| Kaholee Refit |
March 6, 2007 With much of the preparatory work for actually rebuilding the interior winding down, it was time to address several final issues before getting into the new construction next week. My delivery of mahogany and plywood for the interior, which I had expected today, was delayed thanks to a mistake by the supplier, so it should be here on Friday--still in plenty of time. The original settee backs, which are slated for reuse, were coated with the same crazed, almost rubbery paint as the interior of the hull had been, and I got started this morning sanding off the paint as required. Miserable stuff, whatever it is. I set these panels aside for painting later in the day. Last week, I had began my mockup of the cockpit scupper seacocks, and determined immediately that the straight tailpieces I had picked up were absolutely not going to work. So I ordered some 90° tailpieces, which arrived today. With their arrival, it was time to truly mock up the scupper seacock locations so that I could proceed with their installation forthwith. The 90° tailpieces are never as satisfactory as one hopes, but using a short piece of hose I was able to find a location for the seacocks that would allow for a decent hose lead and still satisfy the myriad other requirements of the location--clearance for the handle, clearance for the tailpiece, clearance for the engine, clearance for working on the stuffing box through the deck hatch, clearance for the engine exhaust, and what have you. But though I found an acceptable location, that didn't mean that it was going to be a cakewalk. In the first photo, I am using plenty of force to precariously hold this fitting and hose roughly in the proper position (though by no means the actual position) for display purposes. It'll be a challenge, nonetheless, to install the hose at both ends, but it'll be possible. The second photo shows the outline of the seacock bases in the chosen location. I was waiting for a new hole saw, due late in the day, so I didn't proceed with installation preparations just yet. |
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It was time to paint out some of the other portions of the interior, including the hull ceilings in the v-berth and saloon, as well as the starboard side of the head inside the hanging locker and storage bins. For these areas, I chose white Bilgekote, since they will mostly end up being hidden inside lockers and otherwise closed in (the exception being the v-berth). Even in the v-berth, I thought the Bilgekote might be a better choice for the hull ceilings, since it is very durable and sticks tenaciously to anything. I thought it would hold up better than the treatment I chose for the more exposed areas of the boat--and has the added bonus of being easier and quicker to apply. First, though, I washed, sanded, and cleaned the chainlocker, and applied a coat of the custom gray Bilgekote to finish off this area. Then, I applied a coat of the Bilgekote as required. I chose to leave the berth tops unpainted for now, partly for logistical reasons and partly since I thought I might paint them with the gray Bilgekote later, since I had more of that on hand than the white. I painted the sides of the v-berth, the head hanging locker, and the insides of the hull in the saloon. Clearly, a second coat would be required tomorrow, as expected. Later construction steps may require grinding off a bit of this paint if I need to epoxy or tab something to the hull, but that presents no problem, and it's easier to get as much of this bulk painting out of the way as early as possible before too many obstructions come into play. |
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I ended the day with the simple chore of applying a sealer coat of epoxy resin over the through hull patches in the bottom. |
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