11 year old daughter walked into the room just after I started watching this one and said, “Oh! It’s sanding life!” Then she immediately sat down, ready to watch.

Sometimes I think Mads should have just started from a big block of fibreglass and sanded a boat out of it

"Ramming the pesky paddleboarders" funniest thing you've said in years. Love it!

Your sarcasm is honestly endlessly entertaining.

You were so tired at the end you didn't notice how GREAT it is that the deck is all the same color!

Thanks for incurging me to take another step

As a boat repair and restorer, I have watched numerous channels. Sampson, Shipwright, and your funny, entertaining and very educational vids.. Here at SMSAWV we have been watching and yes, laughing with you.

I must be doing something wrong, I have been rebuilding our ODay 25 for the past year, one day a week on the weekend , one hundred miles driving each way to and from the boat. I have suffered cuts , bruises, fits of rage and swearing and muscle injuries. You seem so happy and doing so well in your videos , with great success in the end result. I salute you , I fall short in comparison.

I was just watching this video like I do every week, and suddenly it hit me, right at the end... its a Sailboat! You're making a sailboat!! So many things are clear now. I hope my attention doesn't wander now that the mystery and suspense are gone...

Loved the paddleboard comment Mads, they are for sure a navigational issue everywhere. I chose the aftermarket stinger missile jr option to take care of them. :)

I think Mads should cover the deck with those old "grip tape" shower stickers, that come in flower and duck patterns, that are meant to be stuck on the bottom of old cast iron showers that would become slick.

Sail Life It is to the point where my Sundays just wouldn’t be the same without you. One of my small luxuries in life is to take a few moments every Sunday to watch you complete your masterpiece. Your personality is always upbeat which always lightens my mood no matter what kind of a week I’ve had. Thank you!

As for nonskid borders, I think you’re right- less is better. There will be a lot more! Deck outer edge, cabin side to deck, cabin top, combings, cockpit, handrails, etc... It will make the anchor winch look like it belongs there! 2nd coat tends to sag on vertical surfaces after a half hour, or so! Many thin coats is better than glorious sanding! Epoxy sanding dust still has unincorporated hardener in it!!! Ya gotta wear your mask! Gray is gonna be hot in Tahiti. I countersink both the thru-deck bolt holes, AND the underside of the deck fitting bolt holes, if possible. (Makes it’s own o-ring!) Can’t wait to see the dinghy! :) SPIFFY!

one of my favorite channels, "sanding life"

You need to sing an old sea ditty while you Oh glorious sand!. Oh way oh, sand away I must go!

Hello Mads I have just spent the last 3 weeks going through all 99 of the Athena videos! I must say these where loads of fun to watch! I will add, that contrary to your constant reminding us of your DIY amateur status, as you say, in my mind you are way past “professional” and getting closer to “fanatical wizard” status. Your work is lovely and to the point; your attention to detail would have been a great help to the original Warrior builder, which seemed to have cut many, many corners (probably for competition issues)! Just cant wait to see the finished Athena...However, maybe you should rename the boat, as it is altogether quite a different boat from the original with all its short comings... I think that just plain SPIFFY would be a perfect name! I am a 70 old retired Web designer and film maker/photographer, living off a meager pension, yet still dreaming of living again on a boat, if fortune would have it my way...so there is not much help I could offer you. Would I live in your country I would gladly give you my time in your sanding for future runs with you. In 1983, I bought an old, Canadian built, Tanzer 23 (yes, I am from Montreal) that was some 23-25 years old and it was pretty much in the same state as your Athena, minus the rotten deck & core. The boat spent 3 years next to my car parking at home and every single bit of wood, metal and smelly chemicals were removed entirely, and of course all deck and mast hardware. The lovely teak was cleaned with TSP and varnished with 15-20 coats of progressively thicker varnish, sanded in between by hand. Having an outboard motor, made overhaul quite easier as I simply bought a new one. All the rigging was renewed and a new paint was applied, slightly in the same fashion you are showing it. Of course in 1983-84, chemicals where not the quality of what you have today, and there was no Internet or KZfaq to get learning experience. If you ever make it to Montreal I would gladly pilot around all the way from Tadoussac which would be your first stopping point going up the St-Lawrence river! A few suggestions! Please do finish your topside teak; I notice that your other boat exterior wood lacks varnish. TSP gets rid of the grey black with very little sanding and a good varnish work will last 20 years on top of protecting the expensive wood. Your decision to go to 4k sure wrecked my Internet monthly bandwidth taking almost 15G per day...and probably has also with a lot of your other viewers. KZfaq makes a very poor job of supplying various download ratios, compared to Vimeo. Good quality 1920x1080 HD shot in 50 or 100Mb LOG is more than sufficient for Internet releases. Cheers to you and your lovely girl friend! Andre

Worst part of every Sunday is the end of your videos....it looks fantastic.....

Well worth the (extra) wait. Usual high standards of information, entertainment, editing and sanding!

Looking great on film, Mads! Can't wait to see you sanding at some spiffy island.

Less lines in the deck seem better to me. I like that it would highlight the hardware.

