December 15, 2020

Arietta 11

Tuesday

After a spritz of water, I got to sanding the fiberglass patches on various parts of the hull, bringing the new laminate down flush with the adjacent surfaces at each location.  Afterwards, I switched to a finishing sander and further smoothed these areas, as well as places where I’d applied fairing compound last time.

After vacuuming and solvent-washing the hull, I applied more epoxy fairing compound over these areas as needed.

The slim permanent portion of the new outboard bracket was to be painted to match the hull and thus blend in all the more, and as a first step I wanted to apply special metal primer to the aluminum bracket mount, which would enhance corrosion protection and provide a better bond for the finish primer later in the process.  To prepare, I sanded the bracket with 80 grit paper, creating good scuff marks.  Then, after mixing my batch of paint and using a small disposable sprayer, I applied a good coat of the protective metal primer to both sides of the bracket, suspending the bottom side on a couple narrow supports beneath.

Back on deck, I reinstalled the bronze hawsepipe on the foredeck after first redrilling the 2″ mounting hole through the fiberglass I’d laid over the opening from beneath and preparing the screw holes to accept new 10-24 x 3/4″ bronze screws to replace the original stainless steel tappers.  I bedded the hawsepipe well in sealant.

I’d saved the core pattern I used on the starboard poop deck, since it showed the location of the deck cleat.  Now, using the pattern as a guide, I marked the holes for the cleat with a small pilot bit so that I could easily find them after the paint and primer was on and ensure the cleat was located where it needed to be, since I’d omitted the core and replaced it with solid fiberglass in that area.  I double-checked the position with that on the port side.

For the moment, that was what I could accomplish as I worked closer and closer to primer and paint time.

Total time billed on this job today:  5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  27°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny and windy, temperature dropping through the day.