Wednesday

Before beginning any dirty work on deck, I checked the fit of the large piece of fiberglass I’d cut for the coachroof repair, laying it in place on the coachroof.  I noted a couple areas where minor adjustment was needed, but otherwise it was a good fit and I could use it to pattern the remaining two pieces required for the new top skin, which I laid out and cut now, also test-fitting the first layer that would fit within the cut lines of the repair area and help bring the area above the new core up to the proper height with the adjacent deck edges.

I spent much of the day on sanding duty once more, starting with the overhead in the head, the bottom side of the coachroof repair.  Sanding this area, even relatively minimally as this round required, was an unpleasant chore, as the space was tight, and the headroom was about the worse possible height:  Too low to stand upright, too high to sit or kneel, requiring the most uncomfortable of crouching postures…but soon enough it was done, and looking pretty good.

On deck, I lightly sanded the two core repairs just to scuff the skim coats from the day before.

Then, I sanded all the various small repairs and new fillets along the toerails, mainly by hand, and bringing the bulk of the deck into its final state of readiness before high-build primer, other than a couple small areas that would require spot-filling, and, of course, the recore repairs.

After cleaning up from the day’s sanding, I cut several small pieces of fiberglass to fit the mast step area and the “bulge” in the coachroof repair, then wet out and installed these layers in their respective voids:  8 layers in the mast step (installed in two “lifts”), and three layers in the smaller area.  This filled the voids roughly to the top of the core.

At the same time, I cut and installed three layers over the upper coachroof core repair.  These new laminates would cure overnight, allowing me to do the final lamination work next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  6°, partly clear.   Forecast for the day:  Cloudy, chance of snow or snow showers, 33°

Tuesday

I started by removing the weights and paraphernalia from the new core installation.  Later, I washed and lightly sanded the area to scuff the surface, remove any hard edges, and, in a couple areas, pare down the core a bit where it was a little high, mainly around the fiberglass bulge on the starboard side.  (It seems somehow I forgot to take any photos after the sanding, unfortunately.)

Before getting into any dirty work, I made basic patterns of the mast step and bulge areas, which I planned to fill with solid fiberglass, and also of the smaller recore area on the upper coachroof, so I’d have these available for cutting the smaller pieces.  I’d hoped to start building these up now, but, still awaiting my new roll of fiberglass, I found I didn’t have scraps large enough for these areas (other than the smallest one), so I postponed that for now.

On the underside of the repair, I sanded a little more around the edges and with a finish sander to fine-tune the first round of sanding from the day before, and removed the masking so I could clean up the edges.

After cleaning up above and belowdecks, I used more thickened epoxy to fill the kerfs in the core, and to fill around the edges as needed.

On the overhead, I spot-filled as needed to take care of the various minor low spots left behind, and clean up some of the edges.  This would be the final round of filler on the overhead.

I went round the decks, focusing mainly on the toerail, doing any final hand-sanding required and marking areas that would require some epoxy work.  I also scraped and sanded away final bits of the old paint around the companionway and forward hatches.  After cleaning up the decks, I applied epoxy fairing compound as necessary, mainly at the base of the toerails to clean up the fillets there, but also in a few other areas where needed.

With the arrival of my fiberglass late in the day, and the coachroof area cured sufficiently for this purpose, I went ahead and made a plastic pattern of the whole area, marking both the overall edges of the repair (for the largest piece) and the inner section along the cut lines.  Before the end of the day, I laid out and cut the largest piece required for the new top skin, which I’d test fit on the morrow when the epoxy was fully cured and then use it to create the slightly smaller second layer, before moving onto the remaining fiberglass patterns.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  27°, partly cloudy.   Forecast for the day:  Sunny, windy, temperature dropping.

Monday

The satin varnish on the mast beams had cured nicely, and these were ready for reinstallation when the time was right.

After the usual quick water-wash, I gave the new fiberglass on the inside of the coachroof repair area the lightest of sandings to prepare it for the next steps.

