110 Cookson Lane | Whitefield, ME 04353 | 207-232-7600 | tim@lackeysailing.com
After removing the weights and plastic covering the newly-installed core, I washed (don't worry, it doesn't hurt the core) and lightly sanded the areas as needed, removing minor resin accumulations. At the same time, I sanded the new fiberglass over the smaller aft repair. I vacuumed and solvent-washed all areas.
Next, I laid out and cut two layers of fiberglass to cover the large recored section, overlapping the seams by a substantial margin. The first layer extended to the edges of the adjacent, previously-ground deck edges.
The second layer was about an inch shorter in all dimensions.
With all the new pieces cut and prepared, I installed some prefabricated solid fiberglass blocks in the two openings over the Dorade vent holes; the openings were small enough that the curvature of the deck didn't pose a problem for the stiff 1/2" fiberglass, and saved me a lot of time over filling the areas layer by layer, which, allowing for appropriate time intervals to avoid excess heat buildup, probably would have prevented me from completing the fiberglass on this day. Meanwhile, I filled a few low spots here and there as needed to smooth the transitions between core and adjacent deck areas.
Finally, I installed the two layers of fiberglass over the entire area, laminated in epoxy resin. The two layers approximated the thickness of the top deck skin in the areas I'd removed, notwithstanding the overly thick material I'd found above the plywood core in the center sections, but I'd determine later whether I needed an additional layer or not.
Total Time on This Job Today: 6.5 hours
