The original goal was to get the decks recored, faired and painted and the boat splashed by August . (Swing and a miss!) At least the side decks are recored and the recore learning curve is mostly behind me. All that's left for this season is to button the boat up for the winter and sneak in mini projects on the nice days until the cold weather is here to stay. I'm thinking I'll at leat set up some sort of workshop in the basement and attempt some varnshing over the winter. Discouraging? Yes. Feeling somewhat accomplished? Yes. I learned a lot.Some observations/tips in no partcualr order:
1. Time. Tim L. said it, people on the forums said it, I now beleive it. It takes lots and it is a huge commitment. In hindsight, I would have gladly bitten the bullet and paid $$ to have it done whe I had the chance, and then enjoyed my Summer sailing with the family. On the flip side, when it's done, I'll be very proud of my little boat and apprecaite every moment that I'm out sailing with the family all the more.
2. Shelter. DO NOT think you can do it with simply a tarp - or at least resign yourself to the fact that you will spend a ton of invaluable project time covering and recovering and trying to figure out how to better cover and recover the boat. Even a canopy over the boat would be worlds better than my setup.
3. Staging. Good move. Spend the time up front, do it and save your back.
4. The 7535 Porter Cable sander has been great. Although at times (like when I was grinding through the POs deck paint, the original non-skid and the original gel coat) I wanted more bang for the buck. I used 60 grit sanding disks. I think I'll try out some 40 grit for the next go-round. Also, I'm wondering if a genuine "grinder" might be a good investment. I'd also consider a sander with a vacuum attachment. Never used one, but grinding sucks - anything to make it less annoying.
5. Dive in and just do it. Get what you think you need and just do it. It's not rocket science. Only I, and maybe a few others, could screw up mixing the epoxy. Even so, worst case, it can be undone and redone. For me, doing the best way to learn. You even learn when you screw up!
I am far from done.
