Thursday

Nearing the end of the major cockpit work, I once more began by day with plenty of sanding, this time all with a vibrating finishing sander and ample hand work at the corners where I’d last applied fairing compound.  I also sanded the entire cockpit and poop deck areas with 120 grit paper, the finest required before the first round of primer, working to get the entire area ready for that stage.  By this point, the fairing work was more or less complete, but there were a few tool marks in the cockpit sole, and one pesky low spot on the poop deck, that required one more application of fairing compound to take care of.

On the transom, I sanded flush the fiberglass patches I’d applied over the old bolt holes, then applied epoxy fairing compound over these areas as needed.

During the course of my work on the poop deck, I’d changed my plan enough that it made sense to simply paint the whole area now, and this meant that I needed to also paint the lazarette hatch, which I’d removed early in the project.  So I removed the solar panel (which I’d planned to do anyway so I could overbore and epoxy-fill the bolt holes for the panel) and other hardware from the hatch and, after boring out the fastener holes with a 5/8″ bit to remove the core within, sanded off the nonskid and prepared the hatch for further steps.   A padeye on the front of the hatch had been installed with rusty rivets, and after drilling them out I prepared those holes for filling so I could reinstall a different fitting later.  I filled the enlarged bolt holes and the old padeye holes with a thickened epoxy mixture.

I had a couple loose ends to wrap up in the cabin, including reinstalling the electrical panel now that the work within was done.

When I removed the hawsepipe on the foredeck to inspect and ultimately ream out the core from the opening, a little section of the bottom skin had fallen out in a chunk around one of the old screw holes.  Why this little section disintegrated like this is anyone’s guess–it was a pretty clean break–and it was of little consequence overall, but still needed some minor rebuilding before I could finish the repair and eventually reinstall the hardware.

To this end, I sanded away the paint beneath the opening, then installed a layer of fiberglass over the entire area (it’d be easy to redrill the hole later).  This covered and tied in the little broken section, and would also help contain the thickened epoxy I would install later to fill the deck void.

Now I turned my attention to the hull.  The original hull was in generally good condition, but there were several small dings and stress-cracked areas here and there, so with a grinder I went around and opened these up as needed, either for eventual filling and fairing, or, for the larger and surface-cracked areas, patching with fiberglass to stabilize the areas.  Those repairs would follow in due course.

The owners sent me a few photos of the  boat in the water to illustrate and confirm the position of the actual floating waterline.  Between the photos, the owners’ information from when they dropped off the boat, and the visual cues on the hull itself, I could establish points on the hull, stem and stern, that would give me the reference I needed later when it was time to mark anew the waterline and boottop.  With a little tape, I marked these and measured from my static reference points for recreation as a starting point later on.   The new waterline and striping, which I’d strike later in the process, would better account for the typical stern squat of these designs, with and without the weight of the outboard, and would correct several other aspects of the existing marks for improved appearance.

With references accounted for, I could begin to remove the boottop, the first step in the hull’s surface prep.  I like to do the “worst” parts of a job first when possible, and in this case that was the stern areas beneath the counter, which required uncomfortable overhead work, so before the end of the day I removed most of the old paint from the quarters, from the after jackstand on each side, and down a bit into the antifouling.  Beneath the blue boottop paint, I found a hard layer of something like a barrier coat, and hints of old brown paint in there too.  Any remnants of paint left behind from the first two rounds of sanding (with two grits of paper) would be sanded away later when I sanded the rest of the topsides; now I was only looking to remove the bulk of the paint without taking the aggressive sanding too far.  I’d continue with the rest of the striping next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  28°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Partly sunny, 39°

Wednesday

Along with sanding the second round of fairing compound in the cockpit and poop deck, I spent extra time sanding all the remaining areas–cockpit seats, well, coamings, corners, aft cabin bulkhead, cockpit locker gutter, fuel tank storage area–with a finishing sander and by hand as needed to begin the surface prep in all areas to be primed and painted.  With myriad corners and tight spots, this took most of the morning to complete.  I also sanded smooth the nonskid and otherwise prepared the two loose locker lids.

The fairing situation in the two recored areas and other cockpit areas was coming along, and after cleaning up I concentrated on several low spots on the decks, as well as some of the corners where I’d had to grind out stress cracks.

On the transom, I dished out around the various old holes I’d filled earlier, then installed small pieces of fiberglass to fill and stabilize the repairs.

