APPLE PIE TENDER FOR MY TANZER 22.

Day 17 of my APPLE PIE DINGHY

The sawdust-kitty litter has dried overnight and excess has been carefully vacuumed off. At this stage it is possible to pry some bits off. This was done for the larger bits that seemed to stick up too much. As hoped the floor is coarser than the seats because I had sieved the seat material. The first coat of slightly thinned paint is going on. I tried with un-thinned paint but it did not want to flow at all. Once thinned it gets in the spots between the wood pieces and hopefully will stick everything down nicely.

Close up of the paint being applied over the sawdust. I am using a roller and being careful not to rub it or press too hard. Not much is coming up onto the roller. It's quite coarse though. It looks like more sanding will be needed to even down the finish.

The tape has been removed as soon as the paint had set. I was afraid that the thick coating would set and make the tape difficult to remove. As it is it was the perfect hardness and the edges were very good. Here the sides have started to be painted. As always the word went out and every aphid and fruit fly in the neighbourhood has gathered to be embedded in the boat.

The whole interior has had a coat of paint. This is the second coat for the non skid section. It certainly will be non skid. I will see what the texture is like after the paint has dried. If it's too coarse I will sand down some of the high spots. So far so good though.
It's a shame that the 2 toned effect has disappeared with the second coat. It looked nice. I need at least another coat to cover the inside properly. At that point I might call it painted. The finish is not so perfect I'm afraid. It was very warm when I started painting and it was not possible to keep a wet edge.

I consulted the Wooden Boat Forum about ways of making a non slip coating. This method comes from RodB's boat build. He used Walnut shells.

Note: The non skid finish was quite coarse and even after sanding down the high points I would have preferred less tooth. It also get a bit dirty in the hollows. I think I would use less coarse stuff. On my next boat I will use Interlux non skid paint additive. I had some from my Skerry build and I liked it. Eventually the high points started wearing off and raw wood was exposed. After a quick sand and another coat of paint, the rough finish was much improved and the non skid bottom was very nice. Did not get easily dirty either.

Today I have worked 5 hours on the boat. This brings the total to 118 hours.

email: Christine

This web site reflects my personal ideas and doesn't represent anyone else's point of view. I'm not an expert boat builder and don't suggest that how I'm doing this is the best way, use your head.