Clean frames at last!

Last Saturday was Africa hot. Sunday was too for that matter. Much too hot to cut and grind in a tyvek suit out in the sun so I decided to tie up some loose ends....in the shade.

First thing was to finish up the scaffolds. I screwed 2"x4"x8's to the bottom of the planks as you can see here.

And I screwed stoppers on the ends. I also thru-bolted the leg to beam connection of the scaffolds.

During this task I helped a neighbor find their missing cat, talked to another newer neighbor about his impending divorce and his hatred of women. After that, another neighbor showed up and we talked like we always do for way too long while her dogs pissed all over my sparkling new scaffolds. Then while I was actually doing the work, I was helped by two little boys aged four and six. They were full of questions and had to be right where the action was! That part was cool and I didn't mind them nearly as much as the adults.

Fortunately before I started the work on the scaffolds, I applied magic goo to four of the remaining eight deadlight frames. So while I was being inundated with conversation, anger and questions, the magic goo was doing it's thang. Believe it or not, applying the goo to the frames is tedious and takes a long time. Why does everything related to boat work take three or four times longer than other types of work? Paying attention to detail is a large part I know but crap! Anyway, the goo had to sit for three hours before I could scrape it off.

Then comes the even more tedious job of scrubbing the frames with soapy water using a #2 3M stripping pad. Four of these also had paint on the outer exposed surface. I guess masking tape was too much trouble for the previous owner.


My scrubbing station:

Looks like an idyllic spot in the shade doesn't it? Right outside my door and therefore within easy reach of beer and aircon when I need a break. Well, as I sit here on Tuesday, I can say that it was a nice little spot...as I scratch the 100 or so chigger bites that cover my body <frown>. At least it was not a tick attack which Kentucky is famous for.

It took about an hour per frame to scrub and at the end of the day I had four done.

Sunday I repeated the apply goo, wait, scrape and scrub process on the remaining four frames. This was mixed with shaving off my beard, grocery shopping, washing clothes and watching the Euro soccer championship. I am not a soccer fan but it will do until football season!

At the end of the day, my reward was 16 silicone and paint free deadlight frames,

Extremely sore hands and a delicious Filipino style Chicken Adobo dinner! If you try it, remove the skin and add a teaspoon of fresh grated ginger for true authentic taste. Quick, easy and oh so good!

I have the next five days off YEAH! I think I will forego the tyvek, because of the heat, and try to set up a fan to keep the itchy dust off of me. I really want to start re-coring. It is a big job and I need to get all of the fiberglass work done and the decks painted by October.

Fair winds..._/)