Kaimusailing

With the new lumber stacked to dry out and wrapped in plastic to act like a solar oven, I began finishing work on beam #4. The aft face of the beam was notched so that the width of the beam at each notch equaled the width of the existing beam brackets. The notches were in the aft face of the beam so that the front face would fit flush against the cross deck and engine box. The aft face doesn't attach to anything, so the excess width of the beam would all be on the aft face.
.
The beam was faired with epoxy filled with colloidal silica to a consistency a little bit looser than vaseline. It could be painted on with a brush, yet still hold its shape. It would self level a little bit, smoothing out the rough brush strokes. I worked on two faces of the beam at a time.
.
The epoxy was lightly sanded with 120 grit wet/dry paper and an orbital sander, then painted with two part acrylic urethane, color: arctic white. Painting always brings out the hidden flaws in the finish, so meticulous finishers will paint a dummy coat, sometimes two or more with contrasting pigments, to find out where additional finishing is required. On this beam a workboat finish was acceptable. Not much of the beam is visible, only the top to anyone on deck, and only the aft face to anyone approaching the swimming ladder. Of course everyone who dinghies over to visit will see the aft face of the beam, so a little extra care was taken with its fairing and finish.
.
Another W A Robinson book arrived, To the Great Southern Sea, about his voyage in Varua from Tahiti to Chile to Galapagos and back to Tahiti. On the internet Grillabongquixotic wrote the last of his blog, this about helping his friends sail their boat from Hawaii to Canada. By chance I ran across a blog by Barry Spanier of windsurfing fame, recounting his years as a young man with no money, losing his cruising sailboat, and finally working as a sailmaker in Maui after arriving there with only $51 in his pocket. Bourne and Spanier became a very successful sail loft and invented many of the peculiar devices in windsurfing. That included the fully battened sail and the rotating air foil sail. He recounts his associations with most of the top sailors of that era and his business arrangement with Neil Pryde.
.
The picture is of the beam with its first coat of paint on the aft face, which is facing up in the photo, right next to the old beam which continues to deteriorate.