Two Steps Forward, One Step Back...

That pretty much sums up recent progress on Gardens.

I began painting but that first coat of paint emphasized just how much more fairing I needed to do. So, more sanding, fairing, filling the weave and repairing other blemishes continued. I thought the hull was ready…but, no, I wasn't satisfied with the results. Sanding and fairing resumed. And this work is to produce a work-boat finish not some museum quality masterpiece. I shall persevere with the work and get Gardens painted.

A recent bit of news and an idea may be a new source of motivation for me to ramp up work oingn Gardens. In the aftermath of this year's Texas 200, there was some discussion about three or perhaps four Pathfinders planning to take part in in next year's event. Couple that with the fact that John Welsford plans to sail next year's Texas 200 and I thought, maybe I could get finish Gardens, outfit her and take her to Texas to make it a fleet of foour or five Pathfinders, which would be pretty epic. But, WOW, what would it take to make that happen? I'm not sure but I plan to find out.

Another, more personal, bit of news has me pumped up about getting as much boat work done over the next two months as possible. We'll see where that takes us…

Maybe I can step up the progress to three steps forward and a half-step back...

Progress

The shoulder continues to improve.

Epoxy continues to be spread on Gardens' bottom to fill the weave. (No photos because epoxy curing is nearly as exciting as watching grass grow.) The goal is to have the hull faired and primed by next weekend. We'll see how that goes…

In other news, I completed an Arts & Crafts style quilt rack, began work on a pair of Morris chairs, experimented with a lock-miter joint and router bit (and learned my router/shaper needs some tuning), started work on a boat hook for my brother-in-law, glued up one new window frame for the barn, milled stock for two more window frames, resumed riding my bike, and decided more hours in the day would be nice.

Test Patch

My left shoulder, having done battle with notoriously huge and fierce Michigan mosquitoes, is on the mend. The rotator cuff was not damaged and surgery is not required - which means the surgeon doesn't get the opportunity to make a measure/cut mistake on me!. The culprits are arthritis and tendinitis. The treatment was a steroid injection and my shoulder has responded quite quickly and favorably. The shoulder is not at 100% but I am back to work on boat and other projects (including correcting last week's measure/cut mistakes).

After painting the new flower boxes for the front porch there was a bit of paint left on the roller, so I wiped off a spot on Gardens' hull and painted a test patch. I wanted to see how much more fairing is needed (quite a bit, actually).

The blue tint and the ripply/wavy look are attributable to the light in the barn and not enough paint on the roller. Even though it is a small patch needing lots of work, somehow it is encouraging to see paint on the hull.