Flippin' Party the Sequel !!

It was great to have the flippin' crew back in the Pocketshipyard for round two of the boat turn.  This time I had the pizza and beer ready for the crews arrival in the shop.  For future builders, be sure to have the proper libations for the first flip, that way it increases the chances the crew will come back next time.  It is always great to have people in my shop.  Ninety-nine percent of the time it is a solo endeavor except for the occasional mouse with an incredible ability to avoid glue traps.

There is a sense of urgency to get this beast done.  The Texas 200 is nearing and I need to get this boat dialed in before June 6.

Since my last post (the first flip) I epoxied and glass the entire hull, sanded, painted the hull, painted the hard to reach place inside with the boat was upside down, built the mast and spars, the tabernacle, decided on the name of the boat, built a boom gallow and did a bit of varnishing.  Yep, busy!

Really the only things left on the boat are things I am really not very proficient.  I have woodworking down, my fiberglassing techniques have improved to a point that I can put them in the strong column and sanding is a well practiced skill where I am pretty solid.  Painting, electrical, and rigging are three areas that I lack either experience or much skill.  Well, thats all that is left for the most part.

I read a great article on painting.  It pretty much said keep stacking on coats as good as you can and eventually you will get one you like and can stop...that's about four or five coats for me usually.  That works.  The hull paint came out close to acceptable.  The flipping' crew was complimentary of the paint job...well, they are really nice people.

I was not real happy with the paint on the hull, and figured I had nothing to lose, I took out some 1200 grit paper and wet sanded the Interlux bright side paint.  It leveled out nicely with the sanding but of course was now very dull.  Took out the buffer and polishing compound and went to town and bam!  The gloss was back.  I was happy enough with the test area that I hand sanded the entire  bootstripe area.  It is now acceptable enough.

The bottom I painted with Trilux 33.  It has some antifouling qualities.  If I had it to do over I would not have used this stuff.  The boat will live on a trailer and it is really difficult to get this paint smooth.

Flipped over!

It is nice to have the boat out of the inverted position.  It is like having an old friend back.

Transom glass.  Last big fiberglass job left!

Lasers are essential for getting the water line right.

I used a laser for taping the water line stripe.  The laser goes around corners and depending on the location and angle of the hull of the stripe width changes, but as viewed from the side looks like a consistent width.

The stripe changing width is most noticeable at the stern.

Initially I painted the stripe white and gold, but the gold paint had no gloss as advertised on the the can.  Oh well, I like the red better anyway.

The blue boot stripe is reminiscent of the Pocketship prototype.

From the first time I saw the Pocketship in the CLC catalog sometime around 2008 I really liked the dark blue boot stripe.  I followed the tradition as have many other Pocketship builders and also went with the blue.

Centerboard installation

The manual suggests no finish on the centerboard.  Just a 400 grit sanded finish.  Everything else has been right in the manual.  I am not going to deviate on this one.

One of the chores to do while the boat is inverted.

While upside-down the manual suggests to do some painting on some of the hard to reach and nearly impossible paces to paint inside the cabin.  This is underneath the cockpit seating area inside the cabin.  Originally I was going to leave the wood bright.  I just painted the whole thing white for three reasons, it was much easier, it will be easier to see by reflecting more light and it can't be seen without laying on your back and looking for it.

There are also a couple of additional trapezoidal pieces of plywood that I felt it needed a bit more strength and stiffness.  I am glad I did.  Now that the boat is turned over and have stood in the cockpit, it feels much more solid and secure.

Glue up of boom gallow. 

To stay busy while waiting to get my flipping crew together, I cut some strips and layer up my boom gallows.  It is the same method I used on the tiller what seems like now a long time ago.  I went a little thicker with the strips so the scale looked in proportion with the tiller.

Gallows modification.

One of the drawbacks of the boom gallows is having weight up high.  When I l did the lamination I left the last strip off so that I could drill holes to lighten things up.

Lots of holes should help the weight.

In the picture above you can see the dark strip on the right I used to cover the holes.

These two holes are for lashing the boom down.

I left room for a notch to hold the boom and a couple of hole for a tie down.

Hole production

With all the chips I swept up I figure I saved a lot of weight.  Not really sure how much, but it sure made a mess.

Tiller finish.

One of the task to stay busy was putting a finish on the tiller.  I like how it came out.  The boom gallows with hopefully look similar.

More finishing.

Thinned the varnish about 5% with mineral spirits and brushed it on.  It flows nice.

Cutting a scarf joint.

Having three or more tasks going on at once suits my brain pretty well.  I also built my spars.  In the picture above I am cutting a scarf joint.  I cheated a bit.  The hand plane was used to tune and get down to the final size.  Most of the hogging off of the wood was done with the 6X48 belt sander seen in the background of the picture.  I really throws the dust around.

No pictures of the spars yet.  Stay tuned I am really pushing hard to make the Texas 200 and still not compromise the quality of the boat.