Sunday, September 9, 2007

Marine Forecast issued for Lake Ontario. Issued: 10.30 AM EDT Sunday 9 September 2007 for the period ending At 10.30 AM Monday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: ..Small craft wind warning in effect.. Wind northeast 20 knots diminishing to 15 this afternoon and to north 10 near midnight. Rain tapering to isolated showers this evening and ending near midnight then fair. Risk of a thunderstorm over southern sections late afternoon. Mist patches developing overnight. Waves near 1 metre lowering to less than 1 this evening. Outlook..Light northeasterlies becoming variable then increasing to light to moderate northwesterlies.

The weather has changed today it is 19.2C this morning with a gray day and persistent rain. The sandblaster and compressor are safely stored under Defiance for the next couple of days as we get a dose of much needed rain. The change will be a nice change from the heat and I have inside things that need doing.

The marina has slipped into its post school speed with Rick off on a holiday and only us hard core seasonal residents left. John of Joy B plans to pull out for Toronto Wednesday permitting. Arthur soon will follow headed back up north.

There is little in my life right now beyond coming up with the system and moves to get this bottom done properly. I now understand why estimates of four years ago were over $6,000 as this is going to be a lot of work and expensive coatings. I have to buy the stuff in 5 gallon cans. Seen to the right is my 10 gallon Princess Auto sandblaster.

Seen to the left is a sandblasted test area of the keel showing light to moderate pitting. The project is beginning to becoming less daunting and the results of the coating failures less severe than first thought. I have had a couple of sessions with my new Princess Auto sandblaster and compressor set up. There is no question that as the final pre primer first coat preparation sandblasting is very desirable. I find it pretty amazing how much muck you can remove with 125 pounds of sand & air pressure. The unit is a bit limited in its blasting capacity as you have to spend more time than I had expected to blow the old coatings off. There is a tendency that I am currently working on to solve where the high pressure air seems to plug up if you hold the dead fall gun in a downwards position. Then the amount of sand you waste is worse than a SUV’s gas mileage if you do not get that high-pressure infusion

To the right is the Princess Auto 5.5 HP portable gas air compressor that I am using for sandblasting. It will deliver over 100 PSI of air doing a pretty good job of the blasting. I am considering getting a commercial guy to do one pass to clean all the old stuff while I follow with primer. I suspect that it has been 15 years since anyone could have seen the naked steel. There are pits but nothing is localized enough to suggest electrolyses. As the individual people who make up this boatyard goes Waupoos has been a gold mine of qualified assistance. Between my friends who posess such skills as aircraft fabricator, atomic engineer, metallurgist, ironworker and millwright,and a aircraft engineer.

This was a pretty good day for progress work projects while making the to do list ever smaller. I am pretty much on schedule for my completion dates and this bottom will take a while yet to get sorted out. John is still working on a sun shield for his genoa in the left over while Rufus is hanging around the boat complaining about the rain.

Marine Forecast issued for Lake Ontario. Issued: 3.00 AM EDT Monday 10 September 2007 for the period ending at 3.00 AM Tuesday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: Wind northeast 10 knots becoming light and variable this morning. Fair. Waves less than 1 metre. Outlook..Light and variable increasing to moderate to strong southwesterlies.

I picked up a day of maintainance work to keep the cash flow going. Nothing special just the stuff that often gets neglected. The marina is very quiet and I spend a lot of my free time hanging out staring at the project in hand. The cats are great helpers and there is always a whisker oppinion to be had. Clyde has taken a little break as I have not seen him for a day or so which I hope means he is happy at home. I sympathize with his social nature as all the cats are getting along extremely well. But, I worry about all the roads in between his farm home and the marina.

Marine Forecast issued for Lake Ontario. Issued: 3.00 AM EDT Tuesday 11 September 2007 for the period ending At 3.00 AM Wednesday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast:
..Gale warning in effect.. Wind light and variable increasing to west 15 knots near noon and to 20 this afternoon. Wind further increasing to 30 early this evening and to westerly gales 35 near midnight. Rain ending by early this afternoon then isolated showers. Waves less than 1 metre building to 1 to 2 this afternoon then to 2 to 3 near midnight. Outlook..Westerly gales diminishing to strong then veering to northwesterlies then diminishing to light northeasterlies.

Anthony a retired steel boat builder & millwright of 30 years that I trust took a look at what I have found inspecting Defiance's bottom so far. Then he went over the electrolysis voltage readings on the hull doing a very though analysis of what was happening. Overall it was time to haul out and get serious, but still A-OK. This time we will do far better at protecting the steel. We also did a test of the OSPHO (rust inhibitor) on two sample areas of the ISO prepared hull to the last XXX untouched antifouling top coat.Tomorroww will determine compatibility.

As a first step of preparation the plan so far is to use OSPHO METAL TREATMENT, assuming I can get it accross the border in time.

