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Day 253-254, Put registration number and name, Mast assembly, a lot of small things

She got NAME.  Toady applied  registration numbers and Name/Port  to the boat hull. I had option to not show Texas registration numbers (as soon as she is antique boat), but I decided it will be "polite" to officials to show it to avoid additional questions. Starting today she is 100% officially VIRA.        Mast Preparation to get back to the water are underway.  All Mast  hardware is reinstalled. Everywhere where stainless contacting to aluminum Tef-gel  applied to minimize galvanic corrosion. Custom Radar mount installed. All top mast instruments are not installed to minimize vertical draft and protect them from damage in case we get contact with bridge for some reason. All new cables installed.  total 8 cables ;-)  Mast top: VHF/AIS  Antenna  Tri-color/anchor light (16 AWG)  Wind sensor/video camera (20AWG) Radar  level: Radar cable (B&G cable) "spare" Ethernet CAT5 (for 4G/WIFI router) 4 wire 18awg ...
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Days 250-252 Mast coating with Naylic, a lot of small preparations for getting on the water.

Boat Name   Mocked up boat name           Painted a waterline   Mast  Mast was sanded, cleaned and coated with 2 layers of Naylic coating for protection. ( https://www.nyalic.com )   After 48 hours started to reinstall all hardware back.  Mast steps reinstalled (riveted) on the mast.  Backing plates for mast winches produced from ASA plastic and winches re-installed. Bottom Keel port side last layer of bottom paint applied.  Strut mount cavity closed, glassed , and first cover of bottom paint applied. Rudder,stands patches painted with bottom paint.    Small things  Made New aluminum deck light brackets instead of original mild steel ones.  Rebuilt camera/wind instrument. Added power supervisor. Put 3m4300 blob inside the rudder mount spacer. Re-attached autopilot actuator. added 3/8->5/16 spacer to the arm hole, loctited second nut. Tight bolts on engine shaft coupler. Loctite applied. Ad...

Day... Boat name image, Spreades Nyalic coating application, No work on boat this week.

Boat name Boat name coming to coming to reality. It is just simulation for now.   MAST Preparing and coating spreaders for Nyalic coating.    Texas ice storm 2025, No  work on boat

Day 248-249, Mast preparation, Grounding Plate installation, Engine water strainer, Strut mount patching, Accent line painting, new stays.

 Mast Mast sanded  to state to remove all pitting and prepare for painting. Lightning protection ground plate plate 3' x 4" mounted to hull on port side.  To drill hole as close to the mast as possible I had to remove grey water tank out of the locker. To remove tank i had to disconnect sanitation hoses, and it was pretty hard task.  Plate installed on two bronze 1/2 bolts. One is under the waste tank, second one under the floor sole under the cabin table. Plate is mounted using 3M 5200 adhesive.  Plate compressed to the hull and left for the week.  Engine  Water strainer installed, all clamps set on raw water hoses. Installed seaflo water strainer, to install it I had to make a stand to let access for cleaning it.  Strainer installed above water line.  Waterline painting  Put masking tape and lightly cover edge between white topside paint with the topside paint, then next day applied layer of blue paint. I am keeping fingers crossed it ...

Day 246-247, Mast, Drive shaft, Propeller, No-drip seal, Rudder, Direct cockpit drains, thru-hulls, Transom hardware.

    Mast/boom/spreaders  Remove all fittings from mast. Start sanding to prepare for Nyalic coating.   Rudder.  Installed rudder,  Updated packing Installed quadrant, autopilot arm, rudder angle sensor back. Strut  re-align strut with the shaft   Driveshaft Install driveshaft/propeller and no-drip packing.    Thru-hulls  Cockpit  Engine HVAC HVAC discharge   install cockpit drain hoses. Decided to cross  Star to port and vise-versa.   Dry fitting Yes, I still have 90 degree fittings there. Unfortunately Space on 34 footer is pretty small and i need space to put water heater at the space where black pad sits. HVAC installed strainer, pump and hosing, connect wiring and hosing back.    Install back transom parts. Install and fix Swimming leader. Install Navigation light. Install Chainplate.  

Days 243-245, Top side paint DONE! (you need to see) , bottom paint 2-nd ant 3-rd coats, work on rudder

 Hull Topside painting First 2 layers of paint was done last Saturday and Sunday  and pained hull looked absolutely cool. It was heart breaking moment when i get know that all hard work (and money) was put on topsides get to nothing but very poor result. I know that Alexseal Topcoat 501 paint is humidity sensitive e.t.c but after good experience with  Interlux Perfection which is also humidity sensitive I decided that IF i give paint full 12 hours at 25C with about 70% RH it will be dry enough to withstand morning dew and fog. NO! It did not.  Morning dew last Monday appeared Sunday evening dew and all night fog covered boatyard. It did not give paint to dry enough to withstand environment. About 30% of whole surface get damaged (instead of high gloss surface it get dull and matt).   This weekend I changed strategy, first to apply paint as early as possible we sanded and washed previous coat day before painting and  on Saturday morning as soon as morni...