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Wednesday

Since the staging was already clear of the hull, I started the sanding process there, working through several hours to sand with 220 grit the hull by machine and hand as necessary, smoothing the new primer and preparing it for the next steps.

Moving the staging back alongside, I sanded the decks, starting with the cockpit well and continuing over the remaining deck areas, including the loose hatches.

 

Total time billed on this job today:  7 hours

0600 Weather Report:
28°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, around 60°

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Tuesday

After final preparations, I applied three coats of Alexseal high-build epoxy primer to the decks, working in two separate stages to maintain access:  first the cockpit well and portions of the coachroof, then, after three coats there, I did the same to the foredeck, sidedecks, and remaining areas.

With the deck spraying complete, I moved the staging aside and applied three coats to the hull, and the loose hatches.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.75 hours

0600 Weather Report:
40°, light rain.  Forecast for the day:  Showers ending, becoming partly sunny, high 50s

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Monday

Spread out in and between a few other smaller jobs around the shop, I finished up the final preparations for high-build primer, beginning with washing down the floor and staging, then performing a final solvent wash of hull and deck with the coatings manufacturer’s proprietary solvent designed for the purpose.

Afterwards, I prepared the paint and spray equipment for the work ahead.

 

Total time billed on this job today:  2.75 hours

0600 Weather Report:
Clear, 40°.  Forecast for the day:  Mostly sunny, 50s.

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Friday

I began by solvent-washing portions of the interior and the entire deck to prepare for masking.  Then, inside the boat, I masked off the port openings, forward hatch, and covered over any open fastener holes or other openings as required.

On deck, I masked over the companionway opening, cockpit locker opening, lazarette hatches (first covering the outboard well hole in the hull), rudderpost, scuppers, chainplates, port openings, and the vinyl rubrail along the deck perimeter.

I moved the staging aside and masked the lower edge of the vinyl rubrail on the hull side, then spent a few minutes fine-tuning the side-to-side position of the boat till she was level.  Then, in my habitual and well-documented way, I set up horizontal cross beams at the stem and stern at the correct height–determined by vestiges of the old scribe mark plus the measurements I’d made at the beginning of the project–to strike the waterline, aka the top edge of the bottom paint.  With the beams in place, I struck the new waterline, and masked it off with paper beneath to protect the bottom from overspray.

I’d planned on the final preparations using two work days, and though all the masking was done there was still plenty left to do, more than I could fit in at the lateness of hour, so I’d continue next time with the final round of preparations of shop, boat, and equipment before spraying high build primer.

 

Total time billed on this job today:  6.25 hours

0600 Weather Report:
42°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sunny and breezy, 50s.

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Thursday

I spent much of the day working on through hulls and related plumbing.    I started at the deadwood, where I drilled a new, larger hole (incorporating my original small drain hole) to accept the new bronze garboard drain.  The lower edge of the housing was just above the bottom of the bilge sump.

This fitting featured a keyway on one side that would help prevent the fitting from ever spinning when the plug was turned, so I elongated the opening as required to fit the keyway.  I removed a little more bottom paint at the lower edge of the fitting to ensure that the the fitting would be bonded to bare gelcoat.  With the fitting dry-fit, I drilled and tapped the hull for four #10 machine screws that would secure the new fitting.

After cleaning up, I installed the garboard with plenty of 4200 sealant and four bronze screws.

For each of the three through hull fittings, I once again taped the through hull in place from the outside, and from inside the boat spun on the flange bases till they were tight and properly aligned with the backing pads.  Then I drilled through the hull at each of the three bolt locations for the flanges, inserting a bolt in each hole from inside to hold the alignment where it needed to be.  With all the holes drilled, I vacuumed and solvent-washed the insides of the through hull locations.

Outside the hull, I removed the fittings and bored countersinks at each of the bolt locations to allow the fasteners to lie flush.  I only show two here, but you get the idea.  I solvent-washed the surfaces as required.

Next, I installed the three through hulls in turn.  Covering the mushroom head and the threads of the through hull with lots of sealant (I like 4200 for through hulls because it’s essentially permanent, yet I find it a bit thicker and stiffer than 5200, so it holds the fittings in place better–an important consideration when working alone), I pressed the fitting into place, then worked inside to apply more sealant around the through hull neck and on the mounting pad as needed (particularly around the bolt locations), and threaded on the flange as tightly as I could while maintaining its proper alignment.  To hold it in place, I temporarily stuck three bolts in from inside.  These   photos show the galley sink drain fitting.

