Wednesday

At first check in the morning, the heavier section of fairing compound at the transom centerline seam was not yet cured enough to sand–a known and expected issue with this particular product, which features a slow hardener and often takes longer to cure in cool temperatures.  So to help this along so I could sand it today, I set up a couple heat lamps and let them warm the area for a few hours.

To complete the transmission removal and provide the rebuild shop everything they requested, I had to remove the damper place, which was bolted to the flywheel.  To gain access, I had to remove the bell housing, which was fairly straightforward although there were many hoses and appliances in the way and secured to the bell housing, such as the transmission oil cooler, but this was just an inconvenience rather than a true impediment.

With the bell housing removed, it didn’t take long to remove the damper plate.  The engine was now unbalanced and unsteady without the counterweight of the transmission, so I bolted a couple blocks to the forward mounts to act as a storage cradle.

Later, I lightly sanded, mostly by hand, the other minor patches where I’d applied the fine fairing filler earlier, then the transom seam as well.

This process highlighted a few areas with pinholes and otherwise requiring some additional attention, so after preparations I applied more of the fine filler where needed.  This was all I could do to advance the project at this time, though I did a first-round shop cleaning afterwards as I began to prepare for primer and paint soon.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  48°, mostly clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 65°

Tuesday

The areas I’d filled with epoxy fairing compound were ready for sanding after the long weekend.  After I’d lightly sanded as needed, I vacuumed and solvent-washed the whole hull so I could closely inspect it for whatever further work was required.

Going over the hull closely, I marked with tape several tiny scrapes and divots around the boat–anything that needed a bit more sanding or some fine filling, along with the more obvious places where I knew I’d need at least one coat of fine filler to complete, such as the centerline seam on the transom and a couple places around the engine vent openings.

After final preparations, I applied a coat of fine fairing filler (epoxy) as needed.  The filler is gray in color and most of the areas I filled were minor in nature.

Without much more I could do on the boat itself at this time, I went ahead and masked off the waterline (i.e. top of the bottom paint), following the lower scribe line that I’d uncovered as I sanded the hull earlier.  I followed the masking with some paper to protect the bottom paint from overspray when I started the priming and painting.

The owner asked me to remove the transmission from the engine so he could get it to the shop that was going to rebuild the transmission as a matter of course.  This was not something I did routinely, so after some brief self-education I set to work and removed the transmission without difficulty.  To access all the mounting bolts (four bolts and two studs with nuts), I first removed the transmission mounts, then the mounting bolts.  The port lower stud came out with the nut, but the starboard stud remained in place till the transmission was loose, after which I removed the stud myself.

I still had to remove the damper plate, but for now the day was late and I left this for another time.

Total time billed on this job today:  5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  40°, mainly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Clouds, showers, then rain, 55°

Friday

To begin, I finished up with the plank seam and scribe mark sanding, mainly on the starboard side and transom.

The transom had some cracking down the vertical centerline, a standard occurrence on boats built in two-part molds.  Structurally insignificant, it did create a cosmetic problem to be dealt with, so I ground out the cracked area and a bit beyond to provide a wide bonding area, then applied the first of a couple coats of epoxy fairing compound.

Also in the area, I reamed out and filled screw holes left from the old scupper flaps; we planned to install new flaps of a different nature, and they had a different fastening pattern.

At the engine vent openings, I masked around the openings inside and out, then wet out the reamed out core edges with epoxy before installing a thickened, strengthened epoxy mixture into the voids.  Afterwards, I removed the tape and filled the old fastener holes with epoxy leftover from the transom work.

This short work day left me in a good position for the beginning of the week, when I’d work through the remaining preparation tasks required before painting.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  25°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 55°

Thursday

Continuing where I left off, I finished up the first pass of sanding on the port side of the hull, removing the boottop paint and sanding the entire surface with 120 grit.

Next, I sanded the entire hull once more, this time with 220 grit paper, to smooth the surface properly for the finish primer.  This didn’t dramatically change the appearance from the first round of sanding.

With the bulk sanding complete, I turned to the detail work, mainly the plank lines.  Starting on the port side, I hand-sanded the depths of the plank lines as needed to scuff and prepare them for the primer, and spent additional time removing the vestiges of white paint from the boottop scribe line.  In this manner, I worked along the port side, leaving the starboard side for next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5  hours

0600 Weather Observation:  50°, mainly cloudy and windy.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny and windy, 56°

Wednesday

The morning dissolved into a series of unplanned events that prohibited production, including preparing for a boat delivery later in the day, minor equipment failures, paint delivery that required collating,  and an unexpected errand to pick up a special can of paint for the transom, but with all that out of the way I looked forward to getting started on the hull prep.

