Thread: Another OZ MK2 PDRacer build in Sydney "Wood Duck"

A few more words about the vacuum hose and the ROS: the former completely changes the dynamics of using the latter - for the better :). The moving air keeps the disc cleaner - and a lot cooler - extending the disc life a bit more; and the suction stabilises the sanding pad onto the work surface, giving greater control over the machine and the disc, and more even sanding. The exercise is still boring and arduous, but it has picked up the pace a little bit, not only because I'm not having to stop and clean the disc and the machine: the sanding seems to be a bit quicker as well. And, last but not least, there is very little dust escaping into the air. Good as the Bosch dust-boxes are, quite a lot of dust unpreventably escapes from under the sanding disc.

Some photos:

1. The vacuum cone adapter modified for the large Protool hose and the Bosch tool outlet adapter





2. Cone adapter in place between Bosch PEX 400 AE ROS and Protool hose





3. Coarse sanding finished on he hull bottom and edges of the bow transom





4. Photo of sanded hull taken with lower-powered flash: various layers of high-build primer showing up. The centre-portions on each side of the bow transom panel have yet to be sanded (the edges and a vertical middle strip over the partner/step assemblies have already been done)


Follow this link to my Flickr account to see these photos and more, if you're brave enough...



The most difficult part of this sanding process is going to be the sides, and I'll need to be vigilant to keep the (cutting) edge of the disc away from the gunwales and the radii between them and the sides. The best way around that is to spend some time sanding a strip of primer immediately below (or above in this case, since the boat is upside down) the gunwales so that there is a buffer zone that the disc doesn't have to enter. Once the sides are done it will be a simple and relatively easy task to run around the radii between the hull bottom and the various sides of the box with a block and 120-grit paper. I may even get it finished by the end of the weekend, but the sides are going to be a lot slower going than the hull bottom, as it is much harder situation in which to see what I'm doing, and more physically demanding for weaklings such as myself - the stern transom, while relatively small, showed what to expect on a larger scale... Once the high-build has been dealt with, a coat or two of undercoat go on, with sanding after each coat. From what I've worked ut from the various charts published by Akzo Nobel (International's parent company), their "Yacht Primer" (a grey paint) goes on next, followed by "Prekote" (white), then the "Brightside" (yellow in this particular case) topcoat. I suspect that at least one of these undercoats is quite unnecessary (from a chemical point of view, let alone weight and cost), but I'm going to try them both out to see what each does as I'm curious. If I do skip one, it will be the grey "Yacht Primer" - all that extra weight of the heavy grey paint, and the extra extra weight of using multiple coats of white to get rid of the grey... The various paint coats will be rolled on with white foam rollers (from the same batch the roller came from that failed when being used with the high-build - unless I can track down a better quality roller).

Trackback to MIK's lug rig performance page added with this post (an essential resource for coming to grips with the lug rig for the 'Duck).

I'll be very, very glad when I've finished sanding that high-build primer hardened tool steel.

Just the one photo this evening: it's another photo of the sanding process...

Working away on the port hull-side's gunwale buffer zone: about 65 mm of sanded area along the entire length of the gunwale, to reduce the chance of hitting the gunwale and primer radius with the ROS. While the high-build primer is tough, it can be damaged quite easily by sharp objects, of which the fast-spinning abrasive disc-edge is one


Follow this link to my Flickr account to see this brand new image again. If you want to. Roll up! Roll up! No players win any prizes...



I also sanded around the other edges of the hull side by hand, as it being the evening I didn't think I ought to inflict the noise of the ROS and vacuum cleaner on the Bosses or the neighbours.

Hopefully the sanding of the high-build will get finished off tomorrow. On reading the labels of the paint tins, I do have to use the "Yacht Primer" under the "Prekote", and the "Prekote" under the "Brightside. Bother it. Oh well, I've taken off so much of the high-build anyway, that it probably doesn't matter too much.

This morning saw the completion of the sanding of the high-build primer on the hull. I got the boat back onto the building jig with the help of Martien, who had popped in to have a look at progress. He seemed particularly impressed with the yard, which was nice :).

This afternoon I sanded the various edges of the hull that I'd left until the end with 120-grit paper and block and a very light touch, sanded off the high-build from centreboard slot opening, cleaned up the dust on the hull, and masked the gunwales, the fordeck forward edge and the centreboard slot above the plywood bottom sheet (or rather below as the boat is upside down).

