| Sea Glass Refit |
April 30, 2007 Today was all about grinding...with a bit of filling at the end of the day. During the morning, I ground all the areas that I faired in on Saturday, highlighting several low spots that would require additional filler (as anticipated). Then, I moved on to the coachroof, and sanded the new fiberglass top skin laminations that I applied the other day, and continuing on with removing the old nonskid paint and pattern, as applicable, and exposing the original gelcoat beneath. The original gelcoat was completely crazed throughout, except in areas where it had not received constant UV exposure (such as where the companionway hatch always covered the deck, whether open or closed). The gelcoat was generally sound and well-adhered, and most of the crazing was relatively fine. In a few areas where the gelcoat seemed less sound, I ground away as necessary back to solid material. |
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I continued with the grinding, this time on the sidedecks outboard of the cockpit, and around the stern. Again, I removed a couple layers of nonskid paint, as well as the molded nonskid pattern beneath. Particularly on the starboard side, the gelcoat in the channels (the outboard edge of the deck inside the toerail) were badly crazed and in poor condition, probably because water had collected there over the years. But what gelcoat was there was still sound, and I determined to smooth the area during subsequent fairing sessions. |
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After a lunch break, I set to work on the white-painted vertical surfaces of the cabin trunk. For these areas, I chose 80 grit, rather than 40 grit, paper, since it was only paint that I had to remove. Earlier, I had scraped, scrubbed, and willed the silicone residue away from the port openings and other areas, but nonetheless, during earlier deck grinding steps I had carefully sanded just these areas with spent sanding discs just before changing them and throwing them away, to remove any remaining residue. I hoped these steps would reduce or eliminate the possibility of silicone contamination elsewhere. Horrible stuff, that silicone. It has no place on any boat. The cabin trunk gelcoat was also finely crazed, like antique china, but was in generally good condition otherwise. Once I finished up with the cabin trunk, it was late enough in the day that it was time to shift gears, clean up the dust and mess, and think about applying the next coat of fairing compound as required. |
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To end the day, I applied the first coat of epoxy fairing compound to the areas on the coachroof and cabin trunk, including the newly recored areas, exploratory holes, and the instrument holes on the bulkhead. Then, I applied a second coat of the filler, as required, on the sidedecks and foredeck, and also to the various fastener holes around the cockpit coamings and poopdeck. |
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