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Equinox Project | Thursday, December 18, 2008 Having completed the rough-fitting of the new divider and ends of the bilge space yesterday, they were ready for final installation this morning. To begin, I cut pieces of 4" wide fiberglass tape to fit in all areas, marking them and setting them aside. After acetone-washing the areas, I applied thickened epoxy fillets to the corners of all three areas, reinforcing the seam and creating smooth transitions to the adjacent surfaces. |
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After allowing the fillets several minutes to partially set up, I wet out and applied the fiberglass tape, beginning at the bow bulkhead and continuing aft. I left the fiberglass to cure the remainder of the day. |
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I also applied some epoxy around the aft end of the new bilge drain pipe, to seal off the slight gap around the pipe. I couldn't see this area directly with the existing access hatches, so I applied the epoxy by feel; I see from the blind photo that I missed smoothing out a small ridge of epoxy above the drain. |
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While I waited for the fiberglass in the bilge to cure, I worked again on the woodwork down on the bench, finishing up the sanding of the pieces that I had on hand (there were additional bulkheads in the boat that I planned to remove for the same treatment later). As always, this took a surprising amount of time. Afterwards, I reassembled the companionway trim and milled two small new pieces to replace some that had been slightly damaged during removal. I secured the top arch pieces together with their original dowels and new epoxy, and reassembled the newly-milled teak to some of the existing trim so that these pieces would be ready for additional work tomorrow. |
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