When all is finally said and done, this will be the best Warrior 38 ever splashed. Without a doubt.

Great video Mads. The top deck is looking very white and bright. The grey Kiwi Grilp will look excellent against the white. Now more glorious sanding. Looking forward to next week.

"Sprucing up a little bit..." Understatement of the year! Love it! One of the most rewarding episodes with many visual changes now happening. This must be one of the most satisfying times working on your boat? Well done and a huge thank you for posting these videos. Inspired me to go it myself on my own boat.

Turned the corner! From now on more adding to the boat than removing. Shiny!

Athena looks very very good. I am so impressed with the decision to use a roller. It sets Mads apart from all the rest and is more rewarding to watch because most of us secretly want to roll...not spray. Thanks Mads!

The first layout was good, the Less is More pholosophy definitely applies her, keep the deck looking open and big. Thanks for the Video Mads!

The white stripes are to help the water drain off the deck. Think tread on your shoes out tires. Most production boats have too many and poor placement. I plan on having 1 down the center and 1 angling across the deck

12K views in less than an hour. Cool. An idea for the Kiwi Coat could be an angled pattern that runs from the center line in the direction going back. It will give you a racing feel and not break up the deck into X and Y pieces.

Wonderful to see her in white again. Getting her dried-in and some hardware back on is going to be a great milestone GO MADS!!!

I'm with you Mads about some decks looking too busy. If it were me I'd do the centerline fore / aft and maybe run another set of waterways port / starboard at the forward edge of the cabin top to separate the foredeck from the side weather decks. As much as I prefer large sections of nonskid, there is something for breaking it up a *little* bit to manage the application of the Kiwi-Grip :-)

The simplistic approach to this, is a single line down the center right up to the windless then do a forward facing U shape right up to the bow tip.

When I first started watching you I feared you’d give up by now. I’m happy to see you still hard at work. She’s really starting to look good

Thanks for all the great vids! I am renovating an Albin Vega in parallel to your Athena, and I get a lot of inspiration from your ideas. After you replaced your foam core, I hesitantly did some pressure checks on my deck, but fortunately it was still sound. On the topic of re-coating the deck - after sanding the deck many more times than I wanted (4x), I found spraying Sigmadur (520 - semi gloss) gave the result I wanted. So my ears pricked up when I heard you were going to spray yours and I eagerly awaited this week's video. But as you have decided not to go that route, here is ´how it went with me. First I repaired and sanded the old gelcoat, then I sprayed new gelcoat - what a mess - I don't recommend that. Then I saw you rolling Sigmadur last year, so I sanded the mess back and applied the Sigmacover like you, but my rollers disintegrated, so I brushed the rest on - another mess. Sanded that back, and got some proper rollers that lasted 15 minutes before disintegrating. Then came the Sigmadur rolling and tipping but it was not a very flat finish - so I decided to try spraying it. 4th sand, and with a medium cost spraygun, a 1.8mm nozzle, I found it very easy to get a good smooth finish. I was so happy with the result, I sprayed the hull too, and its a mirror finish. I am really tempted to try spraying coppercoat...but not sure if I will risk it - perhaps there is a limit to what you can spray. With spraying, the biggest drawback is the over-spray and fumes. Two component PU paint is pretty toxic when sprayed - so you need to mask/seal everything off, including yourself. For the masking I used masking rolls with 2.5m width of plastic attached and I could cover stuff up pretty effectively, I also built a plastic tent around the boat. For fresh air I used a cheap full-face mask off Ebay and when I replaced the supplied filters with original 3M organic vapour filters, this worked fine. Anyway good luck with your tipping and rolling, I would love to hear how to get success with this method, and if anyone can do it, I am sure it is you ;-)

"Site for RAMMING those pesky paddle boarders" ... I just about died! That was friggin' hilarious Mads! Great work this episode. I was a bit curious how you were going to remount the deck hardware back in the right spot. Your solution was brilliant. Since you removed all of that stuff more than a year ago, I would think it's hard to keep track of all that stuff!

It’s now official,you’ve broken the Spiffy meter,congratulations on making her look like a boat again.

Well done boxing your material for color consistency. So many people don't realize how easy it is for the added insurance of a spiffy finish!

Athena is a 2018 sanded spiffines. The first shifting sand dune has been discovered in Denmark BTW!

Less is more I agree with the first layout!

I gave up on waiting for the video to post and went down to install mast wedges (in the rain)! Definitely worth the wait for the video, as usual!

Not 1st, 2nd, 3rd or giving a damn... just glad the video is up! Cheers Mr Mad Life

Dam Mads! Another great job! It looks incredible! And dont worry about the lines what ever you decide make sure its “your” decision. Cheers🥃⛵️

It's good to see the hardware back on the deck.

Just the single line and white around protrusions in the deck keeps a nice flow fore to aft!

2 out of 2 videos? You need at least a third... ☺

Splendiverously Fantastica..Nice looking deck there Mads..better than the hood of my old pickup truck, matter of fact, if your so attuned to "Glorious Sanding", your welcome to tackle the hood, oh wait, it's steel, never mind I'll just call Maco..SO COOL !!

