The slow and tedious steps

A thousand little tasks is how all this gets done. There are moments of excitement and revelation, and long spans of drudgery in-between.

That's what it has been like this week, as I slowly make my way through tasks on both the Utility and Zip projects.

Utility
For Perseverance, my Glen-L Utility, that has meant encapsulating the new floorboards. The encapsulating process eats up a lot of time, just due to each layer of epoxy needing to cure for at least 24 hours. And, for a good encapsulation job, you need at least two layers of epoxy... preferably three.

That means, even a simple encapsulation job on a couple of relatively minor parts like this is still going to take several days. But, once the encapsulation is done, I can begin painting.

First coat of epoxy, sanded in preparation for the second coat.

Yogurt cups, (at least the ones shaped like this), are great for mixing small amounts of epoxy.

The second coat, freshly applied and curing. I'm taking special care to encapsulate the edges, where the piece is most vulnerable to delamination.

Zip
For the last couple of weeks, I have been working on the Zip during the 5am hour. At that time of day, I need a brainless activity that requires little or no thought while I drink my morning coffee. Sanding fits that bill nicely.

I've been cleaning up the seam and topside edge of the laminated starboard chine. Not real exciting, but it needs to be done. It's coming along... slowly.