First thing, I sanded the latest–and one of the last–rounds of fairing filler on portions of the deck, including around the chainplate repairs and poop deck, along with the hole repair and skim coat on the two lazarette hatches.
Other than a few minor low areas that would require another round of filler, most of the deck repair and surface preparations were now complete, so I turned to the exterior woodwork. The original job scope had been to perform basic maintenance to the woodwork, but after various discussions with the owner about the condition of the woodwork, the owner elected to go with my suggestion to strip the old finish, which was many layers of Cetol wood finish that had grown heavy and dark over the years, albeit well-maintained so that the wood itself was basically sound in all areas.
With heat gun and scraper, I went around the boat removing the old finish from the toerails and outboard sides of the coamings. The wood itself was in fair condition: structurally sound, but showing its age. Stripping left the wood looking spotty and rough, but sanding would clean it up pretty well a little later. I’d finish up the exterior stripping with the insides of the coamings and companionway trim and rails next time.
Meanwhile, to finish up the day, I prepared a small batch of epoxy fairing compound to fill various areas still requiring it in deck.
Total time billed on this job today: 6.25 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
30°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: mostly cloudy, 32.
I spent the morning working on the decks, first sanding the new fiberglass over the chainplates to bring it flush with the adjacent deck areas, and lightly sanding as needed the fairing compound on the poop deck and few other areas of the deck. I also removed the final fasteners–the heavily rusted ones that had secured the plastic cowl vent rings–from the lazarette hatches, and, after some final hole preparation, sanded these hatches to begin to smooth the nonskid pattern.
Afterwards, I applied fairing compound to the various deck repairs as needed. The poop deck repairs were more or less at their final contours, but there were some low spots left after the first round. For the lazarette hatches, I filled all the old fastener holes, and skim-coated the surfaces to fill the remaining nonskid pattern and prepare these hatches for future steps.
During the past week or so, I’d been continually soaking in penetrating oil the three broken studs in the starboard deadlight frame, and now, with locking pliers, I gingerly removed the studs successfully, breathing a sigh of relief when it was done.
Total time billed on this job today: 5 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
28°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: Mostly sunny, 39°
Continuing work on the deck surfacing, I sanded the latest round of fairing compound as needed, along with the initial fiberglass layers on the poop deck repairs and other areas as required. This brought most areas close to their final state of primer prep, with only a few small low areas left to fill and some additional finish sanding.
The deck areas in way of the chainplates required solid fiberglass work to fill in the remaining areas where I’d removed old and damaged core earlier. To maintain the existing chainplate slots throughout the process, I made up some blanks from nonstick plastic material, and temporarily secured them in place on each side. The original chainplates were covered with paint and rust stains, and I planned to clean them up soon for a thorough inspection.
With the temporary chainplates in place, I prepared simple paper templates of the area so I could cut layers of biaxial fiberglass to fit inside the opening, and also larger templates for the final layers that would tie in the repairs with the ground, tapered areas on the adjacent sidedecks.
After preparing layers of fiberglass according to the templates, I installed eight layers in each opening, the top several layers a bit shorter since the underside of the deck tapered beneath, so the decks were thinner near the toerail. This amount of fiberglass brought the patches up approximately level with the existing and new 3/8″ core material. I’d finish up with the top layers of these patches next time, but to avoid excess heat during curing I didn’t want to do any more at this time.
Meanwhile, at the poop deck, I made up paper templates of the deck areas as needed, and prepared two layers of fiberglass for each side. On the starboard side, I cut and installed several narrow layers of fiberglass inside the little void on the sidedeck, filling this more or less flush with the adjacent areas.
Afterwards, I mixed up a bit of thickened, structural filler and used it on each side to prepare a smooth and even substrate over the new core, interim layers of fiberglass, and the existing deck edges to prepare for the final top layers of new laminate. I let this tack up for a little while while I prepared the fiberglass for the area and attended to some of the other work described earlier.
Finally, I wet out with epoxy and installed two layers of new biaxial cloth for each side of the poop deck.
In the cockpit, there were a couple minor areas that required some fiberglass–one over an obsolete electrical plug hole in the cockpit well, and the other to patch the existing slot and h ole where the centerboard control line had passed through. I planned to rebuild this and add a new fitting through which to route the line, so for now I filled and glassed over the existing opening, which I’d earlier prepared by grinding out the adjacent areas as needed.
Total time billed on this job today: 6.75 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
22°, light snow. Forecast for the day: light snow, an inch or two, 20s.
As usual, my first actions of the day were behind the sander, lightly sanding as needed the new fiberglass on the poop deck and at the chainplates. I brought the edges of the little cockpit well patches and new poop deck laminate flush with the existing deck surfaces, and lightly scuffed the field areas as needed to prepare for the next steps. At the chainplates, I cleaned up the edges of the newly-installed laminate within the openings, preparing for the next and final layers of material to complete the rebuild there.
To complete the new laminate at the chainplates, I added a couple additional layers of material on each side, bringing the patches flush with the deck edges, then applied two layers of fiberglass over the top, overlapping onto the sanded border areas to tie in with the existing deck.