One front aft line .. I'm with you on that one ... elegant, minimal, emphasizing the length rather than beam of Athena .. beautiful .. as is all your hard work .. thanks for sharing!

Not a bad video at all. Especially for a rush job on editing. 😎

It finally happened, I'm all caught up watching your channel and now i only get one new episode a week!!! Your an inspiration to every DIY guy out there. Thanks for all the episodes. Athena is looking great!!

Congratulations getting the top side painted ...thats a huge way point in your project . Well done I've painted a few boats myself .

Just imagining that the splash date is arriving!!! Great work! I wish i had 1/10 of your dyi skills!

Mads, she has passed pretty dang spiffy and gone all the way to pretty damned outstanding! Really awesome to see her all one color again.

Another great video Mads, looking good to see the whole deck white ⛵

I agree Mads. Less is way more. The other boat is dizzying to look at.

Well done Mads, your going to have a spiffy bottom, and terrific topsides. Will you be able to look at non-spiffy, aged hull without it bothering you? When your done, Athena is going to be a show piece. You could make large money sailing to boat shows for tours.

Never seen a guy who likes sanding more than you, Mads...

You should pattern the Kiwi Grip according all 3 hatches. Last thing you want to do, is accidentally step through a hatchet when at sea.

It is very satisfying to see Athena getting closer to being complete. The only thing is that the way you are tackling things, soon you will not have to do any sanding! (Just joking) . We are well over 10 on the spifiness scale! Warm regards from Athens, Greeece.

NB! The video only just got done rendering. It might not be available in HD/4K where you're located yet. If that's the case check back in 30-60 minutes :)

Your kind of attention to detail is rare. I would have great confidence in the integrity of Athena!

Mads - I live just north of London and it always amazes me you seem to get our pre-loved weather a day later. Loved the coppercoat and the progress on Athena - she is looking beautiful.

Another great video mads. And Athena is looking pretty dang spiffy. 👍🏻

Mads, Athena is looking amazing. Your attention to detail is a credit to you. I look forward to your videos every Monday morning here in Oz as they are singularly entertaining, educational, and edifying. I can't wait for the next one...cheers mate

Im gonna watch you forever! Great video

Mads 92 minutes later than usual.....is torture.....cant live without your videos anymore.....

Mads, she looks beautiful! All your hard work and dedication is really paying off. Damn, to be young and full of energy must be wonderful. I just wish that when you get finished with her and have her in the water, I could see her in person.

I would come off the mast. With a white stripe at 11,12,13 oclock position. That might make it easy to mark.

Mads Less is definitely more (specially) on white high gloss

Mads,. Considering your dodger shape, how about a (ramming) centerline and a "X" pattern from the corner of cabintop hatch to corner of cabintop then on to edge. And then "X" from center deck hatch croner to side hatch corner to edge and center hatch forward "X" to edge? Maybe "X" side deck hatch to edge and to cabintop or centerline. Creating a trapazoid shape to kiwi grip and outlining dodger? I think it would look cool and function well. Good luck, I am sure anything you do will look spiffy!

My experience with sigmadur 520 is spread it out, roll slowly in the same orientation, and leave it alone trusting the paint to flow. A thicker layer then I would normally like flows better than a thin layer. I did use the right thinner but I noticed that the left over cups where I did use thinner the paint would be brittle and rip, where the un-thinned would be much stronger. I chose not to use the thinner in the last layers.

Woop woop! Looks awesome!!

Hi Mads, go for the first layout shown at 12:45. Good luck ! Joerg

Outstanding!

Looking awesome!

Excellent!

Oooh yes, painting :D

Looks great!

Looking great! Keep going 😊

Looks nice. Good job!!

It’s interesting how sanding has upped your creativity level in your videos.

Great progress👍

It looks so good!

Looking GOOD!

Looks good!

She looks great.

Looking great Mads.

Great progress Mads👍

Congratulations Mads. Way to go. She’s looking great!

This is turning out wonderful, really beautiful. Thank you Mads!

Looks awesome! Great job and thanks for sharing with us!

Dang spiffy. Well done Madds.

Dang spiffy!!! Looking like a new boat! Cheers from Texas!

That was definitely an “Oh Glorious Sanding” video and then “I’ll throw some paint on the deck” lol. It was satisfying to see your attention to detail (aka OCD) for the first look at your painted cabin top. Things are coming together Mads!

Hey Mads, it might be to late but I have an idea for the non-skid on the fore deck. Instead of running the lines that separate the non-skid into panels across the center "sight" line parallel at180deg (because I kinda think that breaks the flow up as well) you could maybe try laying them out diagonally at say 120deg like this /I\ basically giving you 4 large triangular kiwi grip panels. You could even play with the angles and number of panels until you find something you like that keeps the "flow going" to your eye. Hope you keep plugging away Mads, I love the content and cant wait to see this boat in the water!

Looking gorgeous

That looks very good!

Looks beautiful

Mads, she looks amazing! You're doing a great job!

Looks awesome 👀

yay, it is up

congratulations on the getting the first coat on!