110 Cookson Lane | Whitefield, ME 04353 | 207-232-7600 | tim@lackeysailing.com
After lightly sanding the few areas I epoxied yesterday, I moved on to the day's main attraction, which was preparing for--and applying--a skim coat of fine fairing compound to most of the deck to begin the process of filling tiny pinholes and other minor issues with the surface. first, however, I removed the scupper fittings from the cockpit, which was easy with a block of wood and some careful, light taps from beneath. Later, I'd clean up the new openings and complete any related work, but with a short day ahead and a set goal, I decided to move on.
For this round of filling, I used Alexseal fine filler a two-part epoxy-based mixture. I'd used this frequently in the past, though this time I had a new container and was surprised to find that the filler converter was red, rather than the gray I was expecting and used to. It turned out that the gray was a "slow" converter, while the red was "fast". This posed no particular problem, but I've included the anecdote here for clarification in any event.
I worked my way around the cockpit and deck, applying the mixed product as needed to fill pinholes in the gelcoat, laminate, or fairing compound, as well as take care of any other interruptions I happened upon, including any remnants of the old, molded nonskid pattern. There'd be more of this ahead, as with so much area to cover it was unlikely I'd catch every flaw now, but the first round of "final" fairing was a critical step towards the completion of substrate surfacing.
Afterwards, I applied a single layer of 10 oz. fiberglass cloth to the coaming block repairs, extending the material slightly onto the adjacent deck and encapsulating the new work as needed. Structurally-speaking, this was plenty of strength for this application, but it was easy to make this flexible fabric conform to the various contours of the coaming blocks and decks in a single piece. Later, I'd complete the fairing operation as needed to make for a seamless appearance.
Total Time on This Job Today: 4 hours