Belowdecks in the head, I sanded the overhead, otherwise known as the opposite side of this repair, where I’d installed a skim coat of fairing compound earlier.  There’d be some hand-sanding around the edges, and some touch-up here and there, but otherwise this area was close to completion.

After cleanup, I laid out and cut 3/8″ balsa core for the large coachroof repair, and also the smaller repair aft.  There was one bulge in the inner skin, an area I’d not been able to completely eliminate during earlier steps because of the overall nature of, and access to, the area in question, forcing the bulge to remain.  I thought of just letting the core ride over the bulge, with the excess to be removed later, but it was too high and it would have been difficult to sand away the excess core from such an area, so I chose to cut out this small section above the high spot, and I’d fill it with solid fiberglass later.

I also omitted the core from a large area behind the hatch, in way of the mast step, which I would laminate with solid fiberglass in the end result for strength and, more importantly, compression resistance.

The newly-strengthened coachroof inner skin was much stiffer than it had been originally, and didn’t flex much under pressure, but to be sure I shored it up belowdecks with the plywood template I’d made (and ultimately never used during the inner skin repair) and a brace to the sole.  I didn’t brace further as I didn’t expect the skin to flex at all further outboard.

After a final and thorough cleaning of both areas to be recored, and other preparations, I wet out with epoxy resin all the core pieces down on the bench then, beginning with the small area on the starboard aft coachroof, installed the core in epoxy adhesive.  For this section, I began by filling the voids around the opening with thickened epoxy (high-density and cabosil), as I’d not yet done so, but for the larger repair, I’d previously done the edge work so it was a matter only of wetting out the substrate and installing the adhesive with a notched trowel before installing all the wet-out core pieces, pressing them into the adhesive and then, after covering the area with plastic, weighted down with sandbags.

Afterwards, I contented myself with finish-sanding the accessible deck areas, working through 80-120 grits on a 6″ orbital finishing sander over the wide areas, some hand-sanding at the toerails, chainplates, and other tighter areas, and additional machine sanding with a palm sander, mainly in the areas outside the reach of the larger tool.  This brought the decks mainly to their final preparedness for primer, excepting of course the coachroof and its ongoing repair, along with various small areas still requiring some hand work or ongoing minor filling and repairs.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  22°, light snow.   Forecast for the day:  Snow, a few inches, then changing to rain and windy, 40°

Friday

I water-washed and lightly sanded the new fiberglass on the coachroof repair, then reamed out the core from around the exposed edges of the open area.

Similarly, I reamed out the core from the edges of the small repair on the starboard aft coachroof.

From a length of 10 oz. fiberglass cloth, I cut a piece to fit the large coachroof repair.  This cloth would help tie together all the various aspects of the inner skin.

With the cloth patterned and cut, I filled all the exposed edges around the perimeter with a thickened, strengthened epoxy mixture, forcing it tightly into the voids.  Then, I used more of the mixture to ease any final remaining edges and transitions on the surface to provide an even base for the fiberglass cloth, which I installed next, wetting it out in place once the edge and surface filler had had a chance to tack up slightly.  Other than some quick surface prep later, this was the final step required before installing new core.

Belowdecks, I applied a skim coat of fairing compound to the new work, mainly to fill the weave of the cloth and to generally smooth the whole area for acceptable cosmetics and paint-worthiness.

Finally, I applied a 4th coat of varnish–this time satin–to the mast beams.  These photos show the varnish freshly applied and still appearing glossy.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  28°, mainly cloudy.   Forecast for the day:  Mostly cloudy, chance of snow showers, 40°

Thursday

In the head and forward cabin, I began with the usual prep and then lightly sanded the new tabbing as needed, simply to scuff the surface and remove any hard edges.

On deck, I sanded the various small fairing patches and other areas.  Most of the small divots would require at least one more round of filler.

