Thanks google..........................

For totally fucking up all my project albums, yes Picasa Web Albums came to end last week and what did they replace it with? 

Why the piece of shit known as google photos of course, except the link that i was given displays all my albums randomly - making it infinitely more difficult to navigate.

Nice one google twats!!

Have spent an entire day today trying to figure out what i was doing wrong until about 8 o'clock this evening when I discovered the google photos forum, seems i'm not alone in thinking what a piece of shit Google Photos is!

Curiously most of the links in the text work but you cant access all the albums at once like in Picasa which was a gallery of albums all neatly labelled and organised chronologically - latest first. 

You gotta wonder what goes through the minds of these fucking nerds when they take something as easy to use and as multi-faceted as Picasa and replace it with a piece of software that looks and feels like it was designed for 12 year olds with a fraction of the features.

Don't be evil................................whatever!          

Doing the night shift....................

Finally got round to fitting the forepeak frame over the last few evenings, i must say its bloody baking in the shed at the moment:

Catch up Number eleventy twelve

Got a few days off last week so seeing as i was unhappy with the volume of over-spray on the floor I decided a re-think was in order, the plan - be it roughly - was to add more air pressure going in and to make sure it was greater than that of the exhaust fan. 

 I understand from brother Rik this is called 'positive pressure' in spraying circles so i moved the fan originally in the back of the room to the front, beside the original one in the door so there's now two fans up front and added what can only be described as a miniature jet engine to the back. 

Preliminary tests indicate i now need a tether to clip myself to whilst spraying, its pretty fierce in there, no but seriously its way better than before a fact borne out by a relatively clean floor after a good few hours of spraying.

Also after much soul searching (and bank balance checking) I bit the bullet and bought the Devilbiss GPi gun along with a smaller gun for detail work, an ANI 150 on the recommendation of 'The Gunman'. This guys the tits where spraying concerned, his stock in trade is automotive  and has the most comprehensive youtube channel with tutorials, reviews even sprays cars and talks you through what hes doing simultaneously, learnt loads from watching him - great bloke in my opinion.

What else, got my first paid job for the spraying booth, a couple of internal doors for a customer to match their existing ones which needed to be half the height of a conventional internal door, turned out great, did them using my sealey gun. That brings me to why i bought the devilbiss - the sealey sprang a leak behind the nozzle where the air needle passes through the gun and no amount of tightening would stop it and so as it was dripping paint on the substrate i was spraying thought it might be the time to make the change.

I still use it for priming but for top-coating i now have an 'industrial' grade gun, the sealey' great but i guess using it daily as i have done has shown its limitations, still on the plus side i have three of the fuckers so can cannibalise them if it comes to it.

Got another delivery from Morrells for the paint to do the bilges in the forepeak with, my thinking being i can get the paint on and come back 40 minutes later and go again and guess what? Thats exactly what i did although i got as high as kite in the process. Even with the static gimp mask on, the air fed one will be the way to go in future, i told myself it'll be fine just rollering it on but after every session found myself panting like a dog. 

Still the results look great, just need to spray the final topcoat on the forepeak frame as i spent a long time yesterday filling and fairing every dimple and shake in the timber. Still pleased with it though and so once that's done the reassembling can begin.

Like watching paint dry (very quickly).

Got done with what i wanted to do and it all looks not very Westerly, more Najad / Hallberg Rassy, even if i say so myself, the guns starting to give a little bit of gip although it may be a regulator problem but got through all the joinery i wanted clearcoating.

Gonna start on the joinery i want white maybe in the evenings this coming week, the overspray is a little problematic as theres quite alot although that would be the only reason i'd change the gun seeing as the i need 50 PSI for mine and the likes of Devilbiss need about 30 so can see the benefits as i had to re-do a couple of pieces as they felt like sandpaper to the touch although looked great at first glance.

The only other fly in the ointment is figuring out how to reassemble this lot and bond to the tophat section in the hull without disturbing too much as i go - bit like the table cloth trick and leaving all the cutlery and crockery intacted. Cant help but feel alot of salty language will be aired that day.

More than enjoying the whole experience as its a skill i'm re-learning from years ago making furniture on a commercial basis and at the price i'm paying for the lacquer i dont mind re-painting the odd piece if i'm not totally satisfied with it.

Winner, winner

Chicken Dinner!

Folks I can declare the paint shop a roaring success, spent this afternoon base-coating the forepeak components in Morrells PU lacquer, For this i need to wear an air fed gimp mask but thats a small price to pay as this stuff is up there with the Reactive resins epoxy - yes it rocks too.

The reason it rocks is simple: this lacquer is touch dry in 15 minutes sandable in 30 and recoatable in 45, whereas that bloody over-priced Hempels crap i bought (to topcoat the window frames) would take 16 hours - yes thats not a typo, 16 arse-dragging hours till it went off.

And as is typical most of the time here in Blighty the marine-based product is total fucking robbery as the Morrells super quick drying PU works out at £50 give or take for 7.5 litres and the Hempels super slow diamond hard is getting on for £40 a litre!!!

 Mmm...........................fuck that!

Admittedly you dont get a cute picture of a sailboat on the Morrells tin but i can just about live with that if i'm honest. Also i should big up the Sealey spray gun i've been using, the SSG501 (if you're interested) and still available on ebay for less then £20 as the last time i talked paint i was considering a Devilbiss gun.

This mainly because they're amazing spray guns which we used to use back in the day at the shop but seeing as they were brother Rik's and i dont have money to burn i'll stick with the Sealey gun.

A truly great bit of kit seeing as you can get a needle/aircap from 1.2mm all the way upto 2.5mm making it a really versatile spray gun for no money, go buy one! 

Heres how things look at present:

Thats three coats of sealer on the above and below:

These pictures make me look almost talented - will be a different story spraying the hull and deck i'm sure, tomorrow i'll lay down the clear top coat and white basecoat for the outer frame.

My only concern based on todays efforts is i dont have enough free air capacity to run my mask and gun for more than 15 mins so when it comes to spraying the boat i may have to get a bigger air receiver................more kit i guess...............

Ciao

Meanwhile four months later.................................

In truth i wish i had more to show but just haven't really, the joinery for the forepeak has been made and broken down currently in the paint shop awaiting lacquer and paint, the beams have been fastened to the foam bulkheads with A2 screws and thickened epoxy resin.

Spent today doing a few bits of paid work in the shop and inbetween sanding down all the pretty bits of the forepeak ready for basecoating. Other than that not a lot to tell, this is where i was at this afternoon with everything removed waiting to go back on. 

All the athwartships beams that are pattressed through the bulkheads are back on permanantly, still loving the epoxy resin, interestingly had an icing bag full of the stuff burning my hand - it was that hot - and yet still totally usuable, absolutely kicks arse.

I'm still here....

Been getting asked why nothings happening and its all down to 'work' work, still after this job i'm doing now is done the next couple of bits of paid work are in the shop so will get back in the shed soon.

Rog