Merlin Rocket 950 - Time for a rub down

[Stephen Hawkins]

All,

Time to discuss the rising of 950 in the appropriate place - Boat maintenance repair and restoration.

I propose to rub down the deck of 950 tonight, in preperation of a thinned coat of varnish, tomorrow evening (a full 72 hours) and then again the following evening. It will have been only 48+ since the last coat of G4 went on, but with the temperatures we have been having of late I am sure that it will be hard enough.

A visit to Ruperts last night produced a Crewsaver bouyancy bag that was even longer (5 ft) than the three 4ft ones I have. But I will try and see if it will still fit in the rear position and lose the extra length under the rear deck - You never know. Which will get me by until I save up enough pocket money to replace it.

Rupert also supplied a jib halyard, not only with a wire trace, but also with a battered old mast fitting containing a suitable metal sheave that I require for the broken fitting on my forstay. The wire looks to be a foot or so too long currently, as it is from a firefly, but I will get it properly measured this weekend and then cut to the appropriate length. Rupert even has a contact with the tools, who can shorten the trace for me. Living inland, we now have a serious shortage of local Chandelry shops, having just now lost Lynall boats in Cheltenham

Its these fiddly little jobs that need to be addressed, when a boat has not been sailed for a few years.

Thanks Rupert,

Finally I have stripped the rudder block, blade and tiller of all fittings and each other, but ran out of paintstripper last night. So tonight I will also strip them and hopefully repair the crack in the blade, and also the chunk missing out of the trailing edge. I will probably just give them a couple of coats of G4 before returning them to service.

Onwards and upwards!

Steve Hawkins

[chris]

Steve, G4 really needs longer to cure thoroughly. It will probably make a mess and not cut back properly yet. Give it a week or two if you can. Since it's the deck I don't think it will harm to go sailing first. But I think it would be a mistake to be too hasty.Then wet and dry wrapped round a cork block and use plenty of water with a little washing up liquid for extra lubricant.

I expect the roughness was partly due to dust coming out of the grain of the ply. So you might need to do some with say 150 grade first and then go on to 200, 250 or 300 before the varnish. when you have cut it back wash it a few times very well. Then wipe the palm of your hand over it and if it picks up anything at all keep cleaning again. Then lastly use a tack rag which is a lint-free rag with a little varnish squeezed in to make it tacky and give it a wipe wth that. If no white dust appears get the varnish out. I don't like varnishing out side. If you can use a garage, pin a plastic dust sheet to the rafters to make a canopy and keep the dust away, and wet the floor well. Oh and don't wear a whoolly jumper as enough dust will fall from that to make a mess. A decent brush that is 100% clean too./

[Stephen Hawkins]

Chris,

I hear what you are saying. It really goes against the grain though, but okay, I'll just put the gear on and give it a few weeks on the water.

But its sooooooo difficult to do. I do not like the current finish of the deck - it is definately not something I want to be showing off. But I am not expecting to turn it into a 'Concours' contender either.

Its an old boat, that eventually will be tidy and functional, but no Grand Piano. And I am sure I am going to make you cringe, as it will not be to your standards, and I am probably not going to even try this year, more a rolling restoration. Limited working facilities/time and money and self-imposed deadlines. And I am working with an old stained deck with a couple of soft spots (not soft any more) and uneveness. She will still show her scars and wear and tear, in the classic bike and car world, it would be called 'patina'.

However, rest assured, she will be presentable in an honest sort of workmanlike way and she will not be a disgrace to her mark or builder.

And besides, following your advice means that I have a bit less to do this week.

Cheers

Steve Hawkins

[Garry R]

Absolutely agree with Chris. It seems really hard but the volatiles will still be coming out too. I always think that G4 smells vaguely of the old naphtha moth balls and if you can still smell that then it hasn't cured. I also agree that it is dust from sanding coming out of the ply. I have never had these problems of it being "gritty" to the extent you seem to have had but I do try to clean it up well before applying it. It is also important that you flat it down well to get that essential key and the detergent with the wet and dry is a great idea too - I have always thought that the G4 leaves an oiliness on the surface.

[Stephen Hawkins]

Well,

I did wipe her down with white spirit and the let it dry the night before and then put a cover over her and she got another wipe down in the morning. Perhaps I should have done it again, with something like acetone that morning before I started, thereby not leaving such a gap between wipe down and coating. There was a lot of rubbing down to rid myself of the little ridges (high points in the grain) in the ply.

I also did not notice it too much on the first coat, it was on ensuing coats that it really became noticable.

Either way, I am confident I will be able to restore the surface to a more acceptable finish later in the summer. With the help of a bit of bog standard varnish.

Cheers

Steve Hawkins

[chris]

Yes, as Garry says it's something chemical left in there that takes its time, (he's a chemist, I'm not!)
But I remember trying to use wetn dry once too early and the abrasive was just disolved off the paper, without touching the finish - a week later=no problem.
Worse senario is that the coats of varnish simply would not 'stick' which is a bit of a waste of effort.

[Rupert]

Watch out for using acetone to wipe boats down. It has a tendency to dissolve any finish, not clean it. I'm a white Spirit man myself.
Stephen - take her for that sail, figure out what you need, and then bring her back in for varnishing and a proper fit out after that!

[Stephen Hawkins]

Cheers Rupert,

I laid the jib halyard against the mast - down the side of the house, but have not yet connected a jib to it yet so I do not really know how far out I am yet with it. But no doubt I will be ringing you up next week, for an appointment with your mate...and his tools...Oooer!

In the mean time I will use a spare bit of rope and put a loop in it, or use the spinnaker halyard. At least I'll get to bob around the lake this weekend. Now doubt I will find something else to do on it!

I' ll get that sheave fitted tonight whilst waiting for the paint stripper to do its work on the rudder.

Feel free to pop around, if you are curious. SN3 6AT (east side of the jungle), it will be obvious which house (112) it is as there is a Merlin out front. Promise I won't hand you a scraper!

Steve Hawkins

[roger]

Promise I won't hand you a scraper!

Steve Hawkins

I would

[Stephen Hawkins]

All,

Sheave fitted - a fine bit of bodgery. Also rudder stripped and sanded. Split 'superglued'. Now ready to varnish tonight.

It will only get a couple of coats by the weekend. But I can always bring it back and give it another one or two afterwards.

I will start putting the fittings back on the hull tonight - there are not that many to be honest. The bags will be the main issue.

How many bags do people normally fit? I am looking a short and long term options. I have a large bag for the bows. I have 3 48x10 inch crewsavers and the one 5 footer I blagged off Rupert (and a mast head float!). Could I get away with only two of the crewsaver's situated towards the rear in the short term? Or go for two larger bags at the rear in the long term? I seem to recall seeing many rockets with only two bags, although I think Chris's 507 had some extra foam blocks tucked up under the side decks - out of sight, and others were probably using larger bags.

Cheers

Steve Hawkins

[Garry R]

I have 5 bags in Gannet. A bow one and two each side about 4ft each. She floats!!

[Pat]

Merlin norm is one at front (or tank) and two at rear. We fitted a wooden spinny chute to half cut to force a spinnaker space between deck and bow buoyancy bag so have added two small bags either side of the chute on top of the bow bag. Had two supposedly 60" Holt grey bags for some time but they aren't as good quality as Crewsaver yellow ones and kept splitting at the seams. All bag sizes seem to be measured with the e-bay tape measure too.