Saturday

To further advance the project in the coming week, I spent some time over the weekend preparing the stock for, and gluing up, the frame for the new forward hatch.

Using the hatch as a guide, I determined how much the hatch flange would overlap the frame:  1″ all around.  I decided on a 1/2″ reveal, so that meant I needed to mill the stock to 1-1/2″ width.  In due course, I milled a long blank from the original board to these dimensions.

Using the hatch itself, I cut four pieces of the newly-dimensioned lumber to frame the hatch properly.  I used tongue depressors as spacers between the hatch and the wood to provide a bit of leeway and provide for a close, but not overly tight, fit, and left two of the frame pieces overlong to make layout easier and since the corners of the frame would later be trimmed to a curve that matched the hatch radius anyway.

At the inside corners of the frame, I cut angled bits of wood to fit closely to the hatch curvature.

I made reference marks at all four corners to help align the pieces for gluing, then, after solvent-washing the pieces to clean them, glued up the frame with thickened epoxy adhesive.  With the frame bottom side up, I clamped it securely to the table to keep things nice and flat.  The angled blocks in the corners, in addition to filling in the space, also added gluing area and additional strength to the joints.  At three of the four corners, I used light clamping pressure to pull the blocks into the corners; at the fourth corner, where I couldn’t directly clamp the frame to the table, I found that attempts to clamp the corner block tended to pull the joint out of alignment, so I left that block unclamped.   I left the frame to cure fully.

Total time billed on this job today:  1.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  30°, cloudy, snow shower or two.   Forecast for the day:   Clearing, 35°. 

Friday

My main focus for the day was the cockpit sole and installing the new top skin laminate.  Before I could do that, however, I had various other preparations to complete.  Removing the weights and plastic sheeting, I lightly sanded the top of the core to remove any ridges or high spots leftover from the epoxy and installation.

To fill in the area around the hatch opening, I cut pieces of 1/2″ fiberglass laminate to rough size.  Then, I glued them in place with epoxy adhesive, using more of the thickened epoxy to fill in small gaps around the hatch and, eventually, at the edges of the new core where it met the cockpit sides.  Since the original sole had a fairly wide radius at this corner, and the cockpit well featured slightly angled sides, the top edge of the core didn’t touch the sides, so I had to fill these gaps with epoxy now.  After filling the cockpit drain tubes with some tape just below deck level, I filled the voids I’d left in the core around the scuppers with more thickened epoxy; I’d redrill and shape these openings more later in the reconstruction process.  Finally, I filled all the kerfs in the core with thickened epoxy and troweled over the whole area, which served not only to fill and smooth, but also to wet out and prepare for the top skin.

While allowing the epoxy to tack up just a bit, I prepared my station to wet out the top skins, then, when appropriate, I installed two layers of 1708 fabric over the new core, bringing the material slightly up the edges of the cockpit well as designed.    I brought the laminate right over the scuppers for now and would redrill the holes later.  During fabric cutting earlier, I’d cut out the bulk of the opening for the new deck hatch in the first layer of cloth, but, belatedly growing wiser, I’d left the cloth whole for the second lager but didn’t wet out the whole area.  This did make the cloth more stable during installation.  Much later in the day–so late I almost forgot and worried I’d waited too long–I used a sharp knife to trim the fiberglass at the edges of the hatch opening, removing the excess from within.  As it happened, the epoxy had cured just the right amount to allow for a clean cut.  This hatch opening would require minor recutting to the pattern later.

With the day’s main event behind me, I turned to some additional tasks, starting with the transducer housing fairing and ongoing patchwork on the old engine intake through hulls.  These works required light sanding, which nearly completed the work on the engine intake–save for a small low area that required a bit of filler-and prepared the transducer for the next step, which was to install structural fiberglass over the whole area, to strengthen and complete the housing, and to tie it all in with the adjacent hull.

I patterned and cut two layers of fiberglass for the transducer, staggering the layers and overlapping the seams between the two.  Each piece required a custom cut at the forward edge to wrap around the curved portion of the housing.  Afterwards, I installed the new fiberglass in epoxy resin.  All that remained now was some final fairing once the new fiberglass had cured.

I’d received a piece of 8/4 Sipo (mahogany) for the new forward hatch frame (and other trims as needed), and to finish up the day’s work I planed the rough stock till it was smooth on both sides, ending up with about 1-7/8″ thickness thereafter.  Then, I straightened one of the irregular edges to prepare the stock for final dimensioning and the construction of the hatch frame in the near future.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  19°, clear.   Forecast for the day:   Increasing clouds, rain or snow in the afternoon, 38°. 