After some fine-tuning and final shaping of the new rubrail section, I removed the piece and gave it a couple coats of Cetol–the finish on the adjacent wood– to seal all sides before installation, which would follow soon.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  19°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Partly sunny, then chance of light snow in the evening, 32°

Tuesday

Continuing the cockpit repair work, I began by sanding the first round of fairing filler I’d applied in all areas.  This highlighted areas still requiring additional attention.

After cleanup, I applied a second round of fairing filler as needed, mainly on the cockpit sole, poop deck,  and some of the fastener locations.

While I had epoxy underway, I secured the negative buss bar–which had originally been bolted through the cabin side–back in place inside the electrical locker.  To hold the bar in place while the epoxy adhesive cured, I added a temporary hot-glued wooden block at the base, and used tape and some wooden braces (not shown) as needed.

Back at the transom, I double-checked the position of the new outboard bracket and, once satisfied, drilled the remaining three bolt holes.  Removing the bracket and marking the “good” holes, I cleaned up the surfaces and filled all the obsolete holes with a thickened epoxy mixture after masking over from the inside.  I planned to grind out the surfaces and finalize these patches with some fiberglass once the epoxy filler cured overnight.

Following some discussions over the past weekend, the owners had decided to go ahead and repaint the hull during this work session.  The transom work would have already required painting the transom, and with original gelcoat on the hull and a rather wonky boottop and misplaced waterline, the owners were ready for some improvement.

As a baseline, I began by documenting the existing position of the boottop and bottom paint at stem and stern, as well as the approximate position of the true floating waterline according to the owners’ recollections and some more or less visible marks on the hull.  While these positions would change once repainted, I needed to have the references available once I sanded off the boottop and portions of the bottom paint as needed.

Working from easily-reproducible reference points at stem and stern, I measured and noted the positions of the striping and bottom paint on some carefully-crafted diagrams.  I planned to begin the surface preparations in the near future.

The teak rubrail amidships on the port side had been damaged apparently sometime rather long ago, as the broken section was sanded and worn smooth and coated with multiple layers of finish.  The owners requested that I repair this small area, so so begin I made some layout lines to guide 45° cuts at each end, well clear of the damaged area.  Then, I removed a couple screws within the section to be removed and made the relief cuts at both ends, removing the damaged section.

I cleaned up the remnants of old sealant from the hull, and reproduced (slightly oversized) the rubrail profile from a piece of new teak.  After several trial fits and minor adjustments to the length, the new piece fit in as intended, though the profile was still a bit proud of the adjacent sections as I’d intended, so I could trim it down as needed to blend well.

After some additional minor adjustments (trimming), and finally some sanding in place, the new section (just dry-fit for now) was coming close to its final dimensions.  I’d finish up the work and install the new trim permanently once I received the wood-colored sealant I needed, which I’d just ordered.

Total time billed on this job today:   6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  28°, mainly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Mostly cloudy, 33°

Monday

After a brief water wash, I sanded the new laminate on the cockpit sole and poop deck, smoothing the edges and bringing them flush with the adjacent deck while lightly scuffing all areas.

At the same time, I began to prepare the other areas of the cockpit for refinishing and minor repairs, including sanding off the existing nonskid pattern from the seats and reaming or grinding out any further fastener holes, cracks, and dings throughout the work area.  I also lightly sanded most of the cockpit well and cabin bulkhead, though additional detail and finer sanding would come a  little later in the process.  For the moment, my goal was to prepare any areas for filling and fairing as required.

After cleaning up and final preparations, I applied a coat of epoxy fairing compound to the new laminates, and skim-coated the cockpit seats to help smooth the surface left over after removing the nonskid pattern.  Then, I applied filler to the various screw holes, ground-out cracks, and other areas I’d prepared earlier.

During the deck inspection, I’d discovered water around the hawsepipe on the foredeck, and now I removed the fitting to inspect the area and determine repair possibilities.  I’d initially thought the core was saturated fairly far out from the hole itself, but instead was pleased to find that I could ream out most or all of the damaged core from the small opening.  This was good news because although refinishing the main decks was a project on the list for the future, it wasn’t part of the job scope for this session, largely due to schedule constraints of my own, so it was pleasing to think that I could repair the opening satisfactorily now without any worries of cosmetic damage in the process.