Now that the coachroof was more or less structurally sound once more, with the new overhead and tabbing, I could address the remnants of the old structures above.  In several areas, the defunct repairs extended far upwards,  and needed to be removed or ground down to make way for new core and fiberglass, at least as much as possible.  The area at aft center/starboard, roughly paralleling the notch in the starboard bulkhead, was the highest, and its nature and the lack of access below meant that some of the lumpy mess would have to remain, but I still intended to remove as much as possible.  Other high areas where I expected to be able to remove more or all of the humps were at the starboard side of the mast step area, just aft of the hatch, and on the port aft side of center.

With a grinder, I cleaned up these and all other areas of the old inner skin, grinding down the nasty old work as much as possible, removing remnants of the old core, and generally preparing all surfaces for new work.  Around the perimeter of the repair, I removed the gelcoat and ground the laminate to prepare it for tying in the new structure later in the process.  I extended this area up the doghouse bumpout a bit, as the whole length of the transition had shown cracking and, as I ground, I found a clear seam filled with some form of filler.  I planned to run the new top laminate up into this area for added strength.   This chore was, and would be, by far the messiest part of the whole project, and it took as long to clean up the mess to some reasonable and workable point as it did to do the actual grinding work.

This seam was part of another ongoing curiosity about this boat, one which encompassed not only this now-visible seam, but also the small cracked areas in the toerails on each side that I’d just patched (which were aligned with the doghouse crack), and some visible but mysterious landscape features belowdecks in the same area.  I’d never know precisely what this boat had been through, other than “a lot”.  For all this, she seemed to hold together, and that’s what mattered.  The new work could only make things better.

While I had the grinder out, I prepared the small recore area on the starboard coachroof in the same way.

The new bottom skin was, by requirement, below the original bottom skin, leaving a recess that needed to be brought flush before I could install the new core.  To this end, I pieced together a layer of 1708 for the job, using various smaller pieces because I’d unexpectedly run out of the full roll of material earlier in the week, and while I’d ordered more at once, it had not yet arrived.  To keep the repair moving forward, I chose to use smaller pieces on hand, which posed no problem in this application since this layer was only a height-and thickness-enhancer.  Once I got the base even enough, I planned to add one full-size layer of lighter cloth to tie the whole thing together–original, old repairs, and new work–before recoring.

But for now, I cut the scraps to size and, after first skim-coating some of the various transitions and old work (with various old seams) with a thickened epoxy mixture to smooth and fill any minor voids, installed them in epoxy resin.

To finish up the day’s work, I cleaned as needed and reapplied epoxy fairing compound to some of the smaller repairs around the deck…

…and applied another (3) quick coat of varnish on the mast beams.

 

Total time billed on this job today:  7 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  25°, mainly cloudy.   Forecast for the day:  Mostly cloudy, 34°

Wednesday

I removed the brace, fixing screws, and wooden alignment blocks from the new deck repair/overhead panel, then made preparations to tab the repair to the adjacent surfaces, beginning with making a cut list for the tabbing pieces needed all around.  Afterwards, I used a thickened epoxy mixture to fill the small transition between the panel and the adjacent bonding surfaces, wetting out all areas in the process.

Leaving that to tack up a bit, I cut all the pieces of tabbing, then wet them out and installed them around the perimeter of the repair.

Continuing the refinishing work on the mast beam, I lightly sanded and then applied a second coat of varnish.

Meanwhile, I went around the decks and ground out any small areas requiring repairs:  Cracks, old filler that wasn’t up to snuff, and that sort of thing.  I also ground out a circular area around the obsolete fuel fill opening on the starboard side to prepare this for patching.

After cleaning up the areas in question, I applied epoxy fairing compound as needed (first round), and skim-coated the decks aft of the cabin trunk to fill remnants of the old molded nonskid pattern and other minor issues.  I installed rounds of fiberglass to patch the fuel fill opening, and patched two larger cracks in the raised toerail with fiberglass.

