Sunday, August 12, 2012

Clarabelle in her Undies

I had one clear day to work on Clarabelle yesterday which ended up me leaving her in her undies!



As you can see from the pic, I had a large area of matchboard to sort out which involved a lot of sanding, raking then sanding the seams, some filling, more sanding, pinning some pieces back in place, more sanding. The end result of all this hard work was a lot of exposed timber that I didn’t want to leave exposed to the elements for too long.

By the time it came to painting I only had enough time to put on a coat of 3-1 (sealer, Primer and undercoat) before I had to leave. Seeing as I won’t be able to get back to her next weekend, this coat should have a couple of weeks to really harden off before I get to put on some top coat.

The pic was taken late in the day so there are long shadows bringing out the unevenness of the surfaces. Up close and in other, less cruel light, this all looks good and sound.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

More painting...

This past weekend saw more painting but I’m working to a slower, more thorough pace than when Clarabelle was out at Wellington. I now have the time to do things properly and so this coat of paint should be the final one. That means getting the underlying surfaces up to scratch, lots of sanding and filling – even some minor wood-butchery cutting out rot and making it all good. But it was still a long day’s work and by the time I had finished, it was too dark to photograph my handy work! 


Upon getting home last night I realised that I’d left some bits and pieces on board that I really needed at home and, more importantly, I’d left the garbage there which would stink the whole carriage out if left for a week. So this morning I got up early and made a dash out to Clarabelle before work which allowed me to photograph her in the morning sun. I still need to give the drop lights a top coat of Deep Indian Red but I think you’ll agree, she’s looking good.



I also made a start on a deck on the south side, marking out positions for posts and assembling some of the posts and joists. I’ll give you an up-date on that project later.