Boat Building with Calvin

  This week has been really fun. A lot of sanding, but it was really a great time.  The disco ball kept me going. I listen to a lot of reggae and country hits on my disco ball. I’ve been jamming to Greta Van Fleet as well and of course, Taylor Swift because everyone’s been talking about her concert. But my favorite song that has been getting me in the mood for woodworking is this song, dirt on my boots by Jon Pardi! Such a fun song. I also love it’s 5 o’clock somewhere. I’ve been coming in earlier to the boat shop which has been a great success and also makes me a lot less stressed! I would say the favorite part of my way was when my parents and sister came to surprise me at my dorm. They came for my last-ever Shabbat at Proctor. I almost cried when I opened the door. All my friends came to support me, including my bestie, Lisa P, who took me out to breakfast the following day! The whole week was such a blast. I’m glad I got to go home to see the funniest comedy show. Alex Edelman! He

Today I woke up and ran to the boat shop to add another coat of paint. The boat has been looking so beautiful, and all the blemishes that I thought would show up have suddenly disappeared. The boat looks gorgeous and is almost pond ready. My disco ball has been blaring music and is a real lifesaver. Thank God, Mike Walsh, saved the day! I let the paint dry for a solid four hours, and came back to add another coat! At this point, I was around four coats in!    

I had a great visitor come to the boat shop today who honestly saved the whole process. Mike Walsh walked up the stairs and just admired my disco light. He asked me what part of the boat I’m painting blue, and I said the whole underside. He was like, please don’t do that. And thank God he said something because that would’ve been a terrible mistake. I mixed the paint and then poured it into the roller tray!  I started with a thin coat of the blue bottom paint after taping off the boat. The color looked beautiful, but a little brighter than I was expecting, but so pretty. It was hard to get into a few crevices, but I managed my way through 30 minutes of the first coat. 

Today was the day I brought in my DISCO BALL! I decided to spice up my Boat Building life. Everyone loved my disco ball speaker. I blasted a bunch of tunes and sang out loud. It made the sanding process so much more fun. I spent the entire seven hours of my day sanding, sanding, sanding, sanding. Was it fun? I’d definitely say the sanding wasn’t. But the party was a blast. Lisa P came to check in on me, and so did Becky Walsh! Great friends to have visit! Hurricane by Luke Bryant was my favorite song of the day!

I entered the shop at around 9:45 ready to get to work. I started sanding and it was still peely and looking drippy and not very clean. I decided to add ANOTHER layer of epoxy to try and even out the top layer! I used a roller and an extra brush to smooth the bubbles! It seems to have worked. I am stressing about getting started on the painting.  But after epoxying the boat 2 times today I believe sanding will not be as difficult. I am excited to put the boat in the pond during graduation. 

Hey Everyone! Lot of wiping today! I bought some epoxy on Amazon because I ran out of my original resin and hardener. It was fine for the first round! But a bit sticky after a whole day of drying! That was worrying but I added another layer and this layer on top of a sticky layer was a huge mistake! I began wiping and wiping and wiping. It was a mess . I waited till it was partially dry, and added a normal layer of epoxy which hardened perfectly! I started sanding that layer and it came off really uneven and peely from the new epoxy I bought. I panicked a bit. I will wait till tomorrow to try and sand again.