110 Cookson Lane | Whitefield, ME 04353 | 207-232-7600 | tim@lackeysailing.com
This week's work was, and would continue to be, all about completing the various deck fairing chores on the main deck. To that end, I continued the cycle by sanding yesterday's application of fairing compound to prepare for the second coat.
I did some preparatory work at the chainplate slots. The original deck design featured recessed areas around each chainplate, which had been largely filled with sealant, but the core around the edges of the recesses had been left exposed. Fortunately, this had not caused damage over the years, but I thought it'd be better to seal and fill the recesses with an epoxy mixture. To that end, I cleaned out the recesses, and sanded a tapered area around their outside perimeters to eventually accept fiberglass and fairing compound.
To keep the slots open during the process, I installed some non-stick plastic analogues for the actual chainplates, each slightly larger than the chainplate stock itself, and taped them in place from beneath as needed. Then, I partially filled the chainplate slot recesses with thickened epoxy; it'd take a second application of fill material to completely fill the recessed areas, but the first application would hold the plastic "chainplates" more securely for the additional steps.
As part of the sanding process described above, I sanded circularly-tapered depressions above the larger holes that I'd filled during yesterday's process, in order to make room for the flush fiberglass patches required.
With the sanding and prep work complete, I cut and installed two layers of fiberglass over each of the larger hardware holes that I'd filled and prepared earlier.
After lunch break, I applied the second coat of fairing compound to the deck areas as required: hardware and fastener holes, hull-deck joint, and the newly-recored areas.
Total Time Billed on This Job Today: 6.25 hours
