Flippin' flies.

It seemed like a nice day so I got out of bed ready to set to with the gloss top coat. After a bite of breakfast I dried off any bits that were still wet and then lightly sanded down the undercoat. By the time I started painting it had got quite hot and the paint work even hotter. The paint had quite good coverage and was going on quite well but once again it takes much longer than you think. I had forgotten to open the front door so it was quite difficult to move about so that I didn't touch what I had already painted! As the time went on the paint got a bit thicker and wasn't so easily spread with the brush. In the end I actually broke the handle of the brush which meant starting with a new brush.

Just to show the difference to the picture when I first started. 

The trouble with starting with a new brush is that the odd hair or bristle comes out for the first use or so so I had to keep stopping to remove hairs etc. Mind you I needn't have worried.

By the time I had finished, gone in to have some lunch and  then popped out again flies seemed to have acted like lemmings and used the paint like flypaper to commit mass suicide. Oh well I will have to let it harden off and then sand down spots at a later date and try again.

After that I was sewing up another window of the double glazing. That looks like it is all finished. I then took the stove on by giving it a good blacking and cleaning the glass. The smoke dirt came off the glass very easy with my trick of rubbing it with washing up liquid and letting it dry before lighting the fire. Where the flue joins into the stove it is sealed with fire cement and as I was cleaning it a bit cracked off. I have a small pot of it from last year so I must remember to repack it. That means that the fire has to be lit to make it hard and sealed.

I then thought I would set to on the scaffolding board that we 'won' at Stourbridge. I sanded it down as best I could and tried to smooth down all the spells and burrs. This also helped to get rid of most of the cement or plaster dust that was ingrained. I then used a scotch pad with white spirit to give it a good scrubbing to get more of the dust out of it.

It has come up okay really. The other side has a few cuts etc but the top surface will be good enough to use as a bench seat at the after end and then double up as a short gang plank as the one we have is about 2" thick and about 7 feet and weighs a tonne. So much so that we have only ever used it once

The grain has come up nicely so I think I will stain it rather than varnish. 

After that I decided that I had better start to put stuff away. One of the joys of these interludes where I have the boat to myself is that I can leave out tools and things that I know I am going to be using later. With two of us I would have to put stuff away all the time so there was room to do stuff. One more big sleep and the better half will be back.