The Unvarnished Truth

It's been some time since my last post but no worries, my silence was caused by neither sickness nor laziness.

Okay, I'll admit, with the unseasonably warm weather, I did in fact get a chance to go for this year's first bike ride, the first sail on C-Lute and my first paddle in my old 12' Pungo Kayak.

And then my sister from Germany came for a lovely visit. The weather couldn't have been nicer and Iris and I got to take some wonderful day-trips together with her.

But you didn't really think that I'd lose sight of my Night Heron, did you?!

Right! I have, indeed, continued working on my former winter-project which now has officially turned into my spring fling, albeit at a different pace because at this stage, the boat building effort requires a different rhythm: No longer can you just "go at it".

Center board supine

The new regimen involves great care, a fine foam roller, good brushes, and a smooth stroke. The counterpoint to these is increasingly finer grit wet sandpaper, elbow grease and a generous sprinkling of patience. Varnishing is hard work but then you have to wait for the varnish to cure before you can apply the next coat.

While waiting for varnish to cure I did a couple of other jobs that I had kept waiting for just such occasion... such as repairing a banged up center board of my  Johnson-18 sailboat

Fitting the front bulk head require a little trick

and cutting out and fitting the minicell bulk heads.

To tell you the truth, I lost track of exactly how many coats of Goldspar Varnish I applied.

Basically, rolling on the varnish must be done rather swiftly - without any breaks - to ensure that you don't loose the wet edge of the already varnished section for the next section to blend in perfectly.

The amber hue of the varnish is starting to glow

With each successive coat I got a better feel for how it should go and after the last two coats I felt that I had reached sufficient proficiency to do a perfect varnishing job on someone else's boat, or start my own next project --- quickly before I "lose my touch".

A well-lit space would help greatly. My garage lighting is less than perfect and even after a number of coats, after inspecting my effort from all angles afterwards, I'd still find an area or two where my roller or brush missed a spot - dang!

And then - you have to wait until the varnish has cured before you can wet sand to get the surface ready for the next coat - 400, 600, 800, 1,500 - you get the idea. Two weeks ago, the weather was still cold and I found that I had to wait two days for the varnish to cure before I could sand. With the climbing temperatures it became possible to sand after 24 hours.

Yesterday I rolled on what I believe to be the last coat. Ta-Taaaa!

I then headed to an automotive shop and bought 2,000 and 3,000 grit wet sand paper as well as 3M Finesse from West Marine to burnish the final coat. The latter were all suggestions by Joey who knows a thing or two about getting her done just so.

I'll need some hours to get that job done before doing the final coat of bottom paint.


After that I'll be reporting mostly on finishing tasks such as installation of seat, back rest, hip braces, bulk heads, pad-eyes and bungees, safety line.

Day Light for the Night Heron

I'll also divulge the trick I had to employ in order to fit the front bulk head. It has not yet been sealed in.