Thursday

I spent the first part of the day sanding the cockpit once more, this time with 320 grit paper by machine and hand as required to ready the primer for the next steps.

Afterwards, I cleaned the boat and shop thoroughly and, since it was too soon to start masking over the primer for the topcoat (the last coat of primer had only been applied during mid-afternoon the day before and required 24 hours minimum cure time), I laid out and prepared masking materials for next time, when I hoped to mask, then apply topcoat to, the cockpit.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  44°, foggy.  Forecast for the day:   Mostly cloudy,  56°

Wednesday

The cockpit was ready for another round of light sanding to smooth the fine filler from last time.

Afterwards, following the usual rounds of vacuuming, solvent wash, and other related preparations, I applied three coats of epoxy-based finish primer to the cockpit.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  39°, foggy.  Forecast for the day:   Mostly cloudy,  58°

Tuesday

After curing overnight, the high-build primer was ready for sanding, which I took care of first thing, vacuuming and solvent-washing the cockpit afterwards.

High-build acts as a sort of sealer and final stage of surfacing, and as such highlights various areas requiring additional work, such as pinholes to be filled, and other minor interruptions.  Because even the best efforts during the initial fairing and filling stages leave unseen flaws to be found after priming, I expected and planned for there to be an additional round of filling and surfacing work now, and later in the day I applied thin applications of an epoxy fine fairing compound from the paint system, filling pinholes, fine-tuning the shape of the corners and angles, places where the laminate weave was still showing through on the cockpit sole, and one small air void I uncovered at a corner of the icebox repair.  I left the fairing compound to cure overnight in the overheated shop.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  23°, clear.  Forecast for the day:   Sunny, 60°

Monday

During the first part of the morning, I finished up various final prepwork for the primer and paint stage ahead, including some additional masking (mainly some additional paper to protect the hull around the stern quarters of the boat), plus setup of  paint and spray equipment as needed.  Once all the related preparations were complete, I finished up with a final solvent wash in the cockpit, this time using the paint system’s proprietary solvent for the purpose.

Then, over the course of a few elapsed hours, I applied three coats of epoxy-based high-build primer to the cockpit areas.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  23°, clear.  Forecast for the day:   Sunny, 60°

Friday

After checking over my various battery cable and charger connections, I plugged in the charger to test its function.  Everything lit up that was supposed to light up, and nothing lit up that wasn’t supposed to (i.e. error codes in the numbered window).  The fan whirred, and all was good in the land.

I had a few loose ends to wrap up in the galley and environs that would finish up this segment of the work, as I planned to transition to the cockpit final painting next (in keeping with the overall schedule and priorities in the project scope), starting with the final installation of the house battery in its new home beneath the electric motor.  I installed a pair of stainless webbing strap eyes on the platform (which I’d secretly painted previously), then secured the battery in place with a strap (stainless buckle).  I installed some terminal boot covers over the terminals both for ongoing protection now, and for eventual future use once the wiring was to go in.  Finally, I secured the removable cleat at the aft end to hold the battery firmly in place.

With a straightedge and spacer block, I marked as needed the width and depth of the cutout required in the engine room countertop panel to clear the wiring leading from the engine battery switch, and made the cutout.  I’d follow suit with the house battery switch sometime later, once it was wired up.

With no further work anticipated with the engine batteries, I could button up the boxes.  To allow easier removal of the box tops for access later, while trying for the smallest practicable hatch size in the countertops above, I changed from Philips head screws to knurled-head fasteners that could be operated without tools.  I’d already made some reference marks on the underside of the countertop around the boxes, but to help locate the new hatches I made additional measurements and marks for the approximate centers of the eventual hatches on top as well.

In the port galley cabinet, I’d already installed one cleat behind the large battery-access opening to hold the removable panel (which may someday be replaced with a door, but not right now).  Now, I installed a cleat on the opposite side, gluing it in place.  Once the glue had time to cure, I could install the front panel with two screws for now.

Before removing all the countertops and other removable panels for later attention, I realized I’d not yet assembled the engine front panel and countertop all at once, so I put everything together to test the fits and observe the “completed” galley arrangement for now.

For now, my interior work was done, and I spent some time removing all my tools and other supplies from inside the boat, along with the countertop pieces (hoping to work on these independently in the coming days).  Then, I cleaned up the inside of the boat and prepared to seal it off for a while while I worked on the cockpit painting.  As a last interior step, I masked over the compass hole and some companionway fastener holes from inside.

On deck, I vacuumed everywhere, then solvent-washed the cockpit, surrounding sidedecks, and part of the cabin top to prepare it for masking and other prep in the immediate future.

With surfaces clean enough now for masking, I started at the aft cabin bulkhead and cabin top to slightly expand the area I’d sanded and prepared before, striking a new line with temporary tape at a place on the cabin where it  would be easier to blend any future deck paint with the new work going on in the cockpit.  By hand, I sanded off the existing paint in these expanded areas, then, after removing the temporary marking tape and cleaning the areas, masked off the new paint demarcation along both sides of the companionway.

During the rest of the afternoon, I worked to mask off the companionway and areas forward of the cockpit with a combination of masking paper (near the cockpit) and plastic sheeting forward, then masked the sidedecks, poop deck, and three openings in the cockpit to protect these areas during the primer and  paint ahead.  (Oops, I spy with my little eye some misaligned tape on the starboard cockpit locker, something to correct next time.)

There was more masking and some other painting prep still ahead, including preparing staging and ladders for cockpit access all around, and a general shop cleanup and related preparations, but I’d finish all that up next time before starting the high-build primer application.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  19°, partly cloudy, windy.  Forecast for the day:   Windy (how unusual), sunny, 34°

Thursday

Other business kept me away from the shop till after lunch, but during the afternoon I finished up the rest of the heavy battery cables required for the electric motor.  Now that the aft bulkhead was painted and cured, I could start by installing a pair of battery switches above the engine room:  One for the motor, the other for the house bank.  These two switches were the same model, but there were slight differences in their housings.  To hold the rear housings in place while allowing removal and installation of the front part of the switch, I added a pair of small screws through the back of the housings.  I installed the switches clear above, but close to, the top of the countertop, and later planned to modify the countertop section to slide past these and the house battery cables.

Two large cables remained:  From the battery bank positive (via the fuse holder on the bulkhead) to the switch, and from the switch to the connection point on the electric motor.  Unfortunately, the position of the studs on the switch itself were reversed from how I would have liked them to be for this configuration, but this couldn’t be helped–nor was it of any matter, other than requiring the cables to cross one another below the level of the countertop.

With the battery cables in place and secured as needed along their lengths, I turned to the engine bank battery charger.  Documentation for this charger’s installation was hard to come by, with nothing included in the box per the usual convention these days, and in fact ultimately elusive to me during my initial internet search for same.  Fortunately, I fooled them:  I’d installed one before, and could refer to my previous installation and some hard-won (at the time) instructions for wiring the charger that I dug up from when I installed the other charger about a year before, and, knowing this, I cut short my time-wasting internet search in favor of my past notes.

The charger required positive and negative leads to the battery bank, plus a battery temperature sensor connected to the bank negative terminal.  The requisite terminals on the charger housing were poorly, if at all, marked, so my previous installation experience was invaluable.

For the charger wiring, I chose 8AWG cable, somewhat larger than the charger documentation suggested, and ran the positive through a 50-amp fuse that I mounted just below the charger.  This fuse was recommended in the general charger wiring documentation that came with the electric motor.  From the fuse, I led the positive wire across the engine room and to the bank positive terminal on the starboard side.

I led the negative cable, plus the wiring harness for the temperature sensor, up alongside the charger and into the port battery box, where I secured the wires to the negative terminal.  To make room, I moved the “shunt” over a bit, as there was still lavish space available for it elsewhere.

All that remained to complete the electric motor installation now was to install the supplied control lever and battery monitor panel in the cockpit, which I would do once the cockpit was painted.  Next time, I’d double-check all my connections, then test-fire the charger.

Total time billed on this job today:  3.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  35°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:   Chance of showers, 49°