That was all I could do on the decks for the moment, so I moved to the hull, where, beginning at the stern, I measured and marked the existing locations of the painted waterline and, importantly, the actual waterline as determined by the clear scum line on the hull.  I’d use these baseline measurements in a few weeks to determine and strike the new waterline and striping when the time came.  Working off the actual waterline now, I made new marks 2-1/2″ vertically above at stem and stern and noted the reference measurement, which would ultimately become the two determining points for the new line.

I repeated the process at the bow.

With these measurements recorded, now I’d be ready to start work on the hull whenever the spirit moved me.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  3°, mainly cloudy.   Forecast for the day:  Decreasing clouds, 28°

Tuesday

Getting a much later start than intended after an early morning appointment ran long, I began with some preparations to the new deck/overhead panel.  The extra layer of material had stiffened the panel appreciably, and now it was just the right level of flexible:  Stiff enough to barely droop, yet easily bendable into the sort of curve required.  I gave the new fiberglass a light sanding to prepare it for the next steps.

In the boat, I removed the paint from the overhead around the perimeter of the repair.  The overhead, otherwise known as the deck’s inner skin, was quite thin and delicate in many areas, and far from smooth, so I had to balance how far I wanted to sand it with doing undue damage to the existing edges, so I didn’t worry about a few spots of paint left behind in the hollows.  There was plenty of good bonding area, and later, once the underside was done, I planned to glass over the entire repair from above as well, to really tie things together before the core.

Afterwards, I cleaned up and installed masking below the overhead to protect the immediately adjacent, and freshly painted, interior surfaces from collateral damage during the fiberglass work just ahead.

I dry-fit the panel, overlapping it about an inch all around; it was easy to see the overlap since the translucent fiberglass allowed the edges to be clearly ascertained from below.  The panel bent easily and accurately into place with gentle pressure in the center, and I held it temporarily with a wooden brace.  I used a few (four) screws to secure the panel through the remnants of the deck above, which held it securely, and would clamp it during the final installation.  The screw holes would later be covered by the final tabbing from below and new glass from above.  I traced the outline of the panel and marked the screw locations to help me align the panel properly when it was time to epoxy it in place.  At the aft center of the panel, I slipped in a scrap of 3/8″ balsa to space the panel correctly to allow new core to be installed above. as this was the area that had been core-free and sloppily glassed from beneath.

As an added alignment guide, from above I hot-glued little wooden blocks in place around the perimeter so the panel could only fit one way.

Now, removing the panel, I made final preparations then installed the panel permanently in a bed of epoxy adhesive all around the perimeter, or at least where applicable; in several areas, mainly to starboard, remnants of the old fiberglass repair remained, and the panel wouldn’t–and shouldn’t–fit tightly here since these sections were too high.  When all was said and done and the panel was fully installed from beneath, I planned to cut and grind away the final old repair work from above, clearing the way for new work.  I secured the panel with the four screws, added a support in the center to hold the arch securely, and found I needed another screw or two to help pull the panel tightly into the epoxy, mainly at the forward end in the v-berth.  At the aft end, where I’d spaced the panel intentionally down from the adjacent glass, I installed some of the adhesive from inside to fill the gap and hold the panel there once the temporary core bits were removed.

Pleased to have the deck filled in once more, I spent the final part of the day finish-sanding the mast beams, then applying the first coat of varnish to all sides of both pieces.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  0°, clear.   Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 8°

Monday

The new laminate I’d built to create the new inner skin (and overhead) for the coachroof repair was a bit more flexible than I’d hoped, but not necessarily than I thought it might be.  Built of a single layer of 1708, I’d hoped it might be a bit less floppy than it turned out to be, and I thought I’d add another layer to stiffen the panel before installation.  Otherwise, it was a good basis for the work to come, and to prepare it for the next steps I water-washed both sides and, later, sanded them lightly to remove the gloss from the “mold” side and lightly scuff both surfaces.

