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Thursday

The fine fairing material  required a light sanding to remove the excess, which I took care of now.  This also effected a final smoothing of all surfaces.  Pleased with the overall condition of the substate now–pretty decent considering what poor condition the boat appeared at the beginning–I deemed the surface prep complete, and thoroughly cleaned the boat and shop–blowdown, vacuum, solvent wash, sweep, floor wash, and a final solvent wash with proprietary solvent.

Later, I prepared the product and spray equipment for the finish primer, which would be the next step.

Meanwhile I experimented with a custom mix for the hull color, something different that I hoped would suit the boat.  I made up three separate batches, varying the ratio as needed to come up with a somewhat different color for this project and matching a sample I strove to reproduce.  Alas, constant reader, I must  leave you in the dark about the final color–all the better to pique your interest as we near that stage of the project.

Total time billed on this job today:  3.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
62°, clouds and sun.  Forecast for the day:  clouds and sun, showers and thundershowers in the afternoon, high in the upper 80s.

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Wednesday

I spent the morning sanding the new primer with 220 grit paper on a vibrating finishing sander and by hand as needed.  The overall effect of the primer was good, and it would provide a consistent surface for the finish primer later.  With sanding complete, I vacuumed and solvent washed the surfaces to prepare for the next step.

Along with the earlier rounds of fairing filler that I’d applied to help ameliorate the heavy crazing on the hull and deck surfaces, the high build primer was a further means of additional filling of small cracks, but inevitably the primer also highlighted various areas that required some additional work–this being one of the intended purposes of this primer step.  Mixing up a batch of fine epoxy fairing compound, I went around the boat and filled any visible crazing and cracking, along with pinholes and porosity in the laminate or previous rounds of fairing material.  This photo shows the type of minor crazing and pinholes I addressed at this stage, highlighted here by the fine filler:

With gelcoat crazing so widespread over the original boat, it was no surprise to cover a good bit of the boat with the fine filler, particularly portions of the hull where the crazing had been the worst, but this additional step would help provide the desired substrate for finish primer and topcoat later.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
60°, sunny.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, high 80s/low 90s

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Tuesday

After final preparations, I spray-applied three coats of epoxy high-build primer to the hull and deck areas.  The small size of the boat allowed me to do both hull and deck concurrently, so the elapsed chore went a bit faster as a result.  I left the primer to cure the rest of the day and overnight.

Total time billed on this job today:  3.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
65°, foggy.  Forecast for the day:  fog lifting, sunny, high around 90

 

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Wednesday

The second round of fairing filler was ready for sanding, so that was my first task.  Since the area was looking good, I took it through 120 grit, completing the sanding in this area and matching the other deck areas, which were ready for high-build primer.

After cleaning up the boat with vacuum and initial solvent wash, I covered the interior of the boat with plastic sheeting to protect it from overspray.

Later, I washed down the shop floor to still the dust and remove other debris, and finished up the basic prep work by preparing primer and spray equipment, and a final solvent wash with the paint system’s proprietary solvent designed for the purpose.  With other commitments, it’d be a couple days before I could spray the primer, but everything was ready to go with minimal final preparations.

Total time billed on this job today:  3 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
50°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, low 80s

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Tuesday

Back after a relaxing vacation, I picked up where I left off:  continuing work on the reinforcement around the mast step.  The first coat of fairing compound awaited my attention, and now I sanded the area as needed to smooth and bring it down to proper contours, inasmuch as possible.  After cleaning up, I applied a second coat as required, filling the few voids and bringing the area to what I hoped would be final specifications before primer.

The small size of the job and the elapsed time between rounds of fairing compound meant a fair bit of required down time at this stage, but with an eye towards high-build primer soon, I masked off the boat below the waterline, mainly to protect the trailer from overspray.

Total time billed on this job today:  1.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
Mostly clear, 60°.  Forecast for the day:   sun and clouds, 70s.

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Friday

After a quick sanding just to remove any sharp edges and scuff the surface–followed by the usual cleanup–I applied a coat of epoxy fairing compound to the mast partners area and surrounding deck, the first of probably two or three coats required to bring the area fair and smooth.

I also touched up a few places on the starboard cockpit seat.

Total time billed on this job today:  0.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
45°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, 70s

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Thursday

Continuing work in the cockpit, I sanded the skim coat of epoxy fairing material as needed, smoothing the seats and adjacent areas, and lightly sanded the new tabbing along the centerboard trunk.  The net result was pretty good, with perhaps a few areas that might require an additional application.

Having determined that the mast step fitting was a good template for the mast partners hole, I used it to mark the opening on the deck, where I then cut out the excess fill material.  Then, I prepared two layers of new fiberglass to reinforce the deck and the new patch, substantially overlapping the old fiberglass reinforcement that was already in place, and installed the two layers in epoxy resin.  Later, I’d fair these in smoothly with the surrounding deck.

Total time billed on this job today:  2 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
42°, sunny.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, small chance of a shower, high in the upper 70s

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Wednesday

With 120 grit paper on a finishing sander, I sanded the second round of epoxy filler on both hull and deck as required, more or less completing the surface prep work in these areas.  There’d likely be another round of fine filler following high-build primer.

Next, I turned to the interior, which required a few minor repairs, including the mast partners, an existing (ugly) repair on one of the cockpit seats, and some additional reinforcement on a pair of fiberglass “fillets”, for lack of a better term, located at the base of the centerboard trunk, which were fairly lightweight and, on the starboard side, cracked where it met the trunk.

I removed the remnants of paint from the centerboard trunk fillets, allowing room to re-tab them with new material and epoxy resin and to prepare the surfaces for proper bonding.  The cockpit seat repair, located on the starboard side, was structurally sound, and while I’d at first intended to remove it and redo as needed, it was well-stuck enough that I settled for cleaning up the pools of excess resin and the material located over one of the molded grooves in the cockpit seat; I’d work with the repair from this point.  Afterwards, I cleaned up the cockpit to prepare for new work.

I opened up the mast partners opening a bit more, then masked over the bottom side and filled the damaged starboard side with an epoxy mixture comprised of high-density filler and silica.  I left the undamaged side alone; the new material would allow me to recreate the opening later, before reinforcing the repair with new fiberglass.

I reinforced the centerboard trunk fillets with new tabbing, extending well onto the trunk and bottom of the hull, set in epoxy resin.  This wasn’t a structural fillet, and didn’t appear to be original; rather, it seemed to be some sort of cosmetic, ergonomic thing added by a previous owner.  The intent of the reinforcement was to repair the existing setup, not to provide any particular additional strength to the boat or centerboard trunk.

The interior would receive a simpler paint process, but even so the cockpit seats required skim-coating and basic filling and fairing before I could proceed, so I took care of this next, following the same process as on the hull and deck to force fairing material into the larger cracks and crazing, as well as clean up some of the existing work.

To round out the day, I replaced the masking tape at the waterline scribe mark; the tape I’d put on earlier had been beat up by the sanding work, and the new tape would remain in place during the priming and painting steps coming up.

Total time billed on this job today:  5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
45°, sun and clouds.  Forecast for the day:  sun, then showers during the afternoon, 70s.