Varnishing Toe Rails and Assembling the Coaming Boards and Returns

July 2, 2020

With the recent foot trauma, I decided to take things a bit easy today.  I grabbed a few pieces of 320-grit paper and headed over to the toe rails.  I worked my way down the starboard rail and then back to start with completion of the port rail.  After a good wipe down with a rag and acetone, I poured some Epifanes high gloss varnish in a cup, slightly thinned it, and headed over to the rails once again.

With a foam brush, I applied the third coat of varnish to the rails.  The rails will be going in ahead of the planned six coats, simply to minimize small depressions around the bungs to be installed once the rails are mounted.

I headed back to the shop, ditched the varnishing gear, and got to work on assembling the coaming return blocks onto the coaming boards themselves.  I used #10 silicone bronze wood screws to mount the returns, and then sealed them with bungs dipped in varnish.  I will later remove the portion of the bungs standing proud, sand, and then coat with varnish.

Total Time Today: 2 hrs