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Project Log:  Friday, December 27, 2013

When I left the last time, I was on the cusp of spraying high-build primer. Not wanting to jinx ourselves into a problem, at that time I pointedly and intentionally left out of December 21st's log the ominous and looming forecast for a nasty setup leading to an ice storm, predicted to impact us on the 22nd and perhaps into the 23rd. 

I'd planned to spray the high-build primer on Sunday the 22nd, which would have given me time to sand it before Christmas and keep the painting project moving along.  However, on Sunday, with rain falling and the temperatures hovering at and below the freezing point (and ice accreting on tree limbs and power lines), I chose not to paint, lest the power go out during the process or during the curing time.   This proved to be a good decision, since we lost power (albeit briefly) during Sunday afternoon, then again much more permanently on Monday as the ice storm picked up with a second, devastating round of precipitation and even colder temperatures that brought ice accretion in our area  to an inch or more, knocking out the power to many thousands in a fairly targeted band of the state, including us, our whole town, and pretty much all immediately neighboring areas.  

As it happened, we were without power until late in the day on Thursday the 26th, a total of about 76 powerless hours through a stretch of very cold weather near 0°F (-18°C) overnight, and not much warmer during the days, reducing life to an elemental requirement to provide heat to keep the house and shop safe and warm enough to prevent a freeze-up, along with attempting to salvage our Christmas plans throughout the period.  Beyond the vast power outage, our personal damage was limited to significant tree damage, with numerous downed limbs and broken tree-tops.  Nature's limbing service.


With the power back, and most of the day spent getting back to some semblance of normalcy, I had enough time during the afternoon of the 27th to do my final solvent-wash of the hull, this time with the paint manufacturer's proprietary solvent, and prepared paint, spray, and breathing equipment for the job ahead.

Total Time Today:  1 hour

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