First full boat working day of the year

Even with the early frost this morning, the sunshine soon warmed up the day. It was still warm at 4pm when I was finishing up and pulling the cover back over the boat.

I've spent what seems like months on the cabin roof. It probably has been months, the old top layer of veneer stripped off, the new ply layer glued down and then sanding, sanding and more sanding. It's still not quite right - there's a few low spots to fill, but its 500% better than it was.

All the original wooden bits; the hatch frame and the bits which supported the hand rails and the windscreen base were all stripped off and have slowly been coming together in the workshop. All cleaned back and then three or four coats of epoxy with clear-coat hardener. This hardener is more resistant to Ultra Violet light and forms a good base for varnish, either 2 pack or high build single pack like Epifanes. I was warned that you can't put Epifanes single pack varnish straight onto epoxy as it won't "go off" so my usual method is 4 coats WEST 105/207 and then 4 coats of International Perfection 709 prior to 2 or 3 coats of Epifanes.

I hate two pack varnishes; they are too runny, take a lot of mixing and mucking about and the thinners smell awful so I spend all day with a full breathing mask on. The Organic Vapour filters in the mask take away the smell and remove the toxic elements of what's flying around. I daren't spray this stuff so stick with brush and pot. I must try a test piece to see what really happens to single pack varnish straight onto an epoxy base - it would be nice to dispense with the two pack layers, it would save a lot of money too.

By 3 o'clock it was still warm enough for epoxy, so I decided to go for it - the photo shows the side rails of the hatch frame glued and screwed into place. Not much to show for a days work...