A huge day at the work site. Derek Kelly made a trip from "The Glacier" (Boone, NC) to help out with the project. He wanted to do something big so we removed the 400lb keel. Two thin white boys and a little brain power did the job.
After unbolting the keel winch we placed a jack under the front of the keel to eventually lower it down gently. We popped out the pivot bolt holding the keel in place and began to lower. Shortly after the keel tipped off the jack and landed on the board strategically placed to absorb some of the force on the axle. (good call Derek)
We heaved the nasty keel up on a wheel barrow and gave it a good scraping, followed by a power-washing. Overall, we probably removed close to 7 lbs of rust flakes!
The varnishing continued with the Tiller. Coat # 3 after sanding with 220 grit.
A tiny bit of mineral spirits work well to remove the sandings between varnishings.
I peeled off the remaining teak wood and sanded like mad. The wood was then cleaned with the good old teak cleaner just for kicks. See the difference in the pic. Some glue was placed in a few potential trouble spots to firm them up. After drying the extra glue was sanded off or so we thought. These spots didn't absorb the varnish nearly as well as the surrounding wood but the wood is way stronger than before. Function over looks sometimes.
Progress-o-meter Maximum
Highlight of the day...Seeing that keel fall out, then picking it up with the help of D. Kelly.
