The dog days of summer have given way to the dog days of epoxy sanding. In order for the varnish or paint to properly stick to epoxy and look smooth the entire interior and exterior of the hull, frames and seats must be sanded to a dull gray finish. Before the seats go in is the best time to do this to the interior and that's what I spent the better part of the week doing and it's not finished yet. Starting with 80 grit then 120 then 220 the object is to flatten the surface, eliminating all small circular shiny spots that indicate small depressions.
This is all easier said than done. As you sand a film of white epoxy dust builds up and it's tough to see how much progress is being made. You have to remove the dust with a shop vac after each effort.
It also involves lots of bending at the waist to reach the bottom of the boat. Every once in a while you accidentally go through the epoxy to the wood. That area then has to be recoated, cured and re-sanded.
The random orbital sander works great for the open areas but I had trouble getting into the interior stems, the upright frames and where the planks come together. For a while I thought I was condemned to hand sanding for these areas.
Thankfully I discovered the Black and Decker Mouse which weighs a fraction of the ROS and has a narrow enough sanding pad to get into most of the tight spaces.
I'll probably have to go over everything with 220 grit the next session, but I feel pretty close to being done with the interior.
Meanwhile, back in Nature: Cheryl took this shot one morning of our local eagle dismembering a fish on our dock. You'll notice he isn't fazed by the scary plastic owl on the upright.
Maybe he was the one who dropped the headless fish on the dock when Erica was over!
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