Wednesday, September 14, 2016

My Gray Girl...

Not a lot to say other than Annie is now "My Gray Girl..." at least one side of her.

I prepped and primed Annie's port side today. It was so hot that, even though I was priming on the shaded side of the boat, the primer was drying way too fast. I thinned the primer with Xylene as directed by Jamestown Distributors, and that helped, but it was still a race to get the primer on before it started lumping.

I'll do the other side tomorrow.

Fair seas and God bless!








Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Green Measles

Annie looks like she has Green Measles.

After finishing a thorough full boat sanding, (bottom and topside), I am getting closer to priming and painting Annie's topside. While sanding the topside, I would mark any surface imperfections with a sharpie pen, then I went around her and filled those imperfections with 3M Acryl-Green Spot Putty.
Today, I will sand her smooth, double check for any missed spots, and tape her up. Weather permitting, she will get her first coat of primer tomorrow.

Fair seas and God bless!

(Sorry for the slightly blurry photos... sweat on the lens).









Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Prepping For Paint...

They say that a good paint job depends on the paint and a great paint job depends on the prep. That makes sense to me so I am doing due diligence in prepping Annie for her new topside paint job.

When all the prep work is done, I will use TotalBoat Wet Edge Topside Paint. This paint received an average 5 Star review on Amazon with 47 customers responding. It is tremendously easy on the purse strings and it renowned as a great paint to "Roll & Tip" with, (which is the method of application I will be employing).

I'm just getting started, so this is first of a few related posts.

As I sand and prep for the primer (also TotalBoat), I am using a Sharpie to mark dents, dings, dimples, dips, scrapes, and scratches. These will be addressed before the primer goes on and re-examined after the primer is applied.

What color? Ah... that will be a surprise. One thing is certain, she will be beautiful when she is all dressed out. She will be all dressed up and 2000 miles to go.

Fair seas and God bless!






Friday, September 2, 2016

She's Still Standin'

The last fews days have been a flurry of events getting ready for Hurricane Hermine.

Last night was probably one of the longest I've ever spent. After doing all that I could do to ready Annie, I left her behind to drive to Tallahassee to stay with my elderly mother during the storm. Tallahassee is only 59 miles away from Carrabelle but it might as well have been cross-country. As I watched the updates on the Weather Channel and especially as the Weather Channel had a truck in Carrabelle, I felt helpless.

Though the storm was going to make landfall directly at Carrabelle, as I watched the reporter on TWC, I noticed the wind didn't appear so strong; I was hopeful. Because Carrabelle was on the Northwest side of the storm, the winds and rain were considerably lighter; most of the storm's force was on the Southeast and East side. I was still concerned that the stands that kept Annie upright would give way under Hermine's 80+ MPH winds and Annie would fall on her side. As the night progressed, Tallahassee went dark; 80 percent of the city's power grid was dead and the capital of Florida spent a very long and dark night waiting for daylight. Needless to say, I did not sleep well.

Power outages are in red,... still dark as of this posting!


At 7:00 AM I left Tally and headed for The Forgotten Coast, (tough it was far from forgotten in the mind of this sailor). The normal hour and fifteen minute drive took over two. None of the traffic signals worked and there were lots of confused drivers out. Most of them were just curious, a few were working, some were electric company employees, some were trying to get down to the coast to check their homes, and at least one was trying to get down to his boat.

The rest of the story is in pictures...







Finally, as I rounded the turn at the marina...


She's still standin'.

Fair seas and God bless.



Thursday, September 1, 2016

Dodging a Bullet?... Not This Time.

A year ago Annie and I dodged a bullet... unfortunately it doesn't look like that will happen twice. Not only is landfall now predicted at atop Carrabelle, FL, but Hermine will reach Cat 1 Status. :\

Annie is as secure as I can make her.

Say a prayer.

Fair seas and God bless.