Progress report.

I've removed my pushpit, outboard, outboard bracket. De-lettered, pulled off the stainless trim on the transom... and de-greased. Made a long board that takes two 16 inch pieces of air file paper out of a piece of scrap starboard a friend gave me, cut out some handles on the bandsaw and rounded them over with my router. Countersunk the screws put in one per side so the handles can rotate and turn to whatever position is easiest on the wrists.

Went to town on the transom with 36 grit paper for an hour. Pulled out some 40 grit on the 7335 for a half hour... Decided I'd try a power planer. Neglected to look at the condition of the blades before starting.... derrr. Forgot I banged a nail working on Noels decks a few weeks ago. The gelcoat is chalk. I've got a full coat of white, over a full coat of black as thick as Pearson is known for doing. (almost a 1/4 inch along the stem!) Still in the white gel, I want to take it back as far as I can so whatever cracks don't show through. Plus I figure that much chalk must weigh something.... grin. Running my hands around the hull, my port aft lower chainplate knee is a bump on the outside of the hull. Dusting on some flat black paint on the transom, you can clearly see the back stay chainplate knee outlined. I'm a little amused at the thickness, currently I'm planning to knock it back down, tomorrow I'll grab a worn out flap disc and artfully sculpt it down... don't follow the instructions for polishing stainless, 15-20 degree angle.. lay it flat and use about the same touch as a you'd sculpt styrofoam with a blow torch.... Vertical passes only so no scars running through curves are put in that can't easily be longboarded out...

Fun fun fun! Bottom paint is almost all gone. It really is amazing the difference good sandpaper makes... just have to be on the ball enough to know when its surpassed its useful life!

My previous wailings about the cost of paint and other goodies requires that I do some talking for my fellow budget minded folks. My polycarbonate came in... in case anyone wants the good stuff, track down a plastics distributor well in advance of when you need the stuff. Put in a request that they keep the remnants of a size slightly larger than what you need rather than making scrap from a full sheet. I go through Piedmont Plastics. 5 pieces of GE MR10 (Structural glazing, the stuff they use on skyscrapers... 10 year UV package, 10 year scratch) in 1/2 inch for 50 bucks a piece. The sheet is almost a thousand bucks retail. Same thing for the Phenolic... bought a hunk of 3/4 14x24 for 50 bucks. Full sheet of that would be 1700 full retail. Helps to scrounge, but you have to know what you want... and how much. Some came from Nashville, one from Sanfrancisco... If you don't care that it'll take two weeks for trucks going from one warehouse to another to play connect the dots, it'll save you a lot of money.

Saw yesterday that my backstay's upper clevis pin is teeny tiny, same size as the 1/4 inch stuff on the jumper stays.

Zach