Lackey Sailing | tim lackey

Tuesday

Continuing with the final prep and masking, I covered the trailer with plastic as needed, wrapping the winch stand, tongue, and bow stop first, then taping more plastic to the hull just below the waterline, allowing it to drape over the remaining parts of the trailer. I covered the plastic with a strip of masking paper and more tape at the waterline so the overspray wouldn’t flake off the plastic.

Afterwards, I cleaned the hull once more, this time with the proprietary solvent of the paint system, tacked off, and after various standard and miscellaneous preparations of paint equipment and sundries, I was ready to go with the high-build primer.

On this side of the shop, the sun comes through the windows in the morning, and can create problems with vison through the overspray and in the bright spots from the windows, so once preparations were complete I waited a little while for the sun to pass and, by about lunchtime, began the spraying, eventually applying three coats of epoxy-based high-build primer to the hull, leaving it to cure overnight.

Total time billed on this job today: 5.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 32°, mostly cloudy. Forecast for the day: Cloudy, 47°

Monday

Jason was back to finish up the final dodger installation, having completed the final details over the weekend.

The last step for me, at least under current job scope, was to move the jack stands and finish painting beneath them, as well as painting over the three patched through hulls.

Total time billed on this job today: 1 hour

0600 Weather Observation: 19°, clear. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 44°

Monday

As needed, I lightly sanded the hull where I’d applied fine fairing compound, bringing the small repairs flush with their surroundings. At the transom, I finished up the fairing and sanding work around the larger hole repairs and removed the remaining paint from the last tight places, mainly around the gudgeons, before finish-sanding the whole transom up through 120 grit as with the rest of the hull.

On the bottom, I finished up the sanding work on the sail drive hole patch.

After another blowdown, vacuum, and sweep to clean up the boat and shop, I solvent-washed the hull to clean and remove dust and prepare it for the next steps.

Re-creating my waterline marks at the stem and stern from the measurements I recorded earlier, and with the boat previously leveled, I set up my horizontal beams bow and stern to restrike the waterline in my habitual way. Once I’d set up and used the string to make a series of tick marks on the hull to designate the waterline, I masked to the marks.

Now I finished up any remaining masking, areas I’d left unmasked till the sanding was complete. This included the underside of the rubrail, some fittings at the stem, and the various pulpit rails and other hardware on the transom.

Just before the end of the day, I rinsed off the trailer and floor to remove and settle any remaining sanding dust and prepare for the final masking and preparation steps and high-build primer next time.

Total time billed on this job today: 6 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 19°, clear. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 44°

Thursday-Friday

After sanding the fairing compound over the patched transducer holes, I found that I hadn’t quite gotten the final shape in one go-round–there were a few low spots still evident. So I applied more fairing compound as needed to complete the task, leaving it overnight before sanding once more to complete the repairs.

After curing overnight, I could lightly sand a final time to complete the patches. I’d give these a coat of paint in the near future when I moved the jackstands to take care of those areas as well.

At the radar through-deck wiring fitting, I added a plastic washer to help trim out the deck hole from beneath. (The owner planned to paint the new head overhead himself later.)

Total time billed on this job today: .75 hours (over two days)

0600 Weather Observation: 26°, mainly clear. Forecast for the day: Partly sunny, 46°

Friday

Continuing with the hull surface prep, I sanded the entire boat twice more, with 80-120 grit paper on a 6″ finishing sander. This helped further refine the surface and smooth it to the required level for high-build primer.

Next, I went around the hull and checked for any dings, scratches, or other areas requiring attention and, after cleaning as needed, applied a coat of fine fairing filler to these areas. There were only a half dozen or so tiny dings and scratches to be found.

At the transom, I added more fairing compound as needed around some of the repairs I’d started earlier, and applied additional fairing to the patch over the engine sail drive hole in the bottom, just to take care of a few known and minor voids left from the last round of fairing compound there.

Now, I worked on the transom to remove the remaining paint and sand smooth all the tight areas around the hardware and stern pulpit rails that I couldn’t reach with a power sander, as well as some detail sanding elsewhere on the boat, including the stem. There’d be more sanding work on the transom to come next time, along with additional light sanding on the other parts of the hull as needed, but for the moment I’d progressed things as much as possible.

Total time billed on this job today: 3.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 26°, clear. Forecast for the day: Partly sunny, 46°

Thursday

It was time to get down to business on the main aspect of this project: The hull. With the deck protected and masked and nothing standing in my way, I spent the day removing the existing coatings from the hull, sanding through two grits to get back to the original blue gelcoat and a suitable substrate for the new coatings to come. The existing paint was a one-part product of undetermined type, with primer beneath, and was generally easy to remove, with no surprises underneath; in fact, the hull was in excellent condition all around, save for a few shallow scrapes and the like that would either disappear during the next round of final finish sanding, or with some minor fill work. The repairs I’d made on the transom would require a bit more final work, but I already knew that.

Starting at the bow and working aft on the starboard side, then around the transom and back to the port bow, I removed all the paint and vinyl striping by the end of the day, other than some tight areas on the transom that would require hand work.

Total time billed on this job today: 5.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 22°, mainly clear. Forecast for the day: Patchy fog, then mostly sunny, 46°

Wednesday

I sanded the new fiberglass patches over three transducer locations, sanding the new work smooth and flush with the adjacent hull. Inside the boat, I lightly scuffed the patchwork only to remove hard or sharp edges. Then, I troweled on a layer of epoxy fairing compound on the exterior patches, which were all close to their final contours.

