by Robin
Friday and Saturday were very productive days for us on the makeover for our Mako 248. There have been moments of feeling like throwing in the towel, but we prayed for some encouragement and got it. We needed progress.
We left off Thurs with doing some work on the helm, cutting out space for our instruments. Jack also did repair work on the base of where the cuddy door would be. It needed severe reinforcements, so on Friday, Jack put down fiberglass sheets and resined them into place.
Also on Thursday, we projected finishing up any fiberglass work on the cuddy to prepare for painting this upcoming week. Well, there wasn't much left so with a small window of opportunity (read: no rain in the forecast), we pulled out paint & rollers.
The first coat went on well, but it sure did seem white through the night and even the next morning after it was dried.
We were uneasy about whether or not we received the same color paint in the quart can vs the gallon can we used to paint the outside of the boat. We pulled out the 2nd gallon can of "Snow White" paint from Jet Glo and put on a 2nd coat.
This one did seemed toned down by a fraction. Jack thinks that once it is wet sanded next week, it will be the exact match to the hull of the boat.
I had some excellent pictures of bugs committing suicide on paint fumes but I accidentally erased them in the upload, download, formatting, transfer..... oops. Also, all the new paint pictures are gone, but I can get more tomorrow when the sun comes back out.
(Arrow below points to where the paint stopped.) In the 5th ot 6th hour post-painting, we had a light shower and pray that it did not ruin our hard work. The 2nd coat went on beautifully.
Side note on paint: Jet Glo is paint for jets. Jack received it through his company and it is an extremely hard 3-part paint designed to be flexible. I don't know how science does something like that, but it is. Planes' wings and body have movement during flight. So do boats as they cruise through the water. There is also a debate amongst boaters on gelcoat vs paint (i.e. durability, functionality). We have not found a convincing argument that one is better than the other. We went with paint because it was readily accessible for us and something Jack has worked with in his work experiences.
Jack said that we should go ahead and complete everything having to do with the cuddy that way we can get the top back on and protect areas from water/rain. We do have a blue tarp on it, but that isn't 100% effective in hard downpours. Saturday, after the 2nd coat of paint, we cleaned out the garage, install Jack's new anniversary shelves on the left (I'm so romantic.) and cleaned off his work area. I don't remember the last time I saw the garage this clean. The white square on the right is our battery hatch which was painted and hanging to dry. I know how red-neck it looks..... :o)
First thing was to tape (blue) the glass around the metal frames. Then, Jack sanded that brown paint off and you can see metal now. Once all 4 windows are done, they will be painted black and then reinstalled back onto the boat.
Where would we be if we didn't have this super-duper air compressor doing all the hard sanding, drilling, painting, laundry & dishes for us.
Also, while waiting for paint to dry, Jack works from time to time on the livewell fixtures. We thought we addressed certain issues back in February, but we were still having shrimp & fish die on us from lack of good circulation & aeration. So, new hardware was installed. Maybe the livewell top will be reattached to the bottom next week. We had to cut the top away to gain accessibility. All new fiberglassing is in order. (Ladies, the livewell is where you keep all your livebait while out fishing. This makes for great entertainment for your little ones.)
Our view pulling up to the Lee Wenner Park.
The kids finding their first cache.
On our walk to the 2nd cache in the area. Crab boats were headed back in, sailboats were sailing, dolphins were playing by the boardwalk. Wow!
Here is Riverfront Park from the docks & boardwalk.
Here are the 4H kids in front of their 2nd find. I never realized it but there is a wonderful history to those Traveler's Palms behind the kids. They are filled with water and helped keep thirsty travelers alive. They originated from Madagascar.
So far, the same Mama and her calf have returned to the Sebastian Inlet area for the 6th year in a row.
Close-up. I love the matching black. The windows are tinted. See how the cuddy is white and the gunnels (sides) are cream? That is getting painted soon. Trim around those cuddy windows (barely seen in bottom right of pic) while get black trim hand-painted onto it.
This is a picture of some Christmas pompano we caught about 4 yrs ago. 
It all has to be resanded and repainted - AGAIN. 
