On Thursday April 13 and Friday the 14th some of the crew met at the Minden Curling Club to start the tasks at hand. With the dedicated help, a lot was accomplished. Last year the UV light from the sun took its toll on the starboard side of the interior vertical surface of the gunwale. Most of this has now been sanded with maybe about 15 per cent left to complete. When we had 3 or 4 sanders all running at the same time, you would think you’re right in the middle of about 50 bee hives, a lot of buzzing goin’ on.
We also made good headway on preparing the floor for re-finishing. As you may remember from last year, the paint was de-laminating and flaking off in places. Low surfaces and below the seats are the worst. With wood chisels and scrapers we’ve completed our first pass of the full interior length so we’re probably at the 85 per cent stage of being ready for paint. However we need to go over what we have completed to ensure all loose material has been removed.
On Saturday, Phil, while in Barrie, purchased varnish, thinner and paint. Talk about dedication! There is no holding us back now.
Work Plan for Next Week
We will meet at the curling club on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning for a 10 am start. The plan is to complete the sanding of the gunwale, starboard side and to complete the prep of the floor for white paint. When we’re satisfied that we’ve done our best the interior will be well vacuumed and wiped down with tack cloth. Then the paint can be applied next week. As the application of varnish is temperature sensitive, we will hold off till May when we can get some warmer weather.
It is hoped that others will volunteer some of their time. Please reply to Phil’s email, to indicate which day or days you would be willing to help out. If too many respond for a particular time the selection of volunteers will be based on sequence of first respondents. This was not an issue last week.