Hurrah!

[dasein668]

After an estimated 100 man-hours, the grinding, glassing, grinding, filling, grinding, filling, grinding, filling, grinding, filling, and grinding on Dasein's hull and deck is DUN!

[Tim]

I'm gonna miss that guy...

[dasein668]

I'm gonna miss that guy...

Is that Bill Murry's line in Ghostbusters?

[Tim]

Yup!

[dasein668]

Ah, that movie is just FULL of quoteable quotes! LOVE it!

[Figment]

So, you're dun with sanding and fairing. Ready for paint. And your launch date is probably a full month after mine.

I'm so screwed.

[dasein668]

I have a slave driver who sends me scathing emails if I don't show up to work for more than 3 days... that always helps!

I still have TONS of work left... I'm done with fairing, but I still have a full month's work before I'm really ready for paint?toe rail, forward hatch, sea hood, deck hardware, cockpit seat drains... the list goes on and on...

[Tim]

I have a slave driver who sends me scathing emails if I don't show up to work for more than 3 days... that always helps!

Funny, the same guy is always hounding me, too! He can be a real pain sometimes...

[grampianman]

After an estimated 100 man-hours, the grinding, glassing, grinding, filling, grinding, filling, grinding, filling, grinding, filling, and grinding on Dasein's hull and deck is DUN!

The dust bunny has moved to Florida and procreated! HELP!
I'm grinding and sanding and blowing and coughing and I can't stop!

Thanks guys,
Ian
Wing & a Prayer

[Figment]

After an estimated 100 man-hours, the grinding, glassing, grinding, filling, grinding, filling, grinding, filling, grinding, filling, and grinding on Dasein's hull and deck is DUN!

Nathan, in the above, I count four rounds of putty application and subsequent fairing. Accurate?

I spent some time staring at the calendar today. Five weeks left. I dunno if I can do four rounds in that time.

[dasein668]

Well, lessee. To be honest, its all sort of lost in a haze. I think it went something like this:

Grind nonskid off, 40 grit.
Apply new glass.
Grind new glass, 40 grit.
Fairing compound.
Grind 80grit
Fairing compuound 2 (heavy spot filling)
Sand 80grit
Fairing compound 3 (spot filling, minor)
Sand 120grit.
High-build primer
Sand 120 grit.

Still to come: finish primer
Sand 220 and maybe 320 grit.
Paint.

Tim, do you remember how many rounds there were?

[Tim]

That sounds about right. What is lacking in this innocent list is a true measure of the huge amount of work, physical effort, and time committment required to actually make it through each of these stages and onto the next. The simply stated "sand, 120 grit" fails to represent how long that actually took, and how challenging it might have been, for example. Nor does "grind new glass, 40 grit" come close to describing the terribleness of this miserable chore.

It's important to note here that each of those grinding rounds required at least one full man-day, as did each of the steps in between. Several of the steps detailed in Nathan's list (applications) also included my labor, doubling the number of man-hours for that particular chore.

That list right there is probably representative of 100 man-hours, quite possibly more (interestingly, I calculated this myself, only to look back up at the earlier topics and see that Nathan had arrived at the same figure himself). One could have done a less-good job in less time, but what's the point of that?

Granted, Nathan's deck job encompassed the entire deck and cockpit and cabin trunk, with a fiberglass covering and full putty job. The typical recore would require perhaps a bit less overall fairing at the end, but this is as good an estimate as any.

What's missing from this list is how much work is still required after the painting is done. Reinstalling deck hardware and buttoning things up is a very time-consuming process, especially when doing it the right way, which extends the elapsed time required for the job.

This job also is premised on the usage of the highest-quality paint finishes and multi-step priming and application process. Extra care is required when using these products, but frankly, any good paint job, regardless of the final product, is hinged upon the quality of the prep work, so these factors wouldn't change much for anyone striving for the best they can do.

BTW, there's no "maybe" on the 320 grit sanding on the finish primer. This is required for a fine finish.

[dasein668]

What is lacking in this innocent list is a true measure of the huge amount of work, physical effort, and time committment required to actually make it through each of these stages and onto the next. The simply stated "sand, 120 grit" fails to represent how long that actually took, and how challenging it might have been, for example. Nor does "grind new glass, 40 grit" come close to describing the terribleness of this miserable chore.

Boy is that ever a true statement... 6 to 8 hours at a time of grinding (that's pretty much 6-8 hours of the grinder actually running, btw) is a truely miserable experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

BTW, there's no "maybe" on the 320 grit sanding on the finish primer. This is required for a fine finish.

Oops. "Maybe" was the wrong word. What I meant was the non-skid areas will likely see only 220. All of the gloss areas will, of course, be sanded to 320.

[Figment]

Well, I might not be totally screwed.
Seams are taped and ground.
First application of fairing putty done and longboarded.
Second application 75% done today.

I hit a roadblock when I ran out of microballoons. Ten quarts, poof! gone in the blink of an eye.

As a happy coincidence, the two applications of putty are different colors because the two tubs of microballoons were different colors. I'd already added white pigment anyway, but now I REALLY have no excuse for oversanding.