Day 5 was a shorter day, but packed with lots of work. The first thing was to power orbital sand the outer decking to make the deck smooth, and take out as many bumps as possible.
Roger said the canvas covering would show all decking flaws unless they were taken out first. After a very long time, and with numb hands from the vibrations of the sander, I was done. But what was to follow? You guessed it. My favourite thing — nailing. I had to identify all nails that were in any way protruding and hammer them in, to avoid any possible rips to the canvas.
Then we flipped the canoe, and one of my very favourite things was next — varnishing. Yes, really — I happen to like painting and varnishing. Much better than those countless brass nails.
Since this was the first varnish coat being applied, I used a varnish/varsol mix so the wood could absorb as much as possible. It was really thirsty, as by the time I finished some was almost dry.
That was day 5. Day 6 is coming!
