| Skeedeen | Thursday,
April 23, 2009 I began the day sanding all the brightwork, on and off the boat. Afterwards, I vacuumed off all the wood and solvent-washed to prepare for varnish. Then, during the afternoon, I applied another coat of varnish to all the woodwork, on and off the boat. |
 
 
 
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In between sanding and varnishing, I took a few minutes to look at the cabin sole. Over the years, water had apparently gotten into the cabin, and it seemed there was no outlet for the water that might accumulate in the bilge beneath the sole. Over time, this had saturated the plywood sole, destroyed the original finish on the sole, and contributed to a moisture problem in the cabin. The owner and I hoped that removing the sole to access the area beneath, and subsequently replacing the sole with new, would take care of the problem. To that end, I removed several trim pieces from around the edges of the sole, hoping that the sole would be something that was fairly easy to remove. The trim came off easily, but beneath I found that the sole was permanently attached directly to the deadrise of the hull on the sides, ending all hope of a quick and painless removal. Additionally, some of the interior cabinetry would have to be removed in order to access the entire sole for replacement. This told me what I needed to know for the moment, and with the need to work on the varnish pending, I left the cabin sole project for a bit later, knowing now that it would be a more substantially involved and time-consuming job than we had hoped. My next step would be to remove all the water from beneath the sole; the water level was right up to the bottom of the sole, according to a small access plate and through a hole in the sole for a table leg support. |
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