Outside once more, I tightened the mushroom fitting the rest of the way with my through hull tool, then inserted three well-buttered bronze bolts, pushing out the ones inside in the process.  Finally, I installed and tightened washers and nuts on the bolts from inside, cleaned up the excess sealant, and cut off the excess bolt length.  These photos show the galley sink drain fitting.

Repeating the process on the two cockpit scupper drains, I completed the installations of the through hulls and flanges there.  After cleaning up excess sealant outside, I filled the bolt heads with more sealant to smooth them out.

Earlier, I’d removed the old plastic scupper drain fittings from the cockpit, as they were cracked and useless.  I’d already cleaned up old sealant and prepared the molded recesses, and now I installed new bronze fittings.  I had to reduce the width of the mushroom heads by just a touch in order to fit within the molded recesses; I did this with a grinder and an improvised manual “lathe” at my vice, removing material all around till the fittings fit properly.  Then, I installed them in plenty of sealant.

Later, I installed the bronze valves and hose adapters on the three fittings, as well as new hoses and clamps.

With that work all behind me, I sanded the new fillets on the poop deck, completing work there for now and completing all the structural work and major surface prep on the deck and hull.

I spent the remains of the day on cleanup duty, starting with a thorough shop blow-down and vacuuming the interior and deck to remove dust.   I’d continue final cleanup and prep next time.

 

Total time billed on this job today: 8 hours

0600 Weather Report:

60°, heavy rain.  Remnants of Pacific hurricane Patricia.  Forecast for the day:  rain tapering to showers, and eventually becoming partly sunny, high near 70 (!)

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Wednesday

My days of beginning with sanding chores were winding down–at least in the very short term–but once more I started by sanding the new fiberglass work from last time, including a light scuffing of the new tabbing in the interior (cockpit gutter system and mast support structure), which simply removed any sharp edges and prepared these areas for eventual paint.  At the poop deck, I  sanded the newly built-up areas at the aft ends of the hatch openings, and trimmed the overhanging material from the aft corners to complete the basic construction.

After the usual cleanup, I applied more epoxy fairing compound to the fillets to better transition the raised areas into the surrounding decks.

After taking a few hours to work with the contractor building custom covers for two of the boats outdoors,  I returned to the shop in the afternoon and continued working down my pre-primer punch list.  Around the perimeter of the deck, I cleaned up the edges near the vinyl rubrail where the mechanical sanders couldn’t reach, and cleaned up the top surface of the rubrail to prepare it for the eventual toerail installation.  I’d been putting this minor chore off long enough, and in the end it didn’t take too long to complete.

Meanwhile, I pulled out some of the deck hardware from storage so I could mark the fastener locations.  In the cored areas of the deck, I’d overbored and filled the fastener holes for the bow mooring cleat and a fairlead on each side deck, and to avoid losing the original locations–which were now fully prepared for hardware installation later–I aligned the hardware and drilled small pilot holes that would help mark these locations during the painting process.  It was only these three pieces, as all other locations either had their original holes (and were not in cored areas of the deck), or else I could easily relocate the hardware without the reference, such as the mainsheet blocks and stern cleat.

I planned to reuse the original deadlight frames (plastic), so I carefully removed the acrylic lenses from the frames and cleaned up the old sealant from the lens area, as well as the back surface of the ports where they bonded to the boat.  I’d prime and paint the frames to match the deck.

I cleaned up as needed the epoxy fillets securing the three fiberglass through hull pads I’d installed earlier, as well as the actual holes through the hull, and worked on the first steps towards final installation of the new hardware.  At each location, I taped the through hull in place from the outside, then, from inside, threaded on the flange base to determine how much the through hull necks would need to be shortened in order to allow the flange to thread completely on.  I marked where the through hull passed through the base place for reference and removed the fittings for trimming.

While in the boat, I lightly threaded on the valve body and 90° hose fittings required at the two scupper locations to make sure there was clearance to install these after the flange bases were in place.  There was plenty of clearance.

