Facebook travel and stuff

We’ve  started a Facebook page,  I’d tried to do that a couple of years ago but got annoyed at how many emails it dumped into my inbox and spent ages trying to unsubscribe to no avail.  But since Yahoo made such a mess of their Yahoo groups system Facebook has become much more popular, and it seems the way to go.

With the help of Jackie Monies and Chuck Leinweber I now have a Facebook page that works, and I  am impressed at how many people have joined up.

My thoughts are that I’ll use this blog for mostly technical stuff, tools, ( I’ve another one to report on, have the photos and will do that in a couple of days) building, projects, and such, and use the facebook for more social stuff and interactions with everyone “out there”.

So if you have not caught up with it, here is the link.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/440526479459574/

Today,  in about 6 hours I’m walking up the hill towing my suitcase, heading for the bus stop into the city where I’ll catch the airport shuttle,  this trip is a long one,  3 months, I’ll be back in late October.

Ive several boat shows to attend, sailing events, SCAMP Camps,  Red Lantern Rally, and lots of driving.  Ill be visiting several JW builders, seeing a lot of new places and meeting friends new and old. 

Travel at this time of year is not a bad idea, its summer in the USA, and here we’ve just had the coldest day for more than 60 years, its raining right now and my heater is on full. So I’ve got to pack, tidy the ship and switch all the systems off, go and rob the bank, then its make that walk up to the road and along to the glass bus stop with the amazing view out over the sea.

More paint

I usually try for Thursday or Friday for each weeks post, but I’m a day or two early this week.

Painting is happening.  Yeehah! Not far to go now.

When painting, the undercoat tends to show up all the nasties, the blips and bumps that should have been sanded out the holes that were not filled, the  high spots that should have been taken down, nail heads that still show and the glossy bits on the epoxy that should have been flatted off.

All the bits you don’t want people to see. 

So I paint early, just one coat of primer undercoat, then go over it with the sander and filler,  that’s where I’m at now with SEI.

I’ve got one end primer painted, I’m sanding at the other end, mainly with the magic FEIN multitool in triangle sander mode, the point of the triangle amazingly effective at sanding the radius in the corner fillets, and I’m finish sanding and am hiding the worst of the blemishes with filler back in the stern.

I figured I’d try a little of the colours, I’ve gone lighter and brighter than usual as the paint, apart from the gunwale, is satin finish so wont reflect as much light. That plus selecting from a tiny square of colour on a piece of card with two dozen others is a bit of a raffle.

I have mixed feelings on the result, it’s a bit “toy soldier”,  maybe duller colours next time.

But the paint has been bought, has been mixed and is there, so that’s whats going to be used.  I’m sure I’ll get to like it in a while.

Bright colours, they look better when the paints dried to its satin finish, and I think Ill put a little more green in the mix to make it slightly darker. Might even do something to dull the red a bit.

Still, whats life without some experimentation.

 The shops in a mess Ive some extra gear and nowhere much to put it so the next job after the boats done is to build more shelving up high.  Need that storage.

But the boats looking ok, Ive not made an exceptionally nice job of her, shes a hurried build but structurally ok.  Really shes a testbed and proof of concept build, and Ive had rather a lot of other things that needed attention so its a bit of "do as I say not as I do" in this case.

In places the paint looks good, hides lots of sins, the next coat will hide all that. I’m working my way forwards with sander, filler and brush as the wind howls in the trees around the shed.  Its rough water out there on the estuary, with the wind against the tide its definitely not kayak weather.  Inside the shed, working away dreaming of days out on sparkling water with gentle breezes is just fine, so being in here with the paintbrush and sander is no hardship.