Before beginning, I made some reference marks so I could recreate the waterline (i.e. top of the bottom paint) if necessary.   The boottop had a scribe mark delineating its top edge, but I couldn’t see one at the bottom edge, so to be safe I used a simple wooden gauge to mark a set distance down from the waterline, which would make it easy enough to restrike the line later.  As it happened, I later found that there was indeed a second scribe mark (on the grassy knoll), but that’s getting just a bit ahead of things.

The hull was in good condition overall, and the existing coating was Awlgrip, so the existing surface would provide a good substrate with minimal preparation.  Because I was pretty sure the hull had been polished or even waxed at some point, I started with a solvent wash to decontaminate the surface.  Afterwards, starting at the starboard bow, I sanded the hull with 120 grit paper and a palm sander, scuffing the surface and removing gloss.    I planned to follow with additional sanding and 220 grit later, but for now I concentrated on the single grit.

At the waterline, I used a more aggressive tool to remove most of the boottop paint–several layers of one-part white over a red layer of undetermined nature–and then finished up with the palm sander.  Now I discovered the lower scribe mark, which had simply been filled with paint and not immediately visible.  This meant my reference marks were mostly erroneous.

During the course of the afternoon session, I sanded the entire starboard side and transom in this manner.  By about halfway down the hull, I’d discovered that the palm sander, held at an angle in the simulated plank lines, would do a fair job of deglossing the paint in those tight recesses, which I’d been struggling with by hand up till then.  Next time, I’d finish up the initial sanding on the port side, and later rounds of sanding with finer paper would complete the job.  Repairs and other prep work promised to be  minimal thanks to the good condition of the hull.

Total time billed on this job today:   5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  55°, overcast.  Forecast for the day:  Overcast, chance of showers, 66°

Tuesday

The engine room paint looked good after curing overnight, and I removed the masking tape.  For now, I’d await reinstalling the wire/hose bundles and other things till later in the process, as the fresh paint wasn’t ready for new work just yet and it was time I move on to the exterior hull work.

Removing anything that mattered from the deck areas, I prepared to mask off the decks against the hull preparations and painting work to come, and spent the bulk of the day draping plastic and masking it securely to the rubrails.  I masked off various vents and through hulls that I wouldn’t be removing, and masked over the open vents in the hull to prevent dust from getting in; later I’d mask over the larger openings before painting.

After taking some measurements for future reference, I removed the old vinyl lettering from the transom.

At the engine vent openings in the hull, the exposed core in the original installation had been (fortunately well) sealed against moisture with lots of flexible sealant, which I now removed from the edges and in way of the vent openings.

To better seal the hull core for the future, I planned to omit the core and fill the opening with epoxy, so my first step was to ream out the core from about the openings on all sides, removing approximately 1/2″ core all around.  In these photos, I’d yet to clean out all the spoils and bits and pieces.  I’d continue working on these areas next time and going forward throughout the hull prep process.

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  50°, overcast.  Forecast for the day:  Becoming party sunny,  64°

Monday

After a light sanding, I deemed the two through hull patches complete.  Sometime later I’d seal the fairing compound with some plain epoxy, but for now the work was done.

After final preparations and masking, I applied a coat of gray bilge paint to the engine room and battery compartment, bringing the fresh paint up to and including the tops of the stringers.

Over the weekend, I’d thought that with some luck I could probably remove the remaining swim platform fasteners and brackets with a socket and long extensions.  Fortunately I had ample extra extensions around so I could assemble the length I needed to reach the nuts at the transom from the nearby (but not near enough) deck hatches.  By taping the ratchet handle in place to the deck and hatch covers as needed, I could go outside the boat and remove the screws one by one, resetting the extension setup for each of the three nuts on both sides.  It took a while and plenty of backs and forths, but it worked.

Next, I unscrewed the tops of the trim tab cylinders, which allowed me to pull out the hoses enough to undo the compression nuts holding them in place.  I masked over the open ends of the connectors on both sides, and later removed the cylinders from the tabs themselves, a straightforward operation that got them out of the way for the work ahead.

The only hardware remaining on the hull for me to remove now was the stern light fixture and a half oval trim on the stem, both of which I removed and set aside.  With just a few final decisions and lingering jobs on deck, it wouldn’t be long before I could start the hull prep in earnest.

For the moment, there wasn’t much more to do on the hull till I could wrap and mask up the decks, so for now I filled the rest of the day by removing some of the brightwork trim from the cockpit (companionway hatches, rodholders, and the cockpit lower edge trims on both sides and transom–not shown here).  With brightwork maintenance on the list for later in the project, I could work on some of these loose pieces during natural slow times throughout the painting process, particularly once the work on the faux teak transom and lettering began.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  50°, overcast, foggy.  Forecast for the day:  Becoming sunny,  65°

Friday

After a bit of office time compiling a list and ordering materials for the upcoming paint work, I got back to work on the through hull patches, starting with a quick water wash and sanding as needed inside and out.  In the engine room, I just needed to lightly scuff the surface and remove any sharp edges, while on the exterior of the hull I sanded the new patches flush with the adjacent hull as needed.