I planned to let the opening air out for a while to allow any residual moisture to evaporate before I filled the voids with thickened epoxy sometime down the road.

Meanwhile, I’d advanced the project as much as possible for the moment, so I worked on other things at the shop while the epoxy in the cockpit had its required cure time.

Total time billed on this job today:  4 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  26°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Mostly sunny, 33°

Friday

After an overnight cure, I removed the weights and plastic from the fresh core on the poop deck and cockpit sole.  This left behind some flimsy epoxy shards and a shiny epoxy coating over the entire area.

To prepare the core for the next steps, I lightly sanded all areas to remove excess epoxy and smooth the surface.

I also sanded lightly the small fiberglass patches I’d made around the cockpit.  These would all require additional fairing that I’d complete in due course.

I made paper patterns of the recessed area around the rudderpost and the cleat reinforcement on the poop deck, then patterned for the new laminate, marking to the outer edge of the prepared deck areas adjacent to the new core.  Afterwards, I masked off around the poop deck repair to protect adjacent surfaces, and masked the tillerhead and scuppers in the cockpit to protect them from any stray epoxy during the laminating.

I cut 8 layers of fiberglass to fill the cleat and rudderpost recesses, then installed the solid laminate to bring these flush with the surrounding core.  I added a single layer of 10 oz. fiberglass over the rudderpost laminate to help smooth the initial application and tie the whole thing in slightly with the surrounds.  I let the new material cure for a bit while I used the patterns to cut the three layers of fiberglass for each repair, then mixed and applied a bit of thickened epoxy filler to complete the solid recesses, as well as to skim coat the top of the core and fill any small voids left behind at the edges.

I started with a layer of fiberglass cut to the same size as the core, inside the deck edges, to cover the core and bring the level up as needed with the edges.  Then, for each repair, I installed two further, overlapping layers of fiberglass that extended to the edges of the prepared deck areas around the repairs.  At the rudderpost, I changed the position of the relief cut on each of the three layers so none were directly above another.  I left the new fiberglass to cure for the weekend.

Total time billed on this job today:  5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  32°, high clouds.  Forecast for the day:  Slight chance of showers, cloudy, 46°

Thursday

I spent the first part of the morning continuing and completing the core cleanout from around the edges of the two repairs as needed.  Once I was satisfied with the preparation, I completed a final cleanup of both repairs.

I used paper to make simple patterns of the areas to be recored, pressing the paper into shape in the recesses and marking along the edges with a marker.  Then, I transferred the patterns to sheets of 3/8″ balsa core and cut out the core pieces for a trial fit.   At the aft end of the cockpit around the rudderpost, I left out some of the core material so I could install solid fiberglass in these areas later for additional reinforcement and improved protection against water ingress in this area.

For the poop deck core, I omitted a large rectangular area in way of the mooring cleat; I’d fill this with solid fiberglass later.  I also masked over the cleat holes and old hawsepipe hole from beneath.  Later, once the core was in place, I planned to add a fiberglass patch beneath the hawsepipe hole, but for now I just needed to fill the hole flush during the recore.

Satisfied with the coring as cut, I began the installation by wetting out inside the deck edges with unthickened epoxy, and saturated all sides of the core pieces with epoxy.  While I let that soak, I mixed strengthened, thickened epoxy mixtures to fill all the voids beneath the deck edges, starting with the cockpit sole.  Once I’d filled all the edges and skim-coated the inner deck skin, I applied  epoxy adhesive with a notched trowel, then installed the new core, weighting it down beneath plastic sheeting. (Sorry, I have to keep moving too quickly to stop for photos during the various epoxy steps.)

I repeated the process with the poop deck core.

With the new coring in place, I could work at a more relaxed pace to prepare, fill, and, where needed, fiberglass patch some of the other holes in the cockpit, including the old shifter cable holes at the aft end, and the wiring holes in the port cockpit bulkhead.  There were still a number of small fastener holes and other preparations to do in the cockpit, but I’d get to those in due course once I had a cockpit to work in again.

Meanwhile, I continued the early outboard bracket installation.  Armed with some new information about the outboard, a Tohatsu 6 HP 4-stroke with 20″ shaft, I could get some basic dimensions (mainly the distance from the mounting bracket on the outboard to the anti-ventilation plate, which in this case was 22″) and build a simple template to show the proposed mounting in three dimensions.

I used a long level to transfer the height of the anti-ventilation plate forward to the hull so I could get a better sense of the true depth of the prop in this situation.  I couldn’t photograph that process while underway, but I put a tape mark on the hull to show the level of the plate; the prop would be a few inches below this.  I thought the prop depth looked pretty good, particularly since the actual load waterline was somewhere in the middle of the boottop as currently painted.

Satisfied with the basic position of the mount, I fine-tuned the bracket base from side to side with a level and revised my layout marks on the transom.

Thus endeth the day.

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  28°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 41°

Wednesday

On the starboard poop deck, I marked off the outlines of the cut I needed to effect the core repairs, striving to stay within the boundaries of the existing nonskid pattern as much as possible and streamline the cosmetic work later.  This worked at this location because the natural edge of the core was set in substantially from the deck edge, which meant that my cutlines would still enable me to pull the core out from beneath the remaining deck edge.

Thusly marked, I made the cut and easily pulled off the top skin and most of the saturated core beneath.

Next, I spent some time removing the rest of the core and reaming out beneath the edges with a variety of tools.  After a while, it became clear I needed to extend the cut forward, since the core extended all the way to the edge of the cockpit well, beneath the traveler, and I couldn’t reach in far enough to pull out the damaged core as required.  This meant cutting into the smooth-gelcoated area of the deck aft of the traveler, but I could handle that with a change to the nonskid arrangement when I repainted later.

Once I’d removed the additional skin, I reamed out the rest of the core from the newly-widened area.  I removed two of the traveler bolts that were in the affected area so I could work without impediment.

On the port side of the poop deck, no repairs were needed, but it would make sense to at least repaint the nonskid to match the repaired starboard side, so with that in mind and tools in hand I removed the port mooring cleat from the deck as well.

Now I moved on to the cockpit sole, where I laid out similar cutlines with green tape for visibility.  The cockpit sole featured a molded gutter along the outer edges, leading to the scuppers, and the core ended within the same area, so again I left enough original top skin to allow tying in the new laminate later, but not so much that I couldn’t get beneath it to ream out the remaining core.

Working for the moment on the forward half of the cockpit–I perched on the aft part for this cut–I made the cutout and again easily lifted the skin and much of the sodden core.  Then I scraped up the remaining core bits and pulled the bulk of the old core out from beneath the deck flanges.

To remove the after half of the cockpit sole, I stood in the starboard locker and worked from there to cut out the skin and remove the core as before.  There was a solid fiberglass piece around the rudderpost, and eventually I extended the deck cut aft so I could clean out the rotted core behind this areas as well.

With most of the core mess cleaned up and out of the way, I continued work on the hidden areas beneath all the deck flanges, working to remove all the old core bits from within.  Once I was satisfied with that for now, I used a grinder to prepare the deck edges around the cockpit and poop deck repairs, removing gelcoat and slightly tapering the laminate around the perimeter to provide the necessary bonding area for the new top skin laminate.

At the same time, I prepared a few of the larger holes in the cockpit and nearby that I’d be patching later.

When vacuuming up the mess from the grinding, I’d unintentionally pulled pooled water out through the starboard cockpit seat drain and into the cockpit, and this combined with the fine grinding dust to make a sort of messy, sticky paste that got into the deck flanges and resisted immediate efforts to fully remove.  So after doing what I could, I left the cockpit area to dry out overnight so I could better finish cleaning and preparing the area.

With a bit of time left in the day, I decided to begin layout for the replacement outboard mount, which featured  a small aluminum base into which a heavier steel bracket could be mounted or easily removed for storage.  Working from the marks I’d made from the old mount, I roughed out a position for the new hardware, keeping top edge of the pad just a bit lower than the original one, which the owner had suggested was necessary to keep more of the outboard in the water.   This meant that now the top edge of the pad corresponded roughly to the second mark I’d made earlier, the lower one indicating the top of the outboard bracket itself.

Once I had enough of a mark, I drilled a hole for one temporary fastener so I could assess the position and fine-tune the layout and level of the pad once I’d confirmed everything was in the right place.  I wanted the holes for the new bracket in place before I began patching the old, as I didn’t want to lose the rough layout marks from the original mount.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  39°, mostly clear.  Forecast for the day:  Partly sunny with slight chance of showers in the afternoon, 44°

Tuesday

With the departure of one boat from the shop on Monday,  I could move Arietta inside and prepare for the project ahead.  The boat was wet from recent rain, and once she was indoors I chose to work on another project in the shop and let her dry off for a day.

