I began the day by washing all the cured epoxy filler on deck with a Scotch-Brite pad and water; I was unsure whether the System Three Quik-Fair material formed blush, but it didn't hurt to wash it just in case.

Once the surfaces were dry (I wiped them off as part of the cleaning process, but it still took a little while to completely dry), I sanded the first coat of fairing compound.  I took most of the skim coat off on this round, though I refrained from oversanding with the coarse 40 grit paper at this time, since additional sandings with lesser grits would continue to remove material.

As I sanded, I contemplated the various steps lying ahead before I could be ready for high-build primer on the hull and deck.  Obviously, I needed to continue with the deck fairing, since an additional coat or two of material would be required before the decks could be considered primer-ready.  I also had a few holes in the deck to patch:  the old compass holes, the old boom crutch opening, and a hole that had contained the flagpole socket. 

Another more significant step that I needed to take would be to extend downwards and reinforce the edges of the deck cutout, both for strength and to provide a bearing and sealing surface for the eventual cockpit coamings and cabin trunk.  I wanted to use a material that would accept screws too, since the wooden parts of the deck would be secured to these edges.  After some thought, I decided to keep this simple by installing a cleat beneath the deck, to which I would secure a plywood vertical edge, all to be epoxied and fiberglassed in place.  I'd need to install this and fair things into the surrounding deck areas before the boat would be ready for primer.

I also planned to address the proposed anchor locker in the bow before high build primer, but for now I focused on the straightforward bulk fairing of the entire deck.

Once I sanded all the areas, I did some additional sanding around the areas requiring fiberglass patches, as indicated above, to create the appropriate tapers into the adjacent material for a good bond with the new cloth.  I swept, vacuumed, and solvent-washed the decks, and then applied a second coat of epoxy fairing compound (shop-mixed) as needed, concentrating on filling the still-low areas on the foredeck where the nonskid had not existed in the original mold:  a wide stripe down the center of the deck, plus a strip on each side where some tie-down rails had been mounted.  I refilled screw holes and other areas as required.

Finally, I cut and installed fiberglass cloth (1708) over the four areas to be patched.  For the boom crutch recess, I first filled it with Corecell foam and epoxy before applying the fiberglass over the top.  I left the fairing compound and fiberglass to cure the rest of the day, and moved on to some other shop projects unrelated to this one.

Total Time on This Job Today: 4.5 hours

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