Afterwards, I applied a coat of epoxy fairing compound to the exterior of the patches.  Inside, to prepare the fresh epoxy for engine room paint as soon as possible, I applied a coat of epoxy-based primer over the new work, acting as the needed tie coat to allow one-part paint to cure atop the epoxy without waiting weeks for the epoxy to completely cure.

The engine box was now in the way in the cockpit, so I reinstalled it on its hinges over the engine room.

After a few undocumented odds and ends, I removed the center swim platform bracket from the transom, since I could reach the nuts from the centerline hatch in the cockpit.

Checking again the two outboard brackets, as well as the trim tab mounts, I thought that maybe, just maybe, it would be possible to get a wrench on the nuts if I had a helper outside to turn the screws.  The trim tabs looked like I could pull the fluid lines out of the hull from the outside and disconnect them there, which was helpful since there was no way I could get to those from the narrow locker openings in the cockpit.  In any event, that would wait for another day.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  48°, overcast.  Forecast for the day:  Clouds and showers, then light rain later, 62°

Thursday

With a short day in the shop around other commitments, I focused first on the through hull patches.  After a light water-wash and scuff with sandpaper on both sides of the epoxy-filled holes, I skimmed all areas with a thickened epoxy mixture to fill minor voids and wet out the surfaces before installing fiberglass patches inside and out–two layers in, three layers out.

To provide clear access to the transom for prep and painting, I had to remove the swim platform, which was secured at its inboard edge with three angle brackets to the transom, and three supports running from the bottom of the hull to the outboard end of the platform.  The platform was secured to these six locations with screws through the brackets and into the teak, so removal of the platform itself was straightforward.

The tubular support brackets proved to be simply screwed into the hull laminate at the bottom edge of the transom, so these were easy to remove as well.

However, the upper brackets were throughbolted, not unexpectedly, but access might prove to be something of a challenge, particularly on the outboard brackets.  From inside, there was no direct access to the transom here:  the only existing access was through a deck hatch on each side, but unfortunately these hatches were located several feet forward of the transom, too far a reach for me.  The centerline hatch was closer to the transom and I expected that I could get to the fasteners for the midships bracket without issue.  It was apparent from inspecting the brackets that they’d not been removed the last time the boat was painted, somewhere around 15 years earlier, so they’d been in place since original construction.  I’d assess their removal more in the immediate future.

While in the area, I removed the rubber exhaust flapper, which was secured with a substantially rusted hose clamp–which fortunately succumbed to screwdriver pressure despite its appearance.  The flapper itself was in good condition and would be reused later, though with a new clamp to hold it in place.

Total time billed on this job today:  2 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  48°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 70°

Wednesday

With the rough, first-round cleaning complete, I turned to the adjacent spaces and detail work in the engine room, starting with the battery compartment, which was filthy; to better clean, and eventually paint, this area, I started by removing the plastic battery trays, setting them aside for their own cleaning later.  The space looked much better after cleaning with soap and water.

Meanwhile, I worked on the accessible spaces adjacent to the engine room, as well as in the engine bilge itself, using vacuum, soapy spray bottle, and rags to clean up the nearby spaces, corners, and other areas as much as possible.   Along the engine stringers, proper cleanup involved temporarily removing various clamps and supports so I could clean the hoses and wire runs of accumulated grime, as well as to better clean the stringers themselves.    Later, I planned to paint the engine room bilge, battery area, and stringers.

The owner asked me to remove a Halon fire extinguisher from the engine room for inspection and servicing, so I did, after noting the proper wiring locations.

The owner also asked that I remove two obsolete transducers from the space just forward of the engine room–and old depthsounder and knotmeter.  Both plastic locking rings came off from inside without issue, and, working from both above and below as needed, I removed the two plastic fittings without too much trouble.

I prepared the openings inside and out as needed, using a drum sander to clean up the insides of the holes through the hull.  I sanded the inside of hte hull to remove the paint and prepare for patching, and outside, ground circular areas to accept the new patches.

With the cleaning and degreasing done in the engine room, I lightly scuffed the surfaces to prepare for new paint soon.

After cleaning up as needed, I masked over the holes from beneath the boat, then, from inside, filled the holes flush with a strong, thickened epoxy mixture, the first step in the process that would eventually see layers of fiberglass on both sides.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  65°, cloudy, wind, rain shower.  Forