Dialing in the brightwork and continued coats of varnish are taking me through the weekdays, while I reserve the weekends for larger tasks, including the toe and rub rail dry-fit installations. For these few weekdays, I was focused on recovering the starboard coaming block and applying its first sealer coat of varnish. I was also focused on continued application of varnish coats to the various components of the brightwork assembly.

For the starboard coaming block, I started by sanding its new mahogany cap flush around the four sides. Once I had accomplished this I took it to Biscuit for a test fit. All was good except for the height now having to be brought down into plane with the coaming board itself. I took reference marks to the coaming return block and headed back to the shop to work the piece until I achieved proper dimensions. This took a few visits to Biscuit, but in the end I was secured the new piece and followed on with a varnish sealer coat. While I was at it, I lightly sanded the port return block and applied a coat of ~25%-thinned varnish. Rework on the starboard return block was not captured in the project.

While I had the 50/50-thinned varnish out, I cleaned up the cockpit seat trim and set them on a platform that would allow good access with a foam brush, followed by an application of the sealer coat of varnish. Upon arriving home from the shop, I got straight to work on the companionway trim and drop boards. I sanded lightly with 240-grit paper and then applied a partially-thinned coat of varnish. It was now time for build-up coats on the companionway trim - having already had their sealer coat applied.

The following day, I returned to the shop to sand, clean with solvent, and flip or rotate for further varnish on the coaming return blocks, the aft cockpit trim, as well as the cockpit seat trim. All brightwork for Biscuit, with the exception of the taffrail, is now in the phase of build coats of varnish. This is a fun aspect of working brightwork - seeing that mirror gloss on beautiful wood!

Total Hrs: 1.5