The known scope of work included some deck repairs in the cockpit and poop deck, plus a moderate list of smaller jobs and improvements.  To get started, I inspected the hull and documented its initial condition.  The original gelcoated surfaces were in generally good condition with a few minor stress cracks and the usual collection of dings and chips from docking and mooring accidents over the years, and the owners had indicated that the waterline as currently painted did not accurately reflect how the boat actually floated.  Assessing whether, or when, to possibly address the hull cosmetics, bootop, and waterline was part of the inspection at this time, but for the moment the only planned hull work was to remove the existing, bulky, and non-functional outboard bracket on the transom and replace it with a new, removable one the owner supplied.

The decks also featured original gelcoat and nonskid throughout, and generally were in good condition for the age.  The sidedecks featured various stress cracks extending athwartships across the decks in several areas, particularly amidships and near the rigging loads, but closer inspection and sounding revealed no noticeable problem areas within, other than obvious moisture in the deck immediately surrounding the foredeck-mounted hawsepipe.

In the cockpit, the sole was heavily cracked with obvious core damage beneath, and repair of this area was already included in the project scope.  The cockpit seats and bridgedeck appeared to be sound and would not require repairs, though with a variety of other small repairs in the cockpit, including patching numerous obsolete holes and removing additional old hardware, the project scope included refinishing the entire cockpit.

Additionally, the owner reported that the core was damaged on the starboard side of the poop deck, and inspection and sounding confirmed this.  However, the port poop deck did not have any apparent damage, so repairs would be limited to the starboard side.

In the cockpit, there were several now-obsolete holes left over from a now-removed remote engine control and its cables, and on the aft cabin bulkhead were additional unused holes, plus a pair of old wiring plugs that the owner wanted removed and repaired.  In addition, someone had secured a buss bar for the electrical system with bolts from the outside, leaving exposed screw heads, and the owner requested that I remove those and secure the buss bar in a different way from within.

The obsolete wiring plugs to port were straightforward and quick to remove, and so was the buss bar once I opened the electrical panel inside.  For now, I left the buss bar unsecured pending the completion of the repairs to the old holes in the bulkhead.

At the stern, I removed the lazarette hatch with its solar panel attached, which meant I needed to pull through the solar panel cable, which led through an old transom hole (to be patched) and into the main cabin through a hidden route.  Not knowing what was in there at the moment, I attached a messenger line from inside before pulling the cable through.  I removed the hatch partly for access, but also because the owner reported that the hatch hinges were slightly misinstalled and didn’t allow the hatch to operate properly.  I planned to fill the old holes and reinstall the hinges appropriately during the course of the project.  Later, during installation, I’d run the solar panel cable through a new waterproof deck fitting as well.

Next, I removed the old outboard bracket, which was secured with four carriage bolts through a reinforced area of the transom.  But before I removed it, I made some notes on the height of the existing bracket pad so I could properly locate the new bracket at the right height later.  For this, I used a level to transfer the height of the top edge of the old pad, plus another mark showing where the old outboard’s mounting bracket had actually been on the pad, as there was a slight discoloration and depression visible in the pad.  These two pairs of marks would help determine the location of the new bracket soon.

Continuing in the area, to prepare for the deck repairs, I removed an anchor hawse from the starboard poopdeck (not to be replaced later), a hasp from the lazarette hatch, and the starboard stern cleat.

In the cockpit, I removed all the hardware I could, including cockpit locker lid hasps and hinges, a pair of padeyes in the cockpit well, some snaps from cockpit cushions, and a pair of old winch handle holders forward.  I decided to leave the locker lid hinges in place on the decks since access was difficult to impossible, and the exisiting fasteners were extremely long and gave all indications of being recalcitrant to remove, so I thought the potential risks and time consumption far outweighed the minimal benefits of removal in this case.

Preparing for the eventual paint work, I removed the compass and sailing instruments from the forward end of the cockpit, setting them aside for later reinstallation.

Finally, I removed a wooden trim block surrounding the rudderpost, which opened up access for the upcoming repair, and, to round out the day, I collected tools and equipment so I could get started on the deck repairs next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  58°, light rain.  Forecast for the day:  Cloudy, rain, and showers, 60°