Back on the bench, for each of the three fittings I threaded the flange base fully on, then measured the distance between its base and the mark on the through hull neck.  Then, allowing some extra to ensure full threading, I marked and cut off the excess length before cleaning up the thread ends to allow the flange base to thread on easily.  I wasted a lot of time removing the manufacturer’s stick-on labels, unhelpfully attached to the through hull threads and which, through various  storage and shipment, had become impregnated into the deep parts of the threads, preventing easy threading and all of which had to be scraped and brushed out to allow the fittings to be used.  I wasn’t at all impatient with this necessary–but should have been unnecessary–chore.  In the event, the through hulls were now ready for final installation, which I’d take care of next.

 

Total time billed on this job today:  5.25 hours

0600 Weather Report:
22 °, clear, calm.  Forecast for the day:  increasing clouds, rain by evening, 50.

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Tuesday

It was a day to take care of various smaller details required as I edged towards the end of the deck repairs and surface preparations.

The original poop deck featured two raised areas aft of the hatch openings, which accepted the hinges from corresponding molded sections on the hatches themselves.

To recreate these on the rebuilt deck, I prepared two narrow strips of 1/8″ thick prefab fiberglass, the same dimensions as the original molded areas, and glued these to the deck with thickened epoxy.  I wrapped two smaller (but oversized for now; I’d trim them later) pieces at the forward ends to replicate what was on the original deck.  I clamped the pieces in their centers, but kept them essentially flat along their lengths, so they were a bit higher at the ends thanks to the curvature of the deck.  This would correspond with the flat moldings on the hatches.

Later in the day, after the adhesive had had a chance to cure enough to continue working in the area, I applied the beginnings of fillets along the aft and outside edges of the new fiberglass, which would eventually create smooth transitions between the hinge mounts and the surrounding deck.

Inside the boat, I took care of a couple small repairs.  One of the two sections of the supports for the mast step had a small crack in the fiberglass overlay towards one side; the support structure was otherwise sound.  To reinforce this, I ground away paint as necessary and prepared the surfaces for new material.  Afterwards, I installed a layer of biaxial roving over the area that had contained the crack.

 

On the inside of the cockpit locker gutter assembly, which I discovered earlier had been partially pulled away from the cockpit molding, I ground away loose or damaged fiberglass and brought the surface down to raw laminate, removing paint and gelcoat as needed.  Earlier steps during the recore had already resecured the gutter in place, but I needed to fiberglass it from the inside for real strength.

Once the substrate was prepared, I installed 6″ tabbing to secure the existing assembly to the surrounding deck moldings.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
20°, clear. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 50

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Monday

In a short work session after an appointment ran much longer than expected, I managed to complete another round of finish sanding on the deck areas (including four loose hatches), this time with a vibrating finishing sander and 120 grit paper to take care of the fine fairing compound I applied last time, as well as to sand all other areas and get into some of the corners that I’d not yet addressed.

In the immediate future I’d finish up the major deck surface prep with some hand and detail work as required, and do a final assessment of all areas to determine whether any additional work would be required before final high-build primer preparations.

Total time billed on this job today: 2 hours

0600 Weather Report:
30°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny and breezy, temperatures in the high 40s.

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Thursday

I spent most of the day sanding the decks, eventually going over most areas four separate times.  I began with the main deck areas and cockpit, where I sanded with two grits of coarser paper the excess skim coat, leaving it only in the areas of remaining nonskid pattern as intended.  During this round, I also sanded the poop deck and ongoing recore patches as needed.

With that round of sanding complete, I switched tools to a finishing sander and sanded the entire decks twice more, this time including all the areas I’d not yet sanded–the cockpit seats and well, the cabin trunk, and other areas.  Since these surfaces were original gelcoat, sanding was fairly straightforward and quick, leaving only corners and detail hand-sanding to complete another time.  I went over all the nonskid and patched areas as well, bringing all surfaces close to their final requirements with some minor spot and pinhole fairing remaining.

After cleaning up, I applied minimal amounts of epoxy fairing material as required, mainly on the poop deck, former stanchion base locations, and a few small lows on some of the patchwork.

 

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Report:
45°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  cloudy, chance of showers, around 60