Description of OSPHO:
Resists/retards rust in chemical change on drying to a tough hard surface ready for priming. Paint jobs will last longer after an application of OSPHO because subsequent paint coating securely attaches itself so that moisture and oxygen normally do not attack the metal. Water-thin can cover a larger area than paint and goes on easily. It is equally effective for exterior and interior work alike. A balanced formula of phosphoric dichromate wetting agents and extenders - compounded exclusively by the Skybryte Company since 1947 - recommended by paint manufacturers.

Marine Forecast issued for Lake Ontario. Issued: 7:09 AM EDT Wednesday 12 September 2007 for the period ending at 3.00 AM Thursday with an outlook for the following 24 hours.
Forecast: ..Gale warning in effect.. Gales west 35 knots diminishing to 20 near noon. Wind further diminishing to light late this afternoon. Chance of a shower with risk of a thunderstorm and a waterspout ending near noon then fair. Waves 2 to 3 metres lowering to near 1 this afternoon and to less than 1 this evening. Outlook..Light and variable increasing to moderate southeasterlies then veering to southerlies.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

I was moving long before the sun today. Without the sun the change in the season hits home as the chill pervades the boat. I find that I am kicking the Espar on in the AM as I make that first mug of coffee and plan out the day.

Today Jamie Boyer shows up and we commercialy blast the bottom of the keel and six areas where the stands will go once Defiance is moved to its winter resting place. All the blast areas are marked out and with luck all will go well.

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting. Clyde and Dingo seem to enjoy the weather and my sitting around watching them play cat - dog games.

As often happens in the County the sandblaster did not arrive until later than expected and the day had become dark leaving me expectant. Once he plugged in and blew the first couple of feet I realized just how powerful the baster is. Trying to keep the tarping in place was like flying a kite in a hurricane let alone what happened if the thing ever got pointed down at the floor tarp. However he knew his stuff and the entire process probably only took a hour.

The blaster has amazing power. No comparison to the little Princess Auto unit.

The entire reason for this bottom job is to do the thing 100% right and to get a 20 year coating applied with NO CONTAMINATION. This was a success. Once the metal is blasted to "SPF 6" (bare white metal) you grab your bucket of rust inhibitor acid and work it into the pitted surfaces. The stuff is very reactive and safety precautions are seriously required. Once it does it work commuting the oxidation into iron oxide then a black film of the iron turns the metal black as an indicator you got it right. The acid preparation leaves a slight protective coat until the first coat of Amercoat 238 primer.

Marine Forecast issued for Lake Ontario. Issued: 3.00 AM EDT Thursday 13 September 2007 for the period ending At 3.00 AM Friday with an outlook for the following 24 hours.Forecast: Wind light and variable becoming east this afternoon then veering to south 15 knots late this evening. Fair. Waves less than 1 metre. Outlook..Moderate southerlies increasing to strong then veering to northwesterlies.

This was another day of reflection of Defiance's bottom with little headway. I called Boyer back as ther was still some contaminated areas on the bottom of the keel that I want gone and to SPF6. Then I plodded on with a couple of hours of fitting work and spent an afternoon in the Libary with its super fast Internet researching potential winter work.

Marine Forecast issued for Eastern Lake Ontario. Issued: 3.00 AM EDT Friday 14 September 2007 for the period ending at 3.00 AM Saturday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: ..Small craft wind warning in effect.. Wind south 15 to 20 knots veering to southwest 20 this afternoon and to west 25 this evening. Wind further veering to northwest near midnight. Chance of a shower or thunderstorm this afternoon otherwise fair. Scattered showers with risk of a thunderstorm developing this evening. Waves less than 1 metre building to near 1 this morning and to 1 to 2 this evening. Outlook..Strong northwesterlies diminishing to light to moderate then backing to light southwesterlies.

Friday was another day of contemplating the future of Defiance and how to deal with the next phase which will be going over the entire bottom of the keel and touching up any weld beads that appear to have been diminished by the sand blasting. This is going to be a monster job and going to bring me to the edge of my resources. Then again that is not new as my limited shoulder use is going to play a huge roll in lying on my back and welding the keel bottom. It does not leak and there is still enough water in the bilge that if there was a leak it would show. But, this is not a half ass bottom job. I blasted to SPF 6 so I knew what lay below the accumulated coating and to do the "20 year" job. When I say twenty years that is what the manufacturers claim for the coating life. If it goes for another fifteen years and holds up well I will consider it a worthwhile accomplishment.

I got a little further on income work and kick myself every morning that I ponder Defiance for not paying attention to the cash flow. Then again I only have a limited time here and already will have to beg another week in this location in order to organize the welding. Tony has some 6011 heavy rods which he says is the trick for the mismatched metal thickness, now I need a friendly over large enough to cook the rods for a hour or two to knock the humidity out of them in preparation for use.

So the next phase begins.