This was preparatory to coating the hull with International "Yacht Primer" grey primer, of which I hope to put the first coat on tomorrow, and the second coat on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how much sanding will be required (not a lot, hopefully). I may even do the resin spotting on one side of the foils as well, but this and the painting will be reliant on getting the workshop temperature up a bit. It's very cold there at the moment, and such heaters as I have aren't very effective, so I will have to snaffle one from upstairs when The Bosses aren't looking ;).

The first coat of "Yacht Primer" is on :).

1. Sanding the BoatCraft "AquaCote" high-build primer to a flat surface. Still a way to go in this patch, but it's a bit hard to see: you may want to see this one a bit larger, or even larger still... The dark spots and lines are pieces of trapped and resin-fixed insect parts; they are as hard as the entombing resin





2. Fully sanded and masked hull, with thermometer. Since the latter read 11 degC, it was warm enough to paint - minimum temp on tin is 5 degC (surface and ambient)





3. Stern transom and almost half of hull bottom (and including opening of centreboard slot) painted with grey primer (International's "Yacht Primer"). The relatively low temperature worked in my favour as the paint didn't flash off quite as quickly as it would have done in warmer conditions, and allowed me to smooth over the roller-edge ridges a bit. Not entirely, but better than nothing





4. One side, half of bow transom, stern transom and 2/3 of bottom primer-painted





5. Just the port side to finish...





6. Done! First coat of primer on :). This was the quickest coating job on the boat so far!


Follow this link to my Flickr account...wait a minute, I've just given you two special links above in photo 1's caption, what more do you want? ;)



Well that was quick :). Amazing. And the el cheapo white foam roller held up this time: it seems that they are allergic (almost literally) to AquaCote high-build. The grey looks quite nice - almost a wood duck grey, in fact. All I'd need to do would be to apply some maroon blotches over the top and I would look just like one. A bit. I'm committed to the yellow though, as the Other Boss would otherwise have several species of fit and I'd never hear to end of it. Until I'd sanded back and applied the yellow paint, that is.

Fortunately, I can add the "Brightside" colour to the second coat of "Pre-Kote" to help beef up the colour depth, although that would no doubt mean getting another tin of yellow. BUT: International - via this generic International site link - have just announced a replacement for "Brightside" called "Toplac" (this latter link is a rare explicit one from International), which, according to them, contains organo-linked silicon chains for improved wear and tear... If I'm going to get some more "Brightside", I'd better get a wriggle on before old stock dries up - no doubt "Toplac" will be totally incompatible with "Brightside" from both mixing and overcoating points of view, what's the betting. Or colour-non-identical in reality, either. Humph. Note also the latter International link may be transient and not last very long.

Anyway, I won't be sanding the first primer coat and checking the underlying scratches in the high-build until tomorrow, at least according to the tin's instructions. And it's far too cold in the workshop at the moment to even think about using resin, so spotting the foils is out. The Boss said this morning that in her opinion the next thing that I should do after the 'Duck is to enclose the workshop space with the stud walling - including in front of the rock, and the ceiling. She's right! That is good news, as it means that I will be able to organise the shop much better and keep it drier and the tools less rusty :). I'm currently looking around for vapour barrier sheet to put on the rock-side of the projected wall (and for the stud walling in the other areas as well).

Second coat of primer added. This will get sanded by hand using 240-grit paper and block starting tomorrow morning, although a midday dentist's appointment is going to throw a spanner of unknown size and effect in the works (crown work).



Follow this link to my Flickr account to see this image in larger and smaller sizes - and even the same size. Although you really won't want to see it any bigger on account of the relatively high ISO and consequent addition of noise and other artifacts. You have been warned...

Sanded most of the hull before the dentist's appointment, then finished it off late this arvo when I'd recovered a bit <shudder>. This was followed by wiping the hull down with meths-soaked paper towels, and rubbed down again when dry with dry paper towels.

I'll swab it again before recoating with a final coat of grey primer. Once that's sanded, it will be on with the white "Pre-Kote", more sanding (fine wet-and-dry) and the "Brightside" topcoats.

Hi Alex,

You're PDRacer is looking fantastic.

I have some good news for you, I have been working hard again on the Single Handed PDRacer Transport System Plans since last Monday, they should be ready to upload by sometime this weekend, so you're PDRacer transport problems may soon be over.

Hi David,

Thanks for your kind words . Step by step it gets closer and closer... People keep saying that they want to come and see her launched - many more and I'd have to think about hiring the Navy's Garden Island docks at Woolloomooloo for the occasion! Bit of a way down to the water from the top of the wharf, though, so perhaps not a good idea either .

