Matt (my shipwright mate) told me pretty much what I was expecting to hear: "gotta get that gel coat off mate, then give me a call". He suggested that I see how much I could get off with a scraper first, since grinding it off is apparently quite messy. So off I trotted to the hardware and bought the most bad-arsed scraper I could find.
Then I got stuck into it near the stern tube.
I did manage to make progress, but it was ridiculously slow. This was all I had to show after a full day of chipping away.
So Matt kindly lent me his large grinder and a couple of really coarse disks.
It really is a filthy, noisy, laboriously slow job, but at least it's quicker than using the scraper. The shot below shows the results of a few hours hard work. The pipe near the stern tube is my feeble and unsuccessful attempt at dust extraction.
It's a horrible job and the toxic dust produced in large volumes goes absolutely everywhere. No the best in a residential area.
I wasted heaps of time trying to screen the job off in an attempt to contain some of this dust, but the slightest breeze made the plastic sheeting collapse constantly.
I also had to buy another set of goggles since my ancient cheap piece of crap wasn't blocking anything. I'd find myself digging the dust out of my eyes at the end of each day.
But at least I did make some progress over time.
As it currently stands, I've gotten everything off from that strip (in the photos above and below) back toward the stern. There's a lot to go, but at least I seem to have gotten a heap of it off now. I've also just bought a new grinder/polisher, so I can finally give Matt his one back. I've also recently bought a heap more plastic sheeting and gaffa tape, as well as a new respirator (I think my old one was leaking/letting the dust in), so hopefully I'll be able to control some of the dust.
I haven't been able to get any more done for months now due to lots of other commitments and an unlucky streak of unsuitable weather on my days off (too windy/too hot/too many neighbours around).
One of the biggest time distractions has been preparing for, and embarking on, a stint at the maritime college in Tasmania, to do my VTS course. I absolutely LOVE Tassie and had such a great time down there. I managed to escape over one of the weekends, hiring a car and driving like mad to cover as much ground as I could. I stopped at the marina in Kettering and went for a wander, and walking down the first wharf I came to I discovered a nice Contessa 26 at its berth (I think the universe is sending me a sign).
Interesting modifications to the cockpit, otherwise she looks pretty standard.
And another couple berths down I came across a Contessa 32, which was amazing. Looks well set up too.
As if I need more motivation, when I got back home I was able to order a new book that has just been published on the little Contessa 26. It's since arrived and is awesome, but my wife has snatched it away from me and wrapped it up as a Christmas present for me.
Anyway, that's been my year so far. I guess I should be happy with my progress, given the time/weather/financial challenges I've had, but things are about to heat up somewhat. I know I keep saying that, but things really are finally coming to a head.
1. Our daughter will soon have her driver's licence, which means I will no longer have to drop everything to drive her to and from school twice a day (about an hour each time).
2. Due to some changes at my work, I am about to be promoted to permanent full-time status. This is huge. It means that we can finally consolidate our financial position. Hopefully this will give me the funds to actually get this restoration done properly and in a timely manner.
So hopefully in 2016 I will be able to share lots of useful info/progress, and we can finally see this classic beauty take to the seas once again.
We wish you all a very merry Christmas and an excellent new year.
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