Documented!

I finally got the Certificate of Documentation from the Coast Guard. Now, Rhapsody is officially mine. I recently went to the local county office to pay the sales tax. The only other thing I need to do is the state registration so I could use it in a local lake. Even though I live in Tennessee, I'm thinking of going to a place in Kentucky where there is a waterway with more room to move around in.

Oh and getting a bottom job and maybe some repairs on the gel coat would be a good idea before splashing. Still, it might take a little bit of time because of finances but I'm well on my way to enjoying some time on the water.

First Varnish

It's been a while since I visited Rhapsody. Today I decided to check in on the boat. Things looked good. I took the piece of the handrail that I removed from the top side and decided to do something with it. I first did a little sanding but not much. I was looking in a book that after any sanding was done, it could be wiped down with mineral spirits and could be ready for varnish.

Here I wiped it down and could see some of the grain showing through. Nice hint of what it would look like with varnish.

I put a couple screws into the handrail to prop it up with wrenches while it dried.

I went ahead and applied a little bit of varnish, mixed 50/50 with mineral spirits.

This is the Epifanes varnish I used.

Before I left the boat today, I moved the handrail to the countertop down below. The Epifanes can says to allow to dry 24hrs between coats. I tried coating with a couple coats before I left. Hopefully it will turn out nice and I can add additional coats whenever I visit again.