Putting the Shine on!

As Cody continues his metal work, I've been polishing up the pieces he creates.  

These are collars for the stanchions- they slide around the stanchion post and will be screwed into the toe-rails to strengthen the stanchions.    The one on the left is rough still, and the one on the right has been polished.  

Polishing is a process of sanding the metal.  We started with 80 grit, and progressed to 220, to 400, to 600, 1000, 1200, and 1500.  It's pretty fun to see these pieces clean up!  

The hinge I'm holding connects the rudder to the transom, and you can see our samson post in the background.  

We've also primed the bottomsides, and got our first coat of bottom paint on last night.  

My favorite project lately has been painting the name and port of call on the transom.  

I transferred the lettering simply by printing it backwards, wetting it and burnishing the paper-  it worked kind of like a temporary tattoo.  

Then I painted the outlines of the letters with the same paint we used on the sheer stripe and boot top.  

My favorite part was filling the letters with gold paint.  We used a product called "liquid leaf" and it looks great.  It even looks good in the dusty fluorescent light of the shop- our sample piece looked even better out in the sunlight!  

Our launch date approaches!