To gain access to the coachroof deck from beneath in order to make the required repair, I needed to remove the wooden mast support beam, which arched beneath the mast step and notched into the vertical support structure of the forward bulkhead.  Several bolts held it in place, and in this case, there was some messy fiberglass work that looked to pose at least some removal challenges for the beam.  A second, shorter beam extended the support a bit further into the forward cabin along the forward side of the opening.  These beams were newer than original and were themselves in serviceable condition, though the overall installation left something to be desired.

Because of the way I felt the deck needed to be rebuilt, eliminating as much of the old repair work as possible and, more importantly, tying in the repairs and other new work with the critical mast step area, I needed clear access through the passageway to the forward cabin, across which the beam now spanned.

I removed all the bolts without issue, then worked to remove the forward section of the beam.  I cut through the fiberglass between the beam and the overhead, used various prying devices, and, when it became apparent that this short beam was at least partially tacked to the main beam behind with adhesive, ran my slim multi-tool cutter between the beam sections from beneath, eventually releasing the forward beam section.

With a few additional cuts to release the fiberglass above the main beam, now accessible from both sides, it was relatively easy now to remove the main beam as well.

I used the paper pattern I’d made earlier to create a template of the overhead from cardboard, which I test-fit in place and made minor adjustments.  This template was now the overall size of the overhead, filling the space more or less entirely with no offsets.  I’d built in extensions to allow the template to pass through both openings to the head (from the saloon and into the forward cabin), as the repair work would encompass both areas, but at the forward side the extension needed to be a few inches longer to pass far enough into the forward cabin, so I made a little add-on piece for the template.

To leave room around the edges of the repair area and give me space to secure and tab in the new panel, I planned to leave a 2″ border on all sides, enough space for the bonding required while removing as much of the lousy old work as I could, and remain within the workable area.  Ideally, it would have been nice to remove all those pesky bulkheads and rebuild the entire bottom of the forward coachroof in a clear area, but obviously that was impractical and wasn’t about to happen; fortunately the repair work could, and would, be done within their confines.  So now I marked the cardboard 2″ in all around, and cut the new shape.  With the slightly reduced template propped in place and positioned according to some rough marks I’d made in key areas, I marked its outline with a dashed line all around.  This template, and the dashed line, represented the final size of the new panel.

I transferred the cardboard to a piece of 1/4″ plywood for the final template, which I also thought I might use during installation of the fiberglass panel as a backing and for support.  This repair process was working itself out one step at a time, with only a rough idea of the plan from the getgo, but becoming more clear all the time.  I test-fit the plywood panel in the space to confirm the overall measurements.

Now the overall limits of the new work were defined, and to mark the actual lines where I’d cut the deck out, I marked a new line 1″ in from the dashed lines representing the size of the panel.  This would leave a 1″ flange for bonding the panel directly to the adjacent deck, with the 2″ beyond for tabbing later.  With a drill, I marked each corner of the cutout area from below so I could recreate the shape abovedecks and make the cut from there.

Now all that was left was to cut out the deck along these lines.  This made the head seem exceedingly roomy and airy from below.

I used the final plywood template to mark and cut the fiberglass panel to the correct shape.  To reinforce and further prepare the new fiberglass panel, I marked 3″ in from the edges along the bottom (i.e. exposed/overhead side) and cut a second layer of cloth to fit, then laminated it in place.  This would stiffen the panel somewhat.  The offset along the edges would allow room for the tabbing that would ultimately secure the panel to the boat, while maintaining a generally flush appearance from beneath for improved cosmetics and ease of fairing.

To round out the day, I cleaned up the mast beams, removing the old fiberglass from the top edge as needed and sanding clean and smooth the resin-dripped, bumpy surfaces over the oak.  Of course the old fiberglass and resin had to be removed, but what better opportunity to improve the mast beams’ appearance before reinstallation as well.

