The Norther
22 January 2017 | St. Marys, GA
Capn Andy/storm
I moved on from the port cabin top to work on the outboard side of the starboard cabin top. The starboard coaming aft and the aft deck were also getting the treatment. Repair any damage, sand off any loose finish, fair and paint.
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A new set of epoxy syringes came in from China and they are larger, at 60 ml., and with a larger orifice. I ordered 6 which came to less than 10 dollars, took about 2 weeks for delivery. I had been using the current pair of syringes for almost a year and they were in need of replacement.
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On the Wharram Builders and Friends website was a posting about a Wharram Tiki 21 that went missing from New Zealand. The newspaper interview with the sailors is here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11781383. It was a father and young daughter who broke a rudder while sailing to the Bay of Islands and ended up having to bear off for Australia. These little boats have a great record of seaworthiness.
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The Miata needed a brake job, but when I removed a front wheel it was apparent that the brakes up there were fine. Unfortunately the package of brake pads from eBay were front pads. The rear pads were very worn and the springs and clips that kept them in proper position were damaged. I ordered the proper pads and a set of springs and clips.
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The hydraulic jack I had been using broke when I tried to pump the handle. The little piston that pumps the hydraulic fluid was rusted in place. It took a long session of banging with ever larger hammers and finally a trip to the boatyard’s workshop where a large vise and more hammer blows got it free. When reassembled with stainless rigging wire to take the place of the broken handle clip, it worked OK. Time to replace.
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Webb Chiles was back in Africa preparing to voyage again. Since his boat is even smaller than Trillium, I’m amazed.
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There seems to be a trend in smaller boats to get rid of the internal combustion engine and replace it with electric. The heavy and necessary batteries are stowed low in the bilge as ballast, so don’t adversely affect displacement or weight distribution. You can slowly charge up the batteries with solar and use them for a substantial passage in or out of port.
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I am unhappy with the less than workboat finish on the port cabin side and aft deck. Sometimes it is hard to see what the finish will look like until you put a coat of paint on it. Now on the starboard side I am taking more care. One problem was that the random orbital sander, which was recommended, would not do the job. It tends to follow the surface and slowly remove material, but not flatten the bumpy surface. I tried the belt sander with a 120 grit belt and it faired the microballoon mixture nicely. I used an ordinary pad sander with 150 grit Norton Gold sandpaper and it worked just as well. The random orbital sander has a vacuum attachment that takes away any sanding debris and it is mandatory for removal of lead bottom paint or other toxic surfaces.
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When I painted the cabin side I tried out a technique using paint pads made from 1/4“ nap paint rollers. The roller is sliced lengthwise to produce three long pieces that are then cut into smaller semicircular nappy pads. Old chip brush handles are then hot glued to the pads. Painting with them is slow, but there are no brush marks and the finish comes out smooth. As smooth, that is, as the preparation made it. If the surface is rough then the paint job will be rough. Eliminating orange peel and droops in the paint is a step in the right direction. The best method is to fill and fair the surface, then paint with a high build primer, then sand down to the surface. The finish will be a mottled surface clearly showing unfair spots.
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I found that using a chip brush on horizontal surfaces works OK, the paint levels itself. The pads are better for the vertical surfaces, limiting the amount of paint so that it doesn’t sag, orange peel, or run.
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After a second coat of paint, the weather forecast indicated severe thunderstorms would come through, not once, but three individual fronts, one after the other. Everything was put away in anticipation of the storms, but when they came I was caught out and got soaked. One minute we were looking at dark clouds on the horizon, then next it was storm conditions. The image is from Sunday morning’s third cold front coming across the Georgia/Florida line. Previously 11 people were killed by storm damage, including tornadoes.