17 - PPPPPP

Well it’s been an interesting month in the world of Matt.

The normal end of school term stuff (I’m a high school teacher) and the mess of students falling like thrown rice because of COVID-19. I’m missing assessment, lacking workshop time and somehow find it interesting to try and keep looking for the best in all I meet daily.

Then I get Covid-1 and it drops me like I’m hot. What a horrible 5 days that was. I‘m happy I’m vaccinated. I can totally understand why this is a flu that deserves all the attention it gets. I don’t think this is a normal type of flu, I understand how bad it could’ve gotten stop.

anyhow, now it’s back into the journey of building the racer. Now I’ve got the material from my supplier, it’s time to start the wonderful journey that is covering the boat.

The boat frame at self is still basically raw pine. To ensure that the frame has better protection and can last a bit longer in its life I decide to give the frame a few coats light coats of polyurethane. To do this I used my old HVLP spray system. I’ve had it for years and now it’s time to actually use it for the first time. It’s had a few test runs but now it’s time to really use it, this task I was happy I had it. If I had to put all of the polyurethane on by hand using a brush, it would have taken all day and then some. The sprayer let me put two coats on in a day and it looks generally pretty good. Don’t get me wrong there will still be some more polyurethane that needs to go in the cockpit but this can be put on with rattle cans later.

I forget how big this boat actually is. It really is a full 7.3 m. The boat has been crammed in the garage for its life and the rare moments it has been outside hasn’t really shown its full size. At this position in the backyard, It’s huge!!!.

anyhow I was still recovering from Covid. So there was about a week also extra on my timelines to reach this point. Now also understand this, i’ve had to PVC fabric for weeks now, probably around 6 to 8 weeks.

I knew I needed at least 106 to 110 cm of fabric from the PVC roll. It’s my thought pattern that I could slice the PVC from one end to the other having two smaller pieces. To do this I need to set up three tables side-by-side so I could enroll the fabric and market with a tape measure using all the above tools (Eight meter tape measure, Meter steel rule, snap off razor knife).

So after a heap of work and this did take the best part of an hour to an hour and a half. I was feeling really pleased with myself that I had two rolls of red PVC. The bigger role I can use to cover the hull and the small piece I can use to cover the upper portion of the boat. Now remember I’ve had the PVC fabric for at least seven weeks.

I set the frame up on some barstools in the shed again, strap it to the tops once it has been supported by off cuts of floatation foam, take the bigger roll and roll it on top of the frame now that it’s ready.

Missed it by that much……

Well bugger!!!