There were a few areas around the deck that required another dab of fairing compound, so I took care of that next.
Finally, I applied fairing compound to the new poop deck laminate, working to fill the fiberglass weave and bring the new deck surfaces close to their final contours as needed.
Total time billed on this job today: 6.25 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
25°, light snow, couple inches overnight. Forecast for the day: Snow ending, eventual clearing, 30s.
To begin, I sanded all the new little fiberglass patches around the deck, bringing them flush with the adjacent surfaces as needed.
I also cleaned up around the newly-cored poop deck areas, preparing the core and surrounding surfaces for the next steps.
The nature of recoring small deck sections like those on the poop deck, with cambers in two directions and other nearby molding complications, is such that the existing deck edge flanges tend to spring up once the decks are cut apart, and this, along with other intangible factors, often leads to the new coring being slightly lower than the underside of the existing deck surfaces. So to bring the height to a compatible level, I cut and installed in epoxy two layers of fiberglass over the central sections of the core. This would help the final layers of fiberglass lie properly over the repairs later.,
I went over the main deck areas again with a second round of fairing compound, applying it mainly over the new fiberglass patches from earlier, and a few other areas requiring additional filling. This brought me to the end of a short work morning, after which I had to leave the shop on other business.
Total time billed on this job today: 2.5 hours
0600 Weather Report:
20°, partly clear. Forecast for the day: Mostly sunny, 34.
I removed the weights from the port chainplate area, where I’d installed new core last time. I’d continue work on this area in the near future.
I spent the morning preparing and sanding the deck areas with two grits, smoothing and removing the excess skim coat as needed. This left the material mainly in the vestiges of the old molded nonskid pattern and along the channels, where the pattern had been slightly raised, as well as in a few low areas here and there. There’d be some minor additional filling required, which I’d handle soon, along with additional rounds of finish sanding throughout the process.
Next, I turned to the poop deck, where I spent some time on final preparations before laying out and cutting new sections of balsa core to fit. Where possible, I extended the coring beneath the existing deck edges, leaving a few areas where the bottom-skin taper prevented installing full thickness of new core material. I omitted the core in way of a known hardware location near the lazarette hatch, and I’d fill any small remaining gaps with thickened epoxy during the core installation. On the starboard side, I left a narrow area extending forward along the sidedeck for now, and planned to rebuild it with fiberglass later.
After final preparations, including cleaning the deck areas and bonding surfaces, wetting out the core with unthickened epoxy resin, and other tasks, I installed the new core in thickened epoxy adhesive, securing it with weights while it cured.
To finish up the day, I cut various fiberglass patches and installed them on the myriad test holes around the decks, which areas I’d previously dished out to accept the fiberglass. The little patches would prevent the filled holes from printing through or cracking later.
Total time billed on this job today: 7 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
8°, clear. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 30s
I spent some time preparing various old fastener holes around the decks, mainly in the cockpit well. At each location, as needed, I used a countersink to create a wider opening to better hold fairing compound and fill these holes. Belowdecks, I masked over these, and any other deck hole penetrations, to prepare them all for filling from above.
Afterwards, I cleaned up the decks with vacuum and solvent wash, paying close attention to all the various fastener and drill holes I’d made earlier, and prepared to skim coat the decks with epoxy fairing compound in order to fill the remnants of the molded nonskid pattern, along with other minor voids and pinholes. Then, using several batches of epoxy mixed with fairing fillers, I used a trowel to cover most of the deck surfaces and cockpit with a thin layer of compound, filling the existing fastener holes at the same time.
On the port side, near the chainplates, I prepared a section of new balsa core to replace the damaged core I’d removed from this area earlier. The coring covered the inner half of the opening; I planned to build up solid fiberglass and epoxy in way of the chainplate slots themselves, which would prevent any future leakage at those slots from damaging deck core (and the same thing on the starboard side, which opening was smaller and would be entirely filled with fiberglass–no coring).
With the coring cut to fit, and other final preparations completed, I installed the new core in epoxy adhesive, and weighted it down to hold it securely to the bottom deck skin while the epoxy cured.
I’d continue work with the solid fiberglass portion of the chainplate repairs, as well as the poop deck recoring and repair, in the near future, and as I continued work on the main areas of the deck.
Total time billed on this job today: 5 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
37°, mostly clear. Forecast for the day: Sunny, temperature dropping through the day
With other commitments, I had a short day planned, beginning with a visit from my rigging contractor, who inspected the standing and running rigging at my request, and on behalf of the boat’s owner. He also took the old lifelines for replacement.
The rigging was in fair condition, with no significant issues like cracked swages or broken wire strands on the standing rigging, but was of indeterminate–but substantial–age, with numerous wire kinks from poor storage and general use, and various other issues that, taken together, suggested that it would be prudent, if not strictly necessary, to upgrade the rigging at this time.
The three-strand halyards were in fair condition; one of them was sun-damaged and the material was spiky and friable in the hand, and the others, while in serviceable condition, could benefit from an upgrade as well. The wire-rope spliced jib halyard had a number of broken strands, or “meathooks”, on the wire portion, and probably should be replaced at a minimum.
