| Iota Refit |
Thursday, January 24, 2008 I spent the morning hand-sanding the various cockpit corners to remove remnants of paint and to otherwise prepare them for primer. Afterwards, I sanded those areas on the deck where I'd applied additional fairing compound yesterday--mostly fillet touch-ups. This marked the end of the deck filling and fairing, except for one fillet around the molded base of the tiller head in the cockpit. |
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Triton backstay chainplates often punch through the weak, thin laminate at the corner formed between the molded taffrail and the poop deck surface, as there is apparently in adequate clearance beneath this area for the chainplate to fit properly when installed. This leads to the condition seen in the first photo below. To address this, yesterday I formed an epoxy bulge over the damaged area at the corner, to begin to build out and reinforce the spot. You can see this in the second photo in the series below. After that cured overnight, I sanded it smooth and into a pleasing shape, then installed three layers of 8 oz. fiberglass cloth over the area, each overlapping the previous and extending over the epoxy bulge and to either side, as well as forward onto the poop deck and, in the case of the first layer, up over the top corner of the taffrail just forward of the chainplate. (I forgot to get a photo of this stage.) Once the new fiberglass had cured to a green stage, I applied a coat of fairing compound over the area so that I could smooth it in with its surrounds, as seen in the final photo. I left this to cure overnight. |
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