December 28, 2022
Further 12
Wednesday
I spent the morning sanding the hull-deck joint once more, this time with the finishing sander and lighter paper as the repair neared its final contours for now. The end result was mainly where I wanted it, other than a few tool marks and other minor areas that would require some touch-up. Otherwise, I’d be moving on to final finish-sanding stages.
At the same time, I sanded the various small hull patches, where I’d removed damaged gelcoat, with the finishing sander and by hand, working to keep these areas fair. I also located a couple additional areas requiring attention and dished these out as needed with a sander to prepare for fairing.
After requisite cleaning, I spot-applied epoxy fairing filler where and as needed over the hull-deck joint and the various hull patches.
The owner asked me to remove and fill the hole from the tank vent on the port forward side, so during my earlier sanding stage I’d ground out a small area around the vent and, from inside, removed the existing fitting and masked over the hole. Later, I filled the small hole in the hull with thickened epoxy, then applied two layers of 1708 over the opening; late in the day, I added a layer of fairing compound to try and catch the repair up with the adjacent areas I’d been working on.
Finally, in those areas required, I added additional fairing compound to the small patches here and there on the hull.
Total time billed on this job today: 6 hours
0600 Weather Observation: 21°, overcast, dew point 14°. Forecast for the day: Slight chance of snow showers, mainly cloudy, 32°