With the inspection done, and since I knew I’d have to remove the rigging in order to prep and varnish the spar later in the project, I decided to remove all the rigging from the mast now, which would ease access for the varnish work and also have the rigging easily accessible should the decision be made to replace it. Afterwards, I covered the now-bare spar (and boom) with plastic again to protect it against dust, damage, and overspray during the rest of the boat work throughout the project.
Total time billed on this job today: 2 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
40°, light rain. Forecast for the day: showers, 40s
I got back to work on the “bulk sanding” phase for the decks, continuing where I left off with the starboard sidedeck, where I sanded to remove the nonskid pattern and prepare those areas. Afterwards, I moved on to the coachroof and cockpit, removing the molded pattern from those areas as well with my usual two-grit sanding process (40-80).
With the nonskid and flat deck areas complete for now, I turned to the cockpit well and cabin trunk, which featured the original “smooth” gelcoated surfaces. For these areas, I chose a less aggressive sanding tool, and sanded lightly only to scuff and clean these surfaces, the first step towards preparing them for additional work and, eventually, primer and paint. I used a 6″ orbital finishing sander with 80 grit for these initial passes. There’d be more standing later, including edge and detail sanding.
Afterwards, with a little time left in the day, I removed some additional deck hardware from the lazarette hatch (outboard well), which included a couple latches and two vents. The fasteners securing the plastic vents were so rusted that I didn’t even bother to try to remove them, choosing instead to break out the old plastic vents, leaving the fasteners in place for the moment. The old vents were already broken and unusable, so there was no reason to waste effort in their removal. I’d cut away the old fasteners later. With this hardware removed, I could soon get to the surface prep and minor repairs on this hatch. I left the piano hinge connecting the two pieces in place for now, as I’d damaged all my screwdrivers and power bits of the proper size during earlier hardware removal efforts, so I’d have to wait till my replacements arrived before removing the hinge fasteners.
Total time billed on this job today: 7 hours
0600 Weather Report:
45°, rain. Forecast for the day: Rain ending, clearing, 40s
The decks were in original condition, had never been painted, and seemed generally sound overall, but I knew of at least a couple suspect areas I’d identified upon my first inspection of the boat some months ago–specifically the poop deck on either side of the large lazarette hatch. Now, I went over the entire deck with a sounding hammer and drill to determine the condition of the remaining areas and seek out other areas requiring further structural attention.
Sounding results in most areas were good, with no issues indicated. There were any number of small construction voids, or latent defects, where the top deck skin was not–and probably never had been–properly bonded to the core beneath. In these areas, I drilled a hole to ensure that the core itself was in good condition, and to allow me to inject a small amount of epoxy during a later step to rebond the area and fill the voids. One area in particular–the port sidedeck near cabin trunk in way of the chainplates–showed significant deck cracking and a more substantial void beneath, which was obvious later when I opened up the deck there. This sort of failure is common in boats of older construction.
A perfect example of top-skin debonding
Anywhere there was an old fastener hole, I used a larger bit to bore out the hole, extending through the top skin and core but leaving the bottom skin in place. This allowed me to inspect the coring at these critical areas, where leakage would be most likely to occur over the years, as well as to prepare the fastener holes for epoxy filling and fastener isolation.
Fortunately, most of the core was sound, and while some of the coring in the old fastener holes was discolored, it remained dry and sound in most places, and no major work would be required. The coachroof and cockpit were in apparently good condition with no significant findings, other than several latent voids in the cockpit, particularly on the bridgedeck. Around both chainplates, however, it was clear that some of the core had been saturated, so I marked these areas for further attention later. The series of photos below shows various test holes and overbored fastener holes, along with the drill spoils and the four larger areas that would require more significant repairs at the chainplates and poop deck.
Next, I cut open the deck to expose and remove the damaged coring, starting with the poop deck. I left a flange around the perimeters of the openings to allow room for bonding new fiberglass over the repair later, and dug out the wet and rotting core from within.
Port Poop Deck
Starboard poop Deck
Port chainplates, showing an embedded wire that led to one of the old interior lights
Starboard Chainplates
In each case, I cut the deck openings large enough to expose sound coring along the edges of the cut, where applicable, and removed the coring from within the openings as needed. Afterwards, I used a grinder to grind a tapered recess around all the new openings, this to allow new fiberglass to overlap and lie flush with the adjacent deck areas during repairs. I also dished out all my test hole openings to provide room for patching later. Note that the laminating resin on this boat appeared to have been pigmented white (this was the case on another Sailmaster I worked on several years earlier), so the ground fiberglass is not readily apparent.
With the inspection, uncoring, and related preparations complete, I spent the remainder of the day working on the port sidedeck and entire foredeck to sand off the molded nonskid pattern and begin the surface preparations for refinishing.
Total time billed on this job today: 6.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
-5°, clear. Forecast for the day: clounding up, eventual mix to rain, becoming warmer
