| Kaholee Refit |
February 26, 2007 It wasn't the most productive of days on the boat, thanks to annoying distractions that kept demanding my time. But I managed to make some progress forward on a couple aspects of the work, all heading towards my goal of installing through hulls/seacocks and ports within the next week or two. I began by grinding the hull in way of the old, now-filled through hull fittings so that I could patch the exterior with fiberglass before installing the new fittings later. While the new fittings would end up in close to the same position in most cases, I saw no reason to be tied to exact existing locations, and patching each as if it were to be abandoned was the best approach. I ground out depressions in the hull wide and deep enough to account for the thickness of the new fiberglass material with which I planned to patch each--a few layers of 1708 biaxial cloth. For the larger fittings, I ground out an approximately 6" circle deep enough in the center to hold the new material's thickness, and tapering outward an appropriate amount. For the smaller fittings--the head intake and engine intake--I ground about a 3" circular area. After cleaning each newly ground area, I installed the circular patches of fiberglass with epoxy resin. I left the patches to cure until tomorrow. |
|
|
Next, I turned my attention to the interior once again. I began by washing and then lightly sanding the fiberglass on the fuel tank blocks that I installed last week, sanding just enough to lightly scuff the surface and remove any sharp burrs or edges. Because of an occasional problem that sometimes occurs with painting over new epoxy, particularly with Bilgekote, I left the patches alone for now, and would wait some time before painting out the remaining areas around the fuel tank. |
|
|
With the overhead painting in the saloon complete, I moved some materials and tools back into the saloon from the forward cabin, where I had placed them during the saloon work, and carefully vacuumed the entire forward cabin and head compartment, where I would next be working. Then, I applied some of the custom gray Bilgekote to the chainlocker forward, covering the underside of the deck, stem knee, and portions of the hull sides. I left a section in the center unpainted for now, since I planned to install a simple divider to allow two anchor rodes to fit in the chainlocker. I'll have to sand out that paint rivulet that I see has run down from the stem knee along the centerline. I also painted out the locker forward of the water tanks, beneath the v-berth. With what little time remained in the day, I pulled a number of items for the boat out of their storage places so that I could begin to prepare them for installation, including the bronze ports, galley stove, and other interior components that I needed on hand for planning, measuring, and, finally, the appropriate installation steps. |
|
|
|
|
|