Thursday

The final step before I could install new core in the cockpit sole was to make the cutout for the new access hatch.  Now that I had a template (and the hatch itself), I began by laying out the position of the new hatch.  There was an obstruction a little bit forward (a glassed-in wooden support near the head of the cockpit), and I strove to leave the new hatch flange far enough aft from that to allow for fasteners.  In the event, the new hatch ended up more or less centered above the old opening, which of course was no terrific surprise.

Layout complete, I cut out the center portion and test-fit the hatch.  Then, I sanded away any old paint and coatings that remained around the new opening.

Installing the core pattern in the cockpit, I made some marks to show where the opening was, so I could omit the core around the hatch opening (and also, later, for determining the hatch location when I cut fiberglass for the sole).

From here, I laid out and cut the core, leaving a wide-ish boundary around the hatch, which area I’d later fill with solid fiberglass.  The core was in several pieces to fit around the hatch, and because the cockpit size was a bit wider than a sheet of the core.  At the cockpit scuppers, I left out the core a bit back from the drains so I could manually form some new funnels from epoxy later in the process.

After final preparations to the sole, including adding a simple brace beneath the aft end of the hatch cutout to support the sole at its weakest point, I prepared the core by wetting out both sides and letting the epoxy soak in for a bit while I wet out the sole and then applied the notched epoxy adhesive over the whole thing.  I installed the new core and weighted it down with sandbags.  One of the bags opened as I put it in place, spilling some sand onto the plastic I’d laid above the core but not causing any issues.  But the sand might be visible in the photos.

While the core cured in place, I used the same paper pattern to lay out and cut two layers of fiberglass for the new top skin, sized as needed to wrap up the sides of the sole by about 2″ (roughly to where I ground off the gelcoat) and 1″, for the first and second layers respectively.  I cut out (roughly) the opening for the hatch in the first layer, but realized belatedly that this would make the fiberglass harder to handle during installation, so for the second layer I marked the hatch opening but left the cloth intact; I just wouldn’t wet out that area.  The new top skin would go on next time, once the core was cured.

At the transducer housing, I lightly sanded the new fiberglass from last time; then, after cleaning up, I applied fairing compound to smooth the area and fill and form some of the last remaining contours to blend the new housing in with the adjacent hull and keel, which was needed before I could do the structural fiberglass and then fair the whole thing its final time(s).

With some leftover fairing compound, I applied a first coat to the two through hulls I’d patched on the starboard aft part of the hull.

With that, it was about all I could do right at the moment, so I finished up the day working on another project at the shop.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  32°, mainly cloudy.   Forecast for the day:   Mostly cloudy, 36°. 

Wednesday

Thinking ahead to the day, I decided it was time to do the next steps in the transducer installation:  That is, to create the fiberglass housing that would eventually secure and bed the transducer itself.  To prepare, I wrapped the transducer in a couple layers of masking tape for protection, then, at the top–following the line of the stainless steel part of the transducer (versus the transducer-y part below)–covered the top in black tape to aid in mold release.  I applied some paste wax as well.  The transducer itself would provide the mold for the new housing.

A test fit showed a need to slightly open up the hole through the hull at the bottom edge, since the transducer bound a bit when nearly all the way in.  After pulling out all the transducer cable again, and enlarged the hole as needed with a drum sander, I fed through the cable once more and propped the transducer tightly into position against the fiberglass plate I’d installed in the keel cutout.

I cut lightweight fiberglass cloth strips to appropriate sizes and prepared to go to work.  Bringing the bottom edge of the fiberglass down to the bottom of the black line on the taped-up transducer, I applied two staggered layers of the cloth on each side, focusing on keeping the bottom edge as straight as possible and sticking the fiberglass closely to the transducer and immediately adjacent hull.  I wrapped more around the base of the keel just aft of the transducer, where there was a small space; this would give me a pocket that I could fill with epoxy afterwards.  This fiberglass exercise was to provide the final shape of the internal housing, into which the transducer would fit during final installation later, but there’d be additional shaping, fairing, and finally structural fiberglass to tie the whole new assembly into the rest of the keel before all was said and done.  I installed heat lamps on each side to speed up the curing process, since I wanted to remove the transducer from the new housing as soon as the fiberglass had cured sufficiently to hold its shape.  I moved the heat lamps around to aim at different parts of the assembly over the next couple hours.

While I waited for the fiberglass to cure, I worked in the cockpit to sand the paint out of all the corners and tight spots, by machine and hand as necessary.

Right after lunch, the transducer housing was ready to remove.  Though during the dry fit I’d tried to ensure that the transducer itself would be easy to remove–that is, not bind anywhere in the through-hull hole or elsewhere–I had a moment’s panic consternation when I couldn’t get it to budge; I’d hope that I could simply pull it straight down from below.  Eventually, I threaded the fixing nut onto the top of the shaft within, and with light tapping got the transducer to move, after which I finished from outside once more.  The little curved fiberglass pocket at the aft end protruded just a little and prevented the aft end of the transducer from passing, so I trimmed it with a knife.  I left the new housing to fully cure before proceeding further.  I unmasked the transducer and set it aside; I wouldn’t need it again till final installation.

With new core material and hatches due with the courier’s usual arrival in the afternoon, I prepared the cockpit for the structural work by vacuuming and solvent-washing so I could make a pattern of the sole.  The original cockpit sole, which was relatively thin solid fiberglass “reinforced” with a trio of plywood stringers beneath, was flimsy and weak underfoot, and shuddered and creaked alarmingly when trod upon.

I made a pattern of the sole in the usual way, with a sheet of paper and a straightedge to mark 1-1/2″ (or one straightedge width) from the edges.  Down on the bench, I trimmed the pattern to the correct size.

I was awaiting arrival of a new, larger hatch for the cockpit sole, to replace and enhance the old round one, and planned to eliminate the core from around the new opening, but since the delivery hadn’t yet arrived, and I didn’t have a stock pattern on hand for the hatch, I spent a few minutes starting the repair on the starboard cockpit seat scupper, the fiberglass tube for which had broken off when I removed the old hose earlier.  After determining correct alignment to fit the ragged edges back together, I secured the tube section back in place with thickened epoxy, both at the break and along a nearby structural member to help stiffen the whole thing.  I used some tape to hold the tube in place.  This repair alone would not be sufficient, and I planned to add some fiberglass once the adhesive had cured and I could actually work on the piece.

My delivery finally arrived, a bit later than usual, but not to late to prevent me from making a cardboard template of the new aluminum cockpit hatch that I could use now (and in the future) to lay out the new cutout.

Also now on hand was new 1/2″ core for the cockpit, and the new forward hatch.  I had a wood delivery coming on the morrow, so I looked forward to getting the hatch project underway soon.

Total time billed on this job today:  7 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  28°, mainly cloudy, 6″ or so of snow and plenty of sleet from yesterday.   Forecast for the day:   Cloudy, possible show or sleet or freezing showers, 36°. 

Tuesday

Beginning at floor level, I lightly sanded as needed the engine through hull patches, rendering them ready for final filling and fairing.

I continued with another round of light sanding on the transducer housing, which, other than a couple minor lows, brought this to a stage ready for the next steps, including installing some fiberglass, which I planned to get started on soon.

I spent the bulk of the day in the cockpit, sanding the rest of the seats, cabin bulkhead, coaming edges, and the cockpit well to remove the old coatings down to original gelcoat.  I worked through two grits of paper in the process, leaving only the inaccessible corners to be dealt with during future sanding steps that would be underway presently.  At the aft bulkhead, I prepared the edges of the large opening to the lazarette, which we planned to patch and fill in favor of a new opening in the poop deck.

I could have started the next rounds of sanding in the cockpit–corners and details–but decided instead to make the cut for the new hatch in the poop deck, which not only would provide better access to the space for various preparations and other tasks, but would also confirm the fit of the generator within, which I’d tentatively  measured and thought would fit rather well.  So I used the generator itself to make a simple cardboard pattern.  Using a square held against the generator at its maximum dimension/protrusion on each of its four sides, I marked the cardboard accordingly, which gave me a rectangular pattern that would represent the minimum size of the hatch opening required.  This was a starting point for the new hatch.

On deck, I measured in several places to determine the centerline (the backstay chainplate does not exit the hull on centerline), then laid out the template in an appropriate position near the forward edge of the space, and centered on the deck.  An existing hole in the deck, leftover from a vent or some other installation, meant that I needed to slightly expand the width of the hatch to incorporate the old opening and obviate the need to patch it first; an additional 2″ width (to be duplicated on the other side for symmetry) took care of this, and I marked out the basic shape on the deck with a square.

Next, I cut out the deck with a saw, creating an expansive and accessible opening to the space within.  I test-fit the generator in the space:  plenty of room even allowing for some kind of platform, and as it stood now the handle of the generator stayed completely below deck level even with the generator standing nearly vertical.  For the moment, the hatch opening was just barely wider than the generator, with minimum clearance, but I might need to make it a bit wider to accommodate the hatch surround/gutter.  I’d deal with that in due course, but at least the storage idea had been confirmed as feasible.

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  26°, snow and windy, several inches down overnight.   Forecast for the day:   Snow, maybe mixing with sleet, eventually ending, 30°. 

Monday

After spending a good bit of the morning on another project, which had required my attention unexpectedly, I started back on Lyra by taking advantage of the “clean” conditions to remove the chainplates, which were in the way of the interior painting and were only dry-fitted and vaguely bedded at deck level anyway (going back years to the previous iteration of the project that led to this project).  These appeared to be the original bronze chainplates.  For now, I set them aside, though they’d require assessment later.

Over the weekend, the owner and I had come to a plan and decision about how to proceed about the cockpit in particular; the cockpit was in poor condition, with widespread and wholesale paint failure, numerous repairs required (icebox hatch, engine gauge holes, and more), and in addition the original Triton cockpit sole construction was weak and flimsy underfoot, which condition had only been exacerbated over the years.  So after discussion, we decided to refinish the entire cockpit area now, as well as reinforce the cockpit sole with add-on coring and topskin, which would greatly improve cockpit use going forward.

To this end, I began by removing a round plastic deck plate at the forward end of the cockpit; we planned to install a larger, stronger, aluminum hatch here later.  I also removed a completely ineffective (as well as rotted) wooden brace that someone had bolted to the bottom of the cockpit in an attempt to stiffen things.

To augment the electric motor planned for the boat, the owner had purchased a small portable generator with the idea of storing it beneath the poop deck when not in use.  To assess this possibility, as well as other options, I made some basic measurements to determine the fit and feasibility.  Space in the lazarette was limited, but it looked to me like the generator could fit within, and beneath a modest hatch, especially if the storage was slightly angled to use the deepest part of the locker forward of the backstay knee (which, along with the angle of the transom, conspired to greatly limit depth in the aft end of the compartment).  The depth wasn’t there at the aft end, unless the locker was built to extend well above deck, but with a slight angled approach I thought it looked possible here.

Another storage option could be the two cockpit lockers.  The openings here were just a bit small, but with minor modification might be made to work.  The generator required roughly 11″ width by 22″ width (and about 22″ height), and while the forward end of the locker opening was plenty wide, 22″ aft it was about 1/2″ too narrow–but this could be opened up by cutting some of the overhanging lips built into the gutter system.  So I felt either cockpit locker could be a viable alternative as well.

With my clean work done for now, I turned to the day’s ration of sanding, starting with the transducer housing, which I lightly sanded to clean up and prepare for another round of fairing that brought the protrusion to nearly its final contours.

With the leftover filler, I filled the old through hull hole in the engine room, which I’d prepared from outside previously.  I’d masked over the hole from inside while up in the cockpit earlier.  A bit later, after lunch break, I installed two layers of fiberglass over the hole, and two layers over the adjacent (and previously filled by others) small through hole just behind.

Now I used a grinder to remove all the paint and gelcoat from the cockpit sole, down to bare laminate, as well as a couple inches up the sides all around–this to prepare for installing new core over top, and then a new top skin that tied into the well all around.  While the nonskid paint tended to flake off in large sheets (having never bonded well with whatever was beneath it), the gray primer beneath, as well as the original gelcoat, required substantial sanding to remove.  With immediate plans to make a cutout for a larger access hatch at the forward end, I left an appropriate area unsanded rather than waste time removing the paint from there.

During what remained of the afternoon, I got started on the paint removal and surface prep in the rest of the cockpit, getting most of the starboard seating area and inside coaming sanded before the end of the day.  Here, I worked my way down through the paint layers with coarse paper, leaving dribs and drabs of the old coating as I reached the original gelcoat; then, with finer paper, I finished up the general paint removal.  I planned to continue in a similar vein next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  -3°, mostly clear.   Forecast for the day:   Increasing clouds, 29°.  Snow beginning overnight.

Friday

I lightly sanded the area around the transducer installation as needed to smooth the epoxy and prepare it for subsequent steps.

After cleaning up, I applied additional epoxy, continuing to shape and form around the fixed positions of the fiberglass plate and adjacent hull.  In particular, I focused on the leading edge, where I had to build up a fair amount of material to create the sort of shape and flow I wanted when all was said and done.  To keep the epoxy from overheating, as well as to prevent a gravity-induced failure, I planned to build up the shape over several applications.

Back in the interior, I went over the overhead and cabin sides in all three cabins with slightly finer paper, just to dress up these most visible areas and better prepare them for primer and paint.  With that, I hoped the worst of the major interior sanding was mostly complete (equivocate much), and to allow me to work in and around the boat in the coming days without a respirator, I took the time to catch up my cleaning with broom and vacuum, getting the interior back to a better state of things.

By the end of the morning, the first round of epoxy on the transducer had cured sufficiently to allow me to make a second application for the day, green on green, and continue the shaping.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  10°, clear.   Forecast for the day:   Sunny, windy, 22°