I'm really looking forward to your transportation system plans - very creative and useful .

Cheers,
Alex.

After some final - and quite a bit of - dust removal with a brand-new straight-out-of-the-sealed-packet microfibre cloth, I emptied the rest of the tin of grey primer onto the hull. Using the foam roller to apply the paint, of course: I didn't just pour it on ;). This time I really worked very hard at getting rid of roller-edge ridges in the paint, and was much more successful than previous attempts. That's because I worked really hard at it...

The paint flashed off with only two insects drowning themselves, but when it comes to the final paint coats I'm going to have to be very careful and may construct an insect-resistant plastic tent out of stuff. I might even be tempted to get the spray gun out, but I hate spray painting with a vengeance, so that's unlikely. Odder things have happened, though.

Some snaps: I meant to take a final photo of the hull completely sanded after primer coat no. 2, but I forgot, so there's mostly only photos of the hull with coat no. 3 on it. I'll sand that back lightly tomorrow, and hopefully apply coat no. 1 of the "Pre-Kote" "Brightside" undercoat. That will probably be after a trip to collect the gaboon plywood, which has arrived in Sydney aus Tasmania and Mr Denman :).

1. Almost half of the hull bottom sanded (coats nos. 1 & 2). Block and 180-grit paper used on this: 240-grit paper filled up too quickly





2. Third coat of grey primer on





3. View of third grey primer coat from the stern. The evenness of the coat is almost convincing at this angle... The grey quasi
-Lego(TM) block thingy in the foreground is the thermometer nicked from The Other Boss's Jaycar weather station ;)


Follow this link to my Flickr account, wherein lurk all these photos and more - enough to bore you to boring tears of boredom <snore...>



Next up is spotting the foils and installing my roof racks. I just spent a good deal of time cleaning out the appallingly filthy door-seal gutters in the Camry preparatory to doing the latter. I should be ashamed of myself (I am).

I got the roof racks on the car, but not the resin on the foils. Maybe later this evening. I cleaned the roof with a sponge, and then the rubber gutter/door seals with a jar of warm water and a tootbrush, before installing the racks.

The new RAK (Type 2) roof racks installed on the car roof. Believe it or not, that roof was cleaned before I put the racks on...


Follow this link to see this picture and many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many others in my Flickr account...if you can be bothered...



Tomorrow is pick-up-the-plywood-from-the-other-side-of-town day so probably a not-doing-much-of-anything-else day. Saturday will similar on account of the TWWWS.

After some misguided playing about with the Flickr photo editor (which does work) around the time that the previous post's editable period was about to expire (and had in fact done so) the photo of the roof racks has vanished, as Flickr not only saved it over the old copy (as requested) but changed its URL ID, so poof... I'll see if I can get someone to change it.

As to today's work, on the boat, I didn't actually get to do anythging. My mouth is still reacting to my inadvertent biting on it whilst it was under anaeshtetic, and I spent the day reading books, etc. I did actually spot one side of the foils last night, although it might have been better had I left it and gone to bed earlier.

I also didn't get to pick up the plywood (sorry jmk89!), but I arranged with the freight people to go over early on Monday morning instead. They also were able to let me know roughly how much the stuff weighs, which means that I don't have to hire a trailer and can use the roof racks that I shouldn't have installed yesterday, either. Or painted the third coat of primer on the hull. Oh well, tomorrow is another day...

Hi alex,
Get better soon, and I hope the pain goes away very quickly too, preferably before the anastetic wears off,

I hate going to the dentists, like most other sensible people, so I paid extra for general anestetic to be used a few years ago, when I needed 2 wisdom teeth extracted on opposite sides of my mouth ( 1 from the upper jaw and the other from the lower jaw ).
1 of which was pushing another tooth out of the way, thet took out that healthy tooth too for 'elbow room'.

I have fortunately only had 4 of my permanent teeth extracted, the rest are in reasonablly good condition for my age, so I hope never to have any more extracted !.

Hi David,

The anaesthetic has long since gone, and therein lies the problem - at least where I unknowingly bit myself in multiple spots. The actual tooth area and gum are fine. Some Panadeine(TM) is currently seeing off the worst of the jagging.

Hopefully it will have settled down by tomorrow arvo when I'm supposed to be interacting with people face-to-face at the Sydney woodworking show. Otherwise it might result in some confused visitors to the Forum stand.

Cheers,
Alex.