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September 18-19

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September 18: What a gorgeous weekend to work on the boat. Sanded the epoxy (2 hours), taped off the rubrails and primed the boat (2 hours). Waited four hours and sanded for 3 hours - expecting a mirror-smooth finish. It's not perfectly mirror-smooth, but it's quite good. So time-consuming. And this was only the very bottom of the hull. Will sand and paint the rest of the hull tomorrow.
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(primer over half the kayak - it was psychologically difficult to paint over my nice wood hull)

I have discovered an incredibly anal, perfectionist side of myself in this sanding. I sand and sand, using 220 grit sandpaper, the clouds of ultra-fine primer dust billowing around me (Yes Mom, I'm wearing a respirator), and then I run my hand over the finish. If I feel one tiny bump at all, I sand it down and run my hand over the entire boat again. It's addictive. And it's SO smooth! I did this for 16x2 feet of boat and went through $40.00 of sandpaper. It would have been a lot easier had I not been so impatient with my expoxy sanding. I wasn't too picky then.

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(sanded most of the primer off)
 
September 19: Started work at 7:30. Sanded the rest of the hull - was done at 11:30. And painting only took about 30 minutes. I decided to paint the hull Hatteras Off White. It looks really nice in contrast to the wood of the deck. I'm not going to paint the deck. The clincher in my decision was the editor of Wooden Boat magazine (he voted on my site). He said in his experience, the nicest finish is a painted hull and varnished deck. He said many first-time boatbuilders varnish the entire boat because the wood is so beautiful. However there is no contrast and he thinks they look "too woody." I can see that.
 

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 Poured epoxy in each end (fore and aft?) of the hull and stood the kayak straight up so the epoxy would congeal at each tip. Did this for 2 reasons: 1) So I can ram things more effectively - no - it makes for a stronger hull and 2) So I could drill a hole in each end to have grab handles. Went kayaking (in a plastic one) while the paint and epoxy dried.

This picture shows how tall this damn boat is.
Tied the boat to my little red car and took her back to NYC. Got her through the door and up the stairs (no more window hoisting-my neighbor gave me her keys!) with some help.
 
To do:
patch, sand, and epoxy coaming
Glue hip braces (fiberglass them in)
Paint hull with paint (at least 3 coats - have done one coat)
Wet sand with 400 sandpaper between coats
Varnish deck and 2 hatch covers (at least 4 coats)
Wet sand with 400 sandpaper between coats
Install rigging, seat, foot braces
Drill bigger hole for grab handles
Install grab handles

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Name update: Current favorite among friends is Norwegian Wood because of my heritage, the fact she's made of wood, and the Beatles song. In my head, however, I have been referring to her as Charlotte and may not be able to change.