Cover

I don't think I'll try to paint today. They regraded the gravel driveway today and now there's dust everywhere. I spent about an hour watering down a large section, which helped a lot, but there's still too much dust floating around. I'll try to water the rest of it this evening.

I've also been experimenting with the cover over the last few days. I need to keep it on both to protect against the rain -- most of the hardware is off which leaves holes into the cabin, and the toerails haven't been refinished or caulked yet -- and to keep the deck shaded while I paint.

However, it gets really hot and cuts down on the light. The light's been the big problem lately since I can't see the deck well enough to find and fill all the nicks, scratches, and rough spots. We aren't supposed to have any rain until Monday, so I'm trying to find a good way to pull the cover up on the sides in order to increase the light and keep it cool (which also increased the dust today). My first try was to fold the lower edge up underneath between the cover and the frame and let the weight of the cover hold it in place. I tied tennis balls or small pieces of foam in the lower edge and used that to tie it down.

That worked okay, but with the rain coming in a few days, I knew I couldn't finish in time and would have to undo it at some point in order to keep the deck dry. So I decided to add grommets to the cover about a foot and a half above the deck and tie it down from there. I tied stoppers, figure eights, in one end of the line, passed one through on both sides, and tied the two ends together under the boat. I put in three grommets on each side, but have only used two so far. The rope is going under the cover, so I can roll up the cover on the outside (of the line, but I roll them inside while sitting on the deck and letting my feet hang over the side).

I've temporarily tied a few lines over the cover to hold up the edges while they are rolled up, but will pick up some hand clamps tonight. That'll work much better and allow me to pull them off and quickly drop the cover if it starts raining. Once I've dropped it, I can re-secure it normally while leaving the other lines in place.

When they started grading the driveway this morning, I figured I wouldn't be able to paint today, so I pulled the cover completely off, added the new grommets, and put it back up. I'm not sure how much it weighs, but it's about twice the size of my mainsail and made of lighter material. Even so, it was a pain taking it down and climbing back on the boat with it. I don't think it's a quite hundred pounds, but it's at least twice as much as Zoe -- she's 35.

I cleaned the deck and sanded the filled areas this afternoon, but with the better light, discovered about half a dozen more nicks. I haven't decided it I'm going to fix them or not, but since I can't paint anyway, I may go ahead and fill them this evening before it gets too dark. I'd do it now, but I'm beat from fighting with the cover all day, so I'm just going to take a shower under the boat and take Zoe for a quick walk. I'll probably walk down to Home Depot later to pick up the clamps, as well as more sandpaper, etc.

I called Paul this afternoon to ask him about painting. I don't think he's done much of it lately, but he used to do it for a living, and taught me most of what I do know back when I was a teenager. Anyway, he thinks that I'm probably trying to tip too quickly, which is why it's not turning out well. I'll give that a whirl and also try a better brush (if I can find one tonight) the next time I paint.

Zoe watch:

I kept her on board most of the morning due to the grading. The noise bothered her, so she was happy to hide in the forecastle. She didn't even try to come on deck the whole time I was redoing the cover.