Total time billed on this job today:  7 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  25°, clear.   Forecast for the day:  Windy, sunny, temperature dropping

Friday

After briefly working on a small, unrelated varnishing project at the shop, I got back to work on the deck sanding, picking up where I left off at the port foredeck.  Over the course of the day, I continued the sanding operations, using 40 and 80 grit paper to remove the old paint from the foredeck, down the starboard side, and around the poop deck.  This completed the bulk surface prep, though I’d soon continue with hand work in the tight areas and additional rounds of finish sanding over the entire deck.

After cleaning up the boat and shop a bit, I set up a flat plywood panel, covered in plastic, on which to laminate the new bottom skin for the coachroof deck repair.  I drew the plastic tight and wrinkle-free as possible since this surface was acting as a mold for the new laminate.  Then, I wet out a single layer of 1708 material cut somewhat oversize for the task ahead, approximately 28″ x 60″.  A single layer of the 1708 would be thicker and far more durable than the original inner skin, but I refrained from adding more simply to ensure that the panel remained amply pliable to curve to the shape required for the deck once cured.  I left the panel to cure over the weekend.

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Cloudy, just beginning to snow, 28°.   Forecast for the day:  Snow, 3-7 inches forecast, 27°

Thursday

After a morning errand, I spent the remainder of the day working on the decks, starting with some investigation of the small area of the starboard upper coachroof where I’d identified possible core problems earlier.  A couple test holes drilled through the top skin confirmed the presence of wet core, with related debonding, so I (carefully!) cut the top skin off with a saw, which went swimmingly and as expected, revealing ruined core beneath, as well as a section of bright, good core.  I slightly expanded my initial cut to expose all the damaged core in the area, and quickly scraped out the old material.  For now, I left this area as is for repair work to come soon.

To let the details of the upcoming deck rebuilding at the coachroof come into greater clarity, and to keep the project moving forward, I decided to focus the rest of the week on bulk surface prep on the deck.  The existing paint was a 2-part polyurethane (not LPU), and whether or not it would be compatible beneath the paint I planned to apply, much of the deck exhibited paint failures, failures which were clearly exacerbated by the boat’s 10-year period of uncovered neglect under previous ownership.  Nevertheless, I couldn’t risk leaving any of the old paint in place, so I set about removing the paint, starting on the main coachroof.  Before starting, I draped some plastic sheeting over the companionway to keep out the worst of the dust.  Using two sanding grits, I removed all the old paint (in basically good condition in this are) from the coachroof and down the forward-facing side leading to the lower, forward section.  Small bits of remaining paint here and there would be removed during several later rounds of finer sanding and hand work to come.  I stayed just short of the small area to be recored on the starboard side, as I’d be grinding the deck around the repair area in the near future.

Next, from the relative comfort of the staging, I began at the port poop deck and, during the remainder of the day, worked my way forward, removing the old paint from the decks, molded toerail, and cabin sides with a two-step sanding process using 40 and 80 grit paper, eventually reaching the foredeck by the end of the day.  Forward of the cockpit, where the deck became cored (the narrow sidedecks outboard of the cockpit, and the poopdeck, were solid fiberglass), I found that the gray material covering the decks (the sidedecks and foredeck had been recored during the work a decade past) was highly durable and therefore didn’t seem to require wholesale removal:  anything that could stand up as indelibly to the sanding onslaught to which it was subjected would probably be an acceptable substrate for the paint system to come (though I planned a compatibility test to be sure).  There’d be additional, finer sanding by machine and hand to come to deal with tight spots, toerail corners, and to remove the last vestiges of old paint.  The newly-exposed decks so far were in the expected condition:  old gelcoat with lots of previous repairs, mostly sound (cabin sides and after sections); and the rebuilt sidedecks in good condition and ready for new work.  I’d continue the surface prep next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Foggy, 33°.   Forecast for the day:  Decreasing clouds, 37°