Hi Julio,
My progress is all rather boring really. I spent every free moment over the Christmas holidays hoovering every square centimeter of the garage in preparation for varnishing and painting.
Many will say I'm doing "Overkill" on everything but ultimately after all the fanfare has died down - "boat building", in my experience, is a pretty lonely business.
I now have 5 coats of varnish on the bow and on the junction between the transom and the topsides. At 11 degrees centigrade the varnish takes 2 days to dry. Following Ian Oughtred and John Brookes recommendations a minimum of 6 coats of varnish with a promise to add more coats at the end of the season, two coats of primer, two coats of undercoat & filling at this stage and finally two coats of gloss.
All paint is International and I am using the "Original" for the varnish. The topsides will be finished in "Mediterranean White" which is a slightly warmer white than the other International option "Snow White". All sanding taken down to 220 grade and then I'll see how much patience remains. Have also rounded all the plank edges following the John Brookes method - a small block with 150 grade emery paper stuck inside and rounded the plank edges at the transom with a file & fininshing with sandpaper.
I do what I can, but, as you are also probably aware, its all a bit of a balancing act, firstly keeping the troops happy, secondly earning the daily bread and finally not annoying the neighbours with saws and smells whilst getting on with the boat. On the last point, when I finally get round to painting, I will probably work from half past three in the morning through to half past six before going to work.
"And if you try to explain this to the young people of today - they won't believe you !!" :-)
Best wishes and Tanti Saluti
Ainslie
P.S. Julio - perhaps you should consider putting some curved surfaces in your spinnaker chute opening otherwise you could risk ripping your spinnaker during deployment. Best Ainslie