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Equinox Project | Tuesday, January 6, 2009 It was time to get to work on the hull. To begin, I spent some time leveling the boat fore and aft, and side-to-side, to ensure that later steps involving the waterline and boottop would have an accurate starting point. I took some reference measurements of the existing waterline (defined for these purposes, and all future references on this site, as the top of the antifouling paint) in case I needed them later, but we planned to raise the waterline slightly and restrike the boottop during the painting process. Next, I addressed the vinyl crown logos in the forward section of the covestripe. To allow these to be accurately recreated later, I took some measurements and reference photos, and then made a simple rubbing of the crown on a sheet of paper, which worked well and would give me a template later. |
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Continuing on, I covered the companionway with some plastic, and closed the hatches, to keep sanding dust out of the interior, and then lowered the staging to hull height so I could work. I began the preparation process by cleaning the hull with a dewaxing/degreasing solvent intended for the purpose, to remove contaminants from the surface. Afterwards, I spent a good portion of the day sanding the entire hull with 80 and 120 grit paper. The original gelcoat was in basically sound condition, and the relatively light sanding was all that was required at this stage. As I went, I noted a number of smallish gouges and other areas that would require some additional filling work later in the process. |
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I blew the dust off the hull and deck and let things settle for a while, after which time I sanded, cleaned, and revarnished the interior trim, bulkheads, and other small pieces that I'd been working on of late. |
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