| Kaholee Refit | January 8, 2007 I began this morning with some cleanup. The interior of the boat was full of dust, and it was time to remove the worst of it so that I could anticipate working inside without stirring up a respirator-requiring cloud. I used a shop vacuum to clean up the dust from all areas; this required cleaning the vacuum's filter several times, as it clogged quickly with the fine grinding dust. I cleaned the dust from all areas, including the depths of lockers and the bilge. With the inside of the boat relatively clean, I swept and vacuumed some of the shop area so that the overall atmosphere would be cleaner. While I had more sanding and grinding ahead, the most significant portions were over with, and it'd be easier to stay ahead of the cleaning curve. |
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One reason for this cleanup was that I needed to fit again the mockup of the fuel tank, as I had to work out the final specifications of the tank and its fittings before Tuesday morning, when the welding shop needed the final information. I located the fuel fill neck, supply, return, and vent line locations, and a few other critical components, and sent the information off. I had to focus on some other shop jobs for much of the day, but during the afternoon I managed to remove the stainless steel rubrail from around the boat. The old sealant or bedding compound, whatever it was, was dried and simply fell away in chunks as I removed the rails. I removed the rails to allow for a better preparation and painting job on the decks. I marked each as I removed it, and stored them for reuse later. |
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I also took the opportunity to cut the actual opening for the new forward hatch. Using the hatch itself as a template, I marked a line on the deck and cut out the hole with a jigsaw; then, I fine-tuned it with a grinder as necessary to allow the hatch to slip through.
The camber of the coachroof in this area
would necessitate a raised coaming later in order to accommodate the
curvature of the deck; I planned to build this from mahogany later.
For now, the opening was cut. |
| Total Time on This Job Today: 3.75 hours |
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