110 Cookson Lane | Whitefield, ME 04353 | 207-232-7600 | tim@lackeysailing.com
To begin, I sanded the new cockpit fiberglass as needed, along with the various areas to which I'd applied compound yesterday.
Inside the boat, I prepared the port hull for a layer of reinforcing fiberglass over the existing inside of the hull's outer laminate. With the inside seam of the existing patch exposed, it seemed like a prudent idea to install this fiberglass to add to the bonding strength and tie the various areas together, particularly since the earlier repair had been ineffective at tying in the upper portion of the hull. The new layer would provide additional continuity for the outer hull skin, which in turn would eventually be further reinforced by the inner skin that would go over the new core, once installed.
Earlier, I'd cut two pieces (divided roughly down the middle to make installation easier) of fiberglass for the job, which would extend from the gunwale to the top of the settee platform.
At both top and bottom edges of the area exposed by the removal of the core during an earlier stage of the project, there were transitions between various layers and heights of fiberglass that my new layer would bridge. To make these transitions smooth for ideal bonding, I applied thickened epoxy fillets as needed to blend the areas, and left these to partially cure during lunch break.
Upon my return, I applied a coat of regular epoxy over the entire surface, then wet out and installed the two sections of new fiberglass over the area as required, butting the seam.
Back in the cockpit, I applied a first round of fairing compound to the newly-repaired areas, as well as the instrument patches in the cockpit bulkhead. Over the back side of these instrument holes, I installed a single layer of fiberglass to round out the repairs.
Total Time on This Job Today: 7.5 hours
