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Full Steam Ahead

Good morning everyone. The weather this past week was absolutely stunning with temperatures in the 50s and very low humidities all week long. We even hit the 60 degree mark on Friday. That equates to t-shirt weather here in Maine. A 6 day stretch of dry weather in April comes along at some point most years. The trick is being poised to take advantage of the moment. We were ready!

We spread several gallons of paint and varnish this last week on everything under the cover. Each day we would prep until lunch time and then paint after lunch being sure to finish before 4 o’clock. With sunset after 7 those three drying hours were critical to making sure that the paint kicked before the cool evening temperatures caused things to flatten out. On Monday we painted burgundy in the forward section of the bulwarks. On Tuesday we painted the pearl gray waterways. On Wednesday we painted the beige and off-white on the galley house, the fo’c’s’l hatch, the inboard end of the bowsprit, the pin rails, and the transom ceiling. On Thursday we finished the beige on all the cabin houses and the lazarettes. On Friday we painted the off-white on the rest of the cabin houses. The basic scheme was to work on brush technique in the smaller areas and work from out board to inboard. The crew discovered that there is a delicate balance between art and progress. As you can see from the accompanying photos, the larger acreage was covered with the judicious use of the “roll and tip” technique. We do not use much masking tape instead trying to cut as much by hand as possible.
The forecast for the next week looks a little more normal with rain slated for the middle of the week. This will be a week to work in the barn on yawl boats and finish on-deck touch up projects. Yawl boats need to be launched by the end of the week. The cover comes off soon so we can start work on topsides. Full steam ahead Cap’n!

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

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