Getting Closer to Launch Day

Andrew and I had the same day off.  Miracle, I know.  Did we spend it doing something relaxing and fun?  Well that depends on who you ask.  Andrew would say while it wasn't relaxing, working on the boat is always fun.  I would disagree.  Not to mention the fact that we didn't even really spend the afternoon together.  I was on the deck of the boat and he was nine feet below me, working on the bottom of the boat.  But Sonador is closer to being ready to launch.

I spent the afternoon with a handy copper wire brush, an old t-shirt and these two guys:

Last fall, Andrew removed all the deck hardware in order to clean and reseal against leaks.  Following the general ideas outline in Boat U.S. magazine (found here: http://www.boatus.com/magazine/2013/April/rebed-deck-fittings-correctly.asp)  I was removing all the adhesive and old sealant.  So goes the monotonous labor of mineral spirits to t-shirt to deck, soak it good, scrub a bit with the brush, repeat until clean.  Then rub with the xylene to get off the last bits of gunk.  Fun right?  I thought you would agree with me.  Cleaning tiny holes like this:

I am not complaining, the alternative was under the boat in the gravel painting the bottom with anti-fouling paint.  Yuck.  Task completed - it wasn't too bad since the sun was shining and I convinced Andrew to undo the cover enough for me to see the sky.  Once they were all clean, Andrew drilled the holes slightly larger.

Can you see how dirty his pants are, hence the reason I didn't want to paint the bottom.  I had to get into the cabin and tape up all the holes from the bottom (we don't want the epoxy to go all over below).  Me and the Duct Tape.  Fast friends.

Finally it was time to add the epoxy...uh oh.  That is when Andrew realized that he had forgot to bring the caulking gun.  [Inject several choice words here]  Well that will have to wait until next time.  But the green bottom paint looks great.