had primed yesterday with zinc chromate and mixed a batch of straight epoxy which I used to 'wet out' the areas I had cleaned. After waiting 15 minutes for it to start to gel, I then started coating it with a batch of thickened epoxy to build up the surface to be flush with the undamaged surface. Using first the mixing stick to apply the epoxy to the surface and then a wide plastic spatula to spread it and make it even, it started to look OK. Another coat or so of epoxy filler and a barrier coat before the bottom paint should do it. Tomorrow I could start the other side of the keel and apply the second coat of paint for the boot stripe. Thursday, and work is still progressing; Elias finished the topsides today. He first lightly sanded the boot stripe for me so I could apply the second coat and then started to finish the port topsides. That took the morning and then after lunch he did the transom and completed the starboard side after that. I did the second coat on the port side boot stripe and then started bringing things down to start the port side of the keel but I never got to it. By the time I cleaned up the cured epoxy from the tools and mixing cups, it was too late to start it. Diane and I discussed what else we could have Elias do and we figured that he could start compounding and waxing the gelcoat on the deck and cockpit and also clean up the stainless that we didn't get to before. Later on, I also thought of some other small projects so I think he'll be here for a few more days. In the afternoon, I finished the second coat of the starboard side boot stripe, removed the old zincs from the prop, shaft and strut and started cleaning up the metal. The Velox paint we had used (bought) from Tom and Steph had been really good but the paint was pretty dead now and since it wasn't made anymore, I needed to figure out something else. I was just finishing the boot stripe when the surveyor, Cris Robinson, showed up. He came back to finish the insurance survey for us and Diane talked to him while I finished painting and then I sat down and answered some questions for the survey. It appeared to be almost done but he still had to do some more inspections. By the time he left it was too late to start anything else. Since Elias had finished the topsides, we started him on cleaning the stainless steel so he had started the boarding ladder. I helped him remove it to work on it easily and he came down about 5 to share some beers after a long day. |