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Gulf Island Building.

1M views 8K replies 149 participants last post by  Katie Cabana 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi all:
Since the summer of 1997, I have been building a cabin and house on our 1/2 acre lot here. Before I dive into that part, I am going to show a few photos to set the stage a bit. We are remote here. No services of any kind, except that which we provide for ourselves. So don't expect to see any paved roads with big trucks delivering any materials.
We live at the head of a small bay, which is both a blessing and a curse.
When the tide goes out, we have to clamber over hundreds of yards of rocks to get to our boat. When it is in, I can float logs right up to my little railway to move them onto the log deck. Well, not any more, but more about that later.
This is the bay in front of us.
 

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#5,319 ·
Ours don't have the latex foam rubber on top, I can see where that would make the difference. Even without the latex they are proud of their mattresses.

Bud, you got that right about the congress, the low down sorry bunch of ...
 
#5,324 ·
Thanks Barb: I'm using Helmsman Spar Urethane, please note they don't have the word "varnish" in the product name.

Remember the Behr varnish story awhile ago - not being made any more.

When I first dipped a brush into this stuff, it had all the viscosity of water, so I thought how good could this possibly be?

Well, I still don't have the answer to that, but I have found one positive side effect and that is the drying time. Four hours to touch and 6 hours to re-coat. Gotta like that.

I did the third coat this afternoon and I can get one more on around 10 tonight. So, when I get up in the morning it might be in useable shape. Surprisingly, the third coat has eliminated all the dry spots on the arbutus. It has a habit of doing that due to the crazy grain directions in the wood.

I will say that the Behr varnish would sometimes take 4 or 5 coats to get rid of the end grain problem.
 
#5,325 ·
It is high time that the corner post and end railing got finished, sooo....

In order to mark the locations for the holes in the corner post - I needed some solid rod so I could find the exact points to drill.

I'm not sure if the photo is self explanatory or not, but I used two pieces of stainless steel welding rod (gotta be stainless, nothing else could possibly work!) and pushed the business end up against the corner post to locate the precise point.
 

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#5,328 ·
It would be a hell of a lot better if it hadn't leaked! :furious:

But we have a new liner here, which I think we can double over and still cover the original area. A pal is supposed to be coming over to help me get it stretched out.

An awful job to do by yourself.
 
#5,329 ·
OK, back to the end railing...I think this is the first trial fit of the corner.

It is not a 90º corner, so I couldn't just chop it at 45º on the big miter saw.
 

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#5,334 ·
Since then I have smoothed the joint out, got the corner post bolted on, and the first coat of Helmsman is on.

I'll have more on the Helmsman Urethane tomorrow.
 
#5,340 ·
I just checked the marine forecast, and it's 10-15 knots with the current satellite showing quite a bit of cloud coming in. It's crystal clear here right now, and the milky way in Cygnus is showing up well.:sailor:
 
#5,345 ·
I have two rolls of cable, and I am hoping that the longer one will do the whole thing, so I'll be trying for one piece.

If I have a full 500' roll it will just make it, but I can't remember what it is that I have. I do know for sure that the roll that the good Dr. Al gave me is only a partial roll. The total length I will need is about 460'.

And speaking of the night sky, I was outside at 5:15 am and Jupiter was right overhead in clear skies...the Pleiades was easily visible and was spectacular in the big binocs and Orion was above my horizon. To top it all off there is a beautiful waning crescent moon this morning.

So for you early risers, if you can make it out tomorrow morning around 5 am local time, you should get to see the same thing again. The crescent of the moon will be even thinner, adding to its' beauty.
 
#5,342 ·
Your rail turned out beautiful and your pictures are totally awesome. I accidentally hit the button to your first post a few minutes ago, I may go back and start reading all over again, your island is breath taking.
 
#5,347 ·
Sure did. To bolt the post on and get the holed drilled into the deck, I just used the 8' step ladder.

And while I was at it I cleaned the short gutter above the front door. Makes me wonder where all this debris comes from that finds its' way into these gutters. :confused1:
 
#5,349 ·
Yesterday I mentioned the Helmsman Urethane.

My initial reaction to this stuff was one of dismay. It is so thin - lacking in viscosity - that I couldn't believe it would cover anything. :(

Yesterday, I got more coats on the bed platform, and I must say it's looking really good. I cannot get a photo to do the finish justice.

Now, on the can it says that two coats will be needed and if a third is necessary...???? A third? Heck, I'm used to putting on 7 coats of regular varnish on outside wood in order to get a near perfect finish.

The third coat covered all the end grain without a single dull spot showing, that was a bit of a surprise. When I checked all round the platform against the light, I spotted a couple of dust spots on the surface.

No big deal I thought, I'll just sand the whole surface and give it another couple of coats. Ummm, nope. I used stainless steel wool to scuff the surface smooth. That was a waste of time. Sure it took the dust spots off, but it barely made any mark at all on the surface otherwise.

I did the one and only extra coat around 10 last night, and it still isn't light enough here yet for me to check the surface against the light. But initially, from what I'm able to see with artificial light, it appears to be OK.

So while I obviously do not have any long term results to pass along, it appears that this stuff is as tough as nails. It doesn't appear to have turned the arbutus quite as amber as the regular varnish does either. More like the original wood colour except with a high gloss.

On the railing outside, my first impression was that I could barely tell the difference between just one coat of the Helmsman on red cedar, compared to many coats of varnish. Of course, that was when it was just applied wet...no doubt it will look different when I check later this morning.

Bottom line is that I may have bought my last can of varnish. I'm pretty impressed with this stuff. Plus it does have UV filters in it and is listed as being good for exterior use. The actual surface of this stuff is much tougher than any varnish I have ever used.

The only thing I do not care for so far is the viscosity. You cannot pick up much urethane on the brush, as it just falls off immediately just like it was water. And yes, I stir the can when I open it, and periodically during use. It didn't seem to make any difference.
 
#5,350 ·
Keith, is the Helmsman Urethane water base? I like using the water based poly better than the solvent based because it goes on so easy, no bubbles or streaks and dries very fast which I really like. It does raise the grain because of the water base but it is easily sanded and then smooths out wonderfully. I don't know if they make outside water base poly or not but for inside I really like it. The down side is it is very very thin like the one you are using.
 
#5,352 ·
After a brief chat with the foam people today to make sure I had the gluing process clear, I set about getting the two big pieces glued together. The pieces they gave me are TOO SMALL!

The phone will be busy first thing tomorrow morning!

Now I'm sure you all know me as a nice mild mannered old guy who likes to mess around with bits of wood. And generally speaking, that would be true. But I think in this case I will make an exception.

I did sit all the foam in place on the bed - and naturally had a little lay-me-down. I think it will do.
 

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#5,353 ·
That's too bad. Considering all the effort it takes to get that foam from the store to the bed frame - not to mention the amount of money you must have paid for it - it only seems right that they should deliver one that is cut to the proper size. They should deliver it and collect the one you have.

Then perhaps they should train their employees on the proper use of a measuring tape.
 
#5,355 ·
The thing is, the store we got the foam from ordered it all from another store over in Vancouver. So it looks like there might have been some sort of mis-communication between the two. About 40 minutes from now I will be finding out.

You can be sure I will let you know what transpires.
 
#5,356 ·
Oh, so you heard me last night then Jim, when I discovered the mistake? Sorry about that...hehehe.

When we were ordering the material, the guy asked me if we wanted 76" wide or 78" wide. Now up to that point I hadn't even heard of a 76" wide king size bed. I made it very clear that ours was 78" wide..You can guess what size they gave us. :eek:

Not only that, but the 6" thick foam is also just too short, obviously a mis-cut. All in all a p!ss poor job. :mad:
 
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