| Kaholee Refit | January
22, 2007 I began today by removing the molds on the cockpit locker openings and old icebox hatch. I needed a putty knife to start the process, but once I could get hold of the molds, I could easily strip them, and their Peel-ply covering, away from the glass that I laid up on Friday. Peel-ply leaves behind a smooth, lightly textured surface that is free from amine blush and requires no additional prep work or sanding. |
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Next, I spent a couple hours washing and then grinding all the new fiberglass to remove rough edges and begin the process of fairing the patches into the surrounding areas. Since each patch featured tapers on the edges, little of the actual structural material had to be removed during this process. Each patch ended up just slightly shy of being flush with the surrounding surfaces, as intended; fairing compound would make up the difference everywhere except on top of the cockpit ice hatch, which would require some additional fiberglass to help bring it up closer to the level of the deck. |
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I also sanded belowdecks where required, beneath the sidedecks, and where I had patched the larger holes in the deck and overhead. As I had hoped, the patches over the bottom sides of the two mushroom vent holes in the saloon required minimal sanding and, even without some final fairing, blended well into the texture of the overhead. |
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I vacuumed up the dust, cleaned where necessary with acetone, and then cut some additional fiberglass for a few areas, including the old instrument holes in the cockpit bulkhead, the old shift lever hole in the cockpit sole, and the insides of the old running light locations on the cabin trunk. In addition, I cut material for the back sides of the two cockpit locker patches. Even though adding additional material wasn't strictly necessary for these patches, since I had access to the back I thought it would be prudent to add another layer of fiberglass that overlapped entirely the opening and the back side of the new patch. I spent the remainder of the day installing the new fiberglass and applying a first coat of fairing compound over the existing patches, where applicable, and other areas on deck. I added layers of fiberglass to the top of the ice hatch in the cockpit to help bring the patch up flush with the surrounding areas, and laminated two layers of material over the bottom side of the patch and the balsa core, after first coating the core and filling the kerfs with epoxy thickened with silica. |
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Total Time on This Job Today: 5.5 hours
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