Project Log: Friday, December 27, 2013
When I left the last time, I was on the cusp of spraying
high-build primer. Not wanting to jinx ourselves into a
problem, at that time I pointedly and intentionally left
out of December 21st's log the ominous and looming
forecast for a nasty setup leading to an ice storm,
predicted to impact us on the 22nd and perhaps into the
23rd.
I'd planned to spray the high-build primer on Sunday the
22nd, which would have given me time to sand it before
Christmas and keep the painting project moving along.
However, on Sunday, with rain falling and the
temperatures hovering at and below the freezing point
(and ice accreting on tree limbs and power lines), I
chose not to paint, lest the power go out during the
process or during the curing time. This
proved to be a good decision, since we lost power
(albeit briefly) during Sunday afternoon, then again
much more permanently on Monday as the ice storm picked
up with a second, devastating round of precipitation and
even colder temperatures that brought ice accretion in
our area to an inch or more, knocking out the
power to many thousands in a fairly targeted band of the
state, including us, our whole town, and pretty much all
immediately neighboring areas.
As it happened, we were without power until late in the
day on Thursday the 26th, a total of about 76 powerless
hours through a stretch of very cold weather near 0°F
(-18°C) overnight, and not much warmer during the days,
reducing life to an elemental requirement to provide
heat to keep the house and shop safe and warm enough to
prevent a freeze-up, along with attempting to salvage
our Christmas plans throughout the period. Beyond
the vast power outage, our personal damage was limited
to significant tree damage, with numerous downed limbs
and broken tree-tops. Nature's limbing service.
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With the power back, and most of the day spent getting
back to some semblance of normalcy, I had enough time
during the afternoon of the 27th to do my final
solvent-wash of the hull, this time with the paint
manufacturer's proprietary solvent, and prepared paint,
spray, and breathing equipment for the job ahead.
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Total Time Today: 1 hour |
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