As the last week of August fades to memory, it’s time to reflect on what’s been done and plan for the cooler months ahead.  For many people, summer ends at Labor Day; the tug of the academic calendar is just too much for folks raised to abide by the “back to school” mentality.  They may not be in school or have children in school but the hand is writing on the wall.  We are bombarded by yet another consumer milestone.  “Buy, buy, buy”, the ads say.  When I’m out shopping, I feel like maybe I should pick up a fresh pack of crayons or maybe some paste.

Here in West Michigan, we see the last of the tourists “recreating profusely”; they’re squeezing that last bit of juice from the lemon before it’s time to get the kids off to school.  Then, it’s a little easier to breathe around here.  We don’t have to fight the crowds to get around and no longer have to plan our sailing time during the week.  It was so hot and humid for the first part of August, there was not much going on in the way of boat work.  I’m not partial to heat indexes in the lower 100’s and the fact that I’m using a heat gun only reinforces my prejudices.

Late July and some of August saw us dutifully removing the rest of the covering board and begin the process of removing the deck from Reverie.

That went as well as it could and we are now able to see the extent of the rot to the port-side deck beams.  There weren’t really many surprises as I was expecting to find more rot than was visible from the interior.  After all, that is one of the main reasons we are completely removing the deck.   We got 3 rows of the tongue and groove decking off yet, something wasn’t quite right.  There was an elephant in the room and it wasn’t going away.

The warm weather did slow us down but it was the impending cold weather that made the elephant more apparent.  While focusing on the deck and executing the plan to remove it, time was ticking away.  After seeing what would need to be done with the deck beams, the seemingly innocuous topsides began to call out for help.  The paint was crazed and peeling.  There were bare spots from an attempt, made by the previous owner, to sand them.  I’m not sure how long ago the attempted sanding took place but the sections of exposed bare wood was showing signs of weathering that could lead to wholesale splitting of the lovely,  longleaf yellow pine that planks our fair vessel.  It was time to feed the elephant.

Completely stripping the multiple layers of topside paint was the only course of action seeing how the paint had split and cracked where it hadn’t already been sanded.  Reverie has been out of the water for years and the planking is a lot drier than a wooden boat’s should be.  Dry planks can stress the fasteners and shrink the dimensions enough to cause problems when it comes time to recaulk the seams.  If the seams are caulked when it’s dry, the expansion can cause undue stress and actually cause the fasteners to pull out.  Not good.

It’s going to take about 30 hours per side to strip the paint and a good 20 to do the sanding and oiling.  After the oil dries, the initial coat of primer goes on and Reverie will be much happier.  So, Julia gets about 100 hours of work time off while I    take one for the team since there’s no reason we should both be exposed to this mess.  She hasn’t stopped work altogether; she’s working on removing the multitude of bungs (wooden plugs that cover screw holes) from the cockpit coaming when I’m not making too much of a mess.

Wearing a respirator for 80 hours is not something I’m enjoying but it has to be done. I have the heat gun set just hot enough to lift the paint but not hot enough to burn it.  I’ve done some research on the release of lead and other toxic substances and am working at a lower temperature to avoid as much exposure to lead as I can.  I watched a video on youtube of this guy using a heat shrink gun and literally burning the paint off the topsides.  He said he can get a whole boat stripped in one day.  He wasn’t wearing a respirator.  I think I’ll err on the side of caution.

See you when it’s done.