Lackey Sailing | Further 31

January 25, 2023

Further 31

Wednesday

First thing, I made a quick pattern for the core in the coachroof core repair.

Afterwards, there was ample sanding to keep me occupied during the morning, starting with the sidedecks, foredeck, and outboard of the cockpit on both sides. The sidedecks required mainly finish sanding, much by hand, to take care of the new fillets along the toerails. The foredeck and cockpit areas were now on their second round of fairing filler, and were beginning to become close to final contours and making easily known the remaining low spots to be dealt with.

I also lightly sanded the various small fastener holes where I’d reamed out and filled with one coat of epoxy. Then, with a grinder, I took care of preparing the coachroof around the starboard core repair, removing gelcoat and laminate around the edges to provide the bonding area for tying in the new laminate, with the same treatment at the port forward cowl vent hole that was slated for permanent patching. I lightly ground out various now-filled fastener holes on the coachroof to allow for a small fiberglass patch over each one and, in the cockpit, prepared a few other obsolete hardware holes for patching as well.

After an appointment out in the world, which also gave the shop time to air out and settle a bit after the morning’s sanding and cleanup, I got back to work on the coachroof core, using my pattern to cut new core as required. At the cowl vent opening at the forward end, I omitted the balsa right around the opening, and prepared a 12/2″ prefab fiberglass panel to fit the area. Then, after final cleanup and preparations, I pre-soaked the core in resin on both sides, and installed it in thickened epoxy adhesive, sandbagging it in place while the epoxy cured overnight.