Since my last post, we flipped the boat over to start getting the hull ready for paint. The first job was to glue and screw the rest of the keel on which is all faired into the hull. This was quite a job as there is not really any way of planing it that feels natural and with the power planer and the boat acting as an amplifier, we managed to annoy most of the workshop that morning. Here is the result.
The next job was to sand all the planks and make sure all the nail heads were flush with the planking. This meant Charlie and I had to take it in turns to get under the boat and hold a dolly up to the roves while the other hammered them flush. Probably the worst job so far for whoever was under the boat!
After the hull was faired off, we could start painting primer. The primer we used is an epoxy primer undercoat and is designed as a high build primer so anything we missed when trying to get it smooth, this would take care of it. We painted 4 coats of this and then had to wet sand up to 400 grit ready for the top coat which we will do in the next couple of days.
We have been sanding all day and by the end of the week we want the inside and the deck to be fully varnished ready for the last week of rigging.