Next, it was time for the first, not-quite-final dodger installation. Because Jason’s shop was so close by, he chose to leave various aspects of the final fitting incomplete since it was so straightforward and quick to come back another time; this gave him more leeway in ensuring the best possible fit in some of the tough areas, particularly the transition from the cabin trunk to the protruding coamings.

After permanently installing the deck track to support the leading edge of the dodger, the canvas–90% complete–could be fitted on the frame and tracks, after which Jason worked out the positioning for the strapeyes to secure the dodger wings and, with little temporary grommets, secured the wings as needed before moving on to the snaps required along the cabin trunk and at the forward coaming corners. This gave him the information he needed to work out the final steps for the sharp transition at the coamings. He also double-checked the alignment of the opening required on the starboard side to allow passage of the main halyard through the front of the dodger and made a tiny adjustment to his patterned mark by eye, sighting from the winch forward to the turning block (the outboard of thee two tiny white marks on the canvas is the center of the new hole).

Allowing for the final fitting details and a few small areas requiring finish work, the dodger looked excellent and would be a fine addition to the looks and utility of the boat. Final fitting should be within a few days.

Taking care of the final item on my punch list, I installed the two plywood shelves in the cabin that the owner had dry-fit earlier. These shelves, which rested on a support I’d laid out and installed during phase 1, would eventually form the basis for the remaining cabinet work in the cabin. To install them, I began by coating the faying surfaces with regular epoxy, then installed the shelves in a bed of thickened epoxy adhesive on the hull supports and wooden cleats the owner had installed on the bulkheads; I added a wooden cleat to support the aft end of the port shelf where it conjoined the existing galley countertop overhang. I clamped the shelf at the ends and added weights in the center to ensure it stayed in place on the supports (though no pressure was needed since the shelving fit nicely on the supports). Where the plywood met the hull, I created a small fillet (not shown here is the masking tape I’d applied just above shelf level before installation, to give me a clean line for the fillet).

Total time billed on this job today: 2 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 22°, high overcast. Forecast for the day: Mostly cloudy, chance of snow in the evening, 36°

Wednesday

For future reference in re-establishing the waterline, should it be sanded away during the hull prep, I made several reference measurements at the stem and stern, using conveniently-mounted U-bolts to measure from at both transom corners and at the stem. I noted these measurements for later edification.

The boat was slightly crooked on the trailer bunks, and thus a bit out of level from side to side. There was no way to reposition the boat on the trailer itself, so I jacked up the port side as needed to level the boat, and blocked the trailer under both sides to supplement the rear trailer jacks and better stabilize the trailer for the upcoming work.

At the bow, I put some blocks beneath the hull for support since I needed to retract the bow chock for access to the hull, and the blocking would limit any tendency of the hull to move around during the sanding work to come. I removed the extra-wide bow chock supports from the metal bracket to increase clearance.

At the stern, I removed the folding portion of the boarding ladder from the starboard side, and masked from within an outboard wiring hole on the port upper corner after removing its temporary plastic cover. Then, after cleaning the rubrail and edge of the deck, I covered the decks with plastic and heavily masked along the rubrail above the hull. There’d be more masking required for paint at the transom to cover the various hardware, but I waited on that for now since any tape would probably get damaged during the sanding operations.

Total time billed on this job today: 3 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 22°, high overcast. Forecast for the day: Mostly cloudy, chance of snow in the evening, 36°

Tuesday

Finishing up in the cockpit for now, I sanded the epoxy skim coat flat and smooth, removing the excess and working through various grits and different tools before eventually ending up at 120 grit on a finishing sander as needed for primer and paint. With the major repair work and surface prep complete for now, I planned to turn my focus to the hull prep and paint and would return to the various small deck projects and refinishing once the hull was complete.

Total time billed on this job today: 1.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 35°, clear and windy. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 36°

Tuesday

Continuing the patching of the old transducer locations, I began by masking over the openings from inside, then, outside, filling the round holes through the hull with a thickened and strengthened epoxy mixture. While I gave that a bit of time to set up enough to continue, I cut rounds of fiberglass to create the patches: Two outside, one inside. Later in the morning, once the epoxy plugs had set up sufficiently, I wet out and installed the fiberglass on both sides to complete the main part of the repairs.

Next, I installed the new vinyl for the name, hailport, and registration numbers. The owner selected a gold leaf vinyl with white outline for the name and port, and white vinyl for the state numbers.

I was waiting for delivery of the correct screws to secure the sea hood, but in the meantime I finished up the dry fit and preparations, first by redrilling from below the two screw holes I’d used all along for alignment. For the remaining fastener locations, I could just drill through the center of the epoxy-filled plugs at each location from above, before temporarily installing the sea hood with the pair of aftermost screws. Then, I drilled up into the wooden sides from below, just enough to make a mark as I wanted to be sure the holes were centered or otherwise properly placed.

Removing the sea hood again, I finished drilling the pilot holes in the wood, and took a moment to drive a screw in and out of each hole to prepare fore the final installation and ensure I had no troubles installing the screws from beneath. Later in the afternoon, once my screws arrived (#10 x 1-3/4″ flat head tapping screws), I installed the sea hood in a bed of brown sealant, keeping the sealant away from the drain openings. I cleaned up the excess sealant, then installed the dodger frame and mounting bases in their pre-marked holes leftover from the initial fitting in December.