Steamy Saturday and another check'-offed the Maintenance Punch List.

 This Saturday, 7 June, was sunny, hot, humid, breezeless,, what else can I say describe the situation four of us volunteers faced as we mustered together at 0900 onto the deck in the brilliant sunlight. The good thing was, we had a specific job to do, to keep us focused away from this sultry morning.  Ken Fonville took on the task of posting the National Colors on the transom, then hoisting the Palmetto Flag and Tall Ship's America courtesy flag up the mainmast. It was the resurrection of a maritime tradition we had allowed to lapse for several months.. Now onlookers knew that Spirit of South Carolina was indeed alive. Lance Halderman rinsed out the igloo water jug then filled it over a big chunk of ice Bryan Oliver  had picked up at Harris Teeter on the way down. Walter Barton and Bryan teamed up to lower the gang way a reasonable amount to make disembarking and reembarking manageable. The last task, and most critical, was to rig up the deck awning over midships.  Actually only the port side could be rigged, due to the starboard gangway setup. Already half rigged up, it was an easy four minute drill to unroll the awning from its lashing, hoist up the lifts and belay on the sheer pole, tie off the apron line extending between the shrouds, then tensioning the come-along strap on the main shroud.. Voila! Shade!  

Next came our focus single project.  The prior week, Lance and Tim Kolb had completed sanding the boat hooks, now waiting for linseed oil. and had started grinding off old peeling varnish  on the main gaff. Unfortunately, the sticky-backed sanding disks, the only ones left in the locker would not adhere to the hook and loop style orbital sanding pad, and they could complete only two square feet before muster off at lunch.  

Now Nick Swarts and Lance went below to bring out two orbital sanders, a handful of assorted sanding disks,  extension cords.  With everything powered up. Lance and Nick started grinding way at the old, blackened and flaking layers of varnish.  Meanwhile, Ken and Bryan conducted their own search for any remaining remnants of thinner, and varnish left over from previous projects.  The heat and absence of any breeze made the open deck oppressive, so crew took regular breaks filling up bottles from the ice water igloo, and stretching out under the awning.  

Ken Fonville securing the thinner after mixing up
 a pint of thinned varnish for the first three coats.
Nick is starting at the aft end.

Now onto the home stretch, Ken mixes up a diluted mixture of thinner and varnish while Bryan, Lance and Nick use the remaining thinner to tack down the surface of the gaff, taking off all sawdust  and sanding debris. Bryan and Ken stretch out a drop cloth under the gaff.  Once tacked down, Lance and Nick with clean rags, soaked in the thinned varnish start on opposite ends to apply it down the length.  

Bryan and Lance starting from opposite ends
 of the main gaff,  wipe on successive coats
 of thinned down varnish for sealant.

The thinned varnish soaks in quickly, and dries as fast, allowing for applying a second coat.  Meanwhile, everyone else starts securing tools, hardware, rags,  and deletris to trash cans.  As Bryan laid down the third coat to set in the sun, remaining crew disembarked. Next week, maybe one more thinned coat, then the varnish, full steam. 

The gaff will be saved.. ;-)