The deck is finished - a two week build. Very pleased with how it turned out! I'll be leaving it and rinsing with water every few days for a couple of weeks before I apply decking oil. Apparently, Merbau leeches tannins and oils and darkens in sunlight and it's best to wait until that process completes before applying oil. I'll only be oiling outside the observatory walls too so I'll erect the observatory first. I did think of painting it but it looks way too pretty to paint!
Gene, the builder (Lomaco Constructions in Goulburn), did a great job IMO! He went out of his way to satisfy my design and rigidity requirements and his attention to detail was excellent!
Reassembling the 2.3m Sirius observatory. Dome halves are back together.
It was dirty before I stored it in the barn for 2 years. Now it's filthy! First I'll be pressure washing and giving it a thorough once over with a good car wash. Then I'll use a mild cutting compound followed by a polish and a ceramic wax coating.
There's lichen growing in places too. This grew while it was in use in Sydney.
I'll get it clean but it won't be a glossy as-new finish again.
The deck is finished - a two week build. Very pleased with how it turned out! I'll be leaving it and rinsing with water every few days for a couple of weeks before I apply decking oil. Apparently, Merbau leeches tannins and oils and darkens in sunlight and it's best to wait until that process completes before applying oil. I'll only be oiling outside the observatory walls too so I'll erect the observatory first. I did think of painting it but it looks way too pretty to paint!
Gene, the builder (Lomaco Constructions in Goulburn), did a great job IMO! He went out of his way to satisfy my design and rigidity requirements and his attention to detail was excellent!
Well, I've cleaned all 6 wall panels (still got the dome to go) and I've just done a test with the cutting compound (Meguires Ultimate compound). Not a bad result (see pic - the right hand side is the raw washed surface) but I can see this is going to be hard work and take a while!! I need to do all 6 panels and dome twice - the second round is a polish only.
Initial clean (pressure wash and car wash) of all surfaces is finished. It's still wet hence the glossy look. The surface is completely matt because of oxidation and the lichen has left surface marks. However, my testing indicates I should be able to remove the marks with cutting compound and restore the surface to maybe 80% of it's original gloss finish ... but it will take a lot of elbow grease!
Holy mackerel!! This isn't easy ... as the red face testifies (it's 32C today)! I've patched a couple of chips and done 4 out of 6 very oxidised wall panels now with 2 rounds of compound (cutting) polish and one round of "Super Resin" polish plus a buff. I've got 2 left to do then the dome followed by a spray of liquid ceramic wax. I reckon I'm getting to about 70% of the original finish. The moral of the story is maintain your fibreglass dome on a regular basis!
Holy mackerel!! This isn't easy ... as the red face testifies (it's 32C today)! I've patched a couple of chips and done 4 out of 6 very oxidised wall panels now with 2 rounds of compound (cutting) polish and one round of "Super Resin" polish plus a buff. I've got 2 left to do then the dome followed by a spray of liquid ceramic wax. I reckon I'm getting to about 70% of the original finish. The moral of the story is maintain your fibreglass dome on a regular basis!
I hope you have an electric buffer/polisher......
Great work so far
(If you come to Canberra you can borrow my electric polisher)
really nice job Marcus that's a nice dance floor , one suggestion hand rail on the stairs in stainless will finish it and be safer as well just a thought
really nice job Marcus that's a nice dance floor , one suggestion hand rail on the stairs in stainless will finish it and be safer as well just a thought
Hehe ... thanks Alan! I did dance a jig on it when it was finished ... and it didn't bounce at all.
I designed the stairs to have wide and broad treads so I think they're safe enough - they're certainly better than my last obs. When I'm old and doddery enough to need a hand rail I'll get out of the game and find another hobby
The shine is back!! After 2 rounds of cut & polish (3 rounds in places) and a round of "Super Resin" polish I'd say around 70% of the original shine has been restored. Still have to spray the ceramic coating on but that can wait until it's assembled.
Next steps are to oil the deck and assemble the dome!