| Circe
| Monday, August 24, 2009 After finally escaping from my office late in the morning, I began the day's work list by sanding, one final time, the new filler and fiberglass from Friday's work: the light fairing compound on the through hull patches, and the tabbing on the new fuel tank support bulkhead. I scraped and sanded the paint off the rudder, just to get it done so that I could better evaluate the rudder's condition and needs (and eventually work on it). Then, I hand-sanded the toerails with 80 and 120 grit to prepare them for later steps. With the toerails sanded, I began the process of reaming out the numerous fastener holes (from the old rubrails) and grinding out the myriad dings, chips, air pockets, and other damage, as well as reaming out most of the seam between hull and deck moldings. This cosmetic seam (since the structural connection between hull and deck came from tabbing on the inside) was yawning open in some areas and tight in others, the result of ill-matched production components. My purpose in cleaning up and slightly (or, sometimes, more than slightly) grinding out this seam was to allow proper adhesion of cosmetic filler. With the reaming and grinding complete, I scraped and reefed out any remaining silicone sealant that I could manage from portions of the seam; previous bedding attempts for the old rubrail had included filling the larger voids in the hull-deck seam with silicone, which would adversely affect the adhesion of any future product, from epoxy to paint to new sealant, so I did the best I could to eliminate it all, within practical limitations. Finally, I vacuumed and solvent-washed, and then applied a coat of epoxy filler to all areas, filling the old screw holes and voids in the cosmetic seam. Additional coats of compound would be required later. Similarly, I reamed out and filled the fastener holes in the two cockpit locker lids and companionway hatch as I continued the basic paint prep on those items. To end the day, I applied a coat of plain epoxy over the through hull patches to seal the fairing compound. |
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