Look what the cat dragged in!

By "cat" I mean UPS delivery chick, and by "dragged in", naturally I mean delivered:

200 sweet sweet sheets of sandpaper goodness!  I spent today fiddling with other things (motorcycles) but Father's day is going to start with a nice dose of sanding, before the temperature gets into triple digits.

Sandpaper: a precious resource?

Back in March or April, I knew there was a lot of sanding on the schedule.  The box store had limited grits and quantities, so I ordered a box of 80 and a box of 220 from a local power tool supply and repair shop.  I made the order before I started on the porch roof project, because I knew the grits required would overlap.  I got a call that part of the order was in a couple weeks later - the 220 grit.  That's the second step naturally, so I said "call me when the 80 grit is in!".  A few weeks later, I get another call, this time the order is in for sure.  I go back, there's one box.  It's the 220 grit still, no 80 grit to be found.  I muddle through the porch ceiling with some 60 grit (luckily I ended up using deck stain, so the finish wasn't required to be as nice).  I completed that, and last weekend I used up the last of the 60 grit sanding some of the tough spots on the hull.  So here I am out of sandpaper again!

Yesterday I placed an order with an online firm for the 80 grit sandpaper, with any luck it'll be here next week.  More sanding pictures to follow!

To Be Perfectly Fair

To be perfectly fair to myself, it hasn't been 3 months since I've done any work on the Connie.  I did finish sanding and staining the porch ceiling last weekend, and my number one priority this weekend is to sand more bottom.  We did go out of town for 10 days, and I did slow down with a cold for a few days, but we're quickly moving past that and onto new projects.  Or at least more sanding.

I recently joined the Chris Craft Antique Boat Club - they have a forum that I've been monitoring since the boat first arrived, gleaning knowledge slowly.  One cool advantage of reading about other projects / maintenance / use is that you can see others facing similar challenges and succeeding,  I find it very motivating to catch a glimpse of others in similar situations...