More stuff getting done - smooth bottoms and unguents..

More work done, and prep work in plan..

First off job #8 - the smooth off of the bottom..

Like most boats "Sparrow" suffers from a build up of antifoul - I use ablative/soft/eroding antifoul but a bit always gets left behind at the end of season power wash, and over years, craters/roughness begin to form. The antifoul is solid, just not smooth, so this year I decided to see if I could smooth it off some to allow for a smoother paint job when the time comes...  

Reading around, the go to solution seems to be sanding mesh, using a sanding pole (same rig builders use for smoothing down plaster) so as a start for 10 a trip to Toolstation got me pole/head and 5mtrs of mesh for about 15 quid..

Here's the before - note the sanding pole in a bucket of water in the back ground.. 

...and here's the after - the lighter blue is where the mesh has smoothed off the worst of the peaks - much smoother...

Lessons learned - and I will repeat this next year having learned these lessons - the mesh I had was 120 grade, fairly aggressive for most other usages, but not enough for this job - I got a good sludge from the smoothing/sanding, it definitely worked (you can see the colour of the water in the bucket) but a coarser grit would be better - 80 or 70 would shift more and have a more noticeable effect..  so 5/10, but job done..  the solution is good, the application was my failure..  for anyone coming along to do same, hose off and rinse the mesh head regularly..  wet the hull down for 10 minutes before you start so as to soften the antiful..  better still do it on a rainy day..   😁

Next - unguents..

• Rub down and coat of paint on cockpit locker lids / wash boards (as needed) - done, cockpit locker lids a tentative success, which I put down to finally switching to the epoxy spray primer undercoat, no signs of de-lamination or water ingress - so a rub down to key the surface, a clean, and then a coat of paint and they were good to go..  same with the washboards - they appear largely sound..
  
• Rub down and coat of wood preservative on rubbing strakes / cockpit board / outboard pad / hand rails (as needed) - outboard pad replaced 2021) - the outboard pad was good - no coating required, also still sound with no signs of de-lamination. The rubbing strakes and cockpit board however were tatty so I sanded them all down and put on two coats of wood preservative..  they now look considerably better..
  

..saved a lot of time last year on this step as most didn't need doing, but this year they all did, but they're now done.

Following an inspired  suggestion by one of the guys on the shoestring sailing group on Farcebook, I have a more than potential solution to how I can mount the depth gauge (job #3) - I am now firmly convinced I do not want to drill any holes in the bulkhead so I determined on a hinged display that could fold out when needed and back in when not..  what was proving difficult was the "where to hinge it?" question, until someone mentioned one of these..

..it's about the smallest size you can get, which is all I need, but allows you to hinge/fold out twice, and also angle the display..  it arrived yesterday and is very solidly built - will be perfect for the job - want to test fit the mounting end to where I think it needs to go in the cabin, but the rest I can do in the garage over the next couple of weeks..

Less than two weeks to launch, I need a sunny day in the next seven to wack on some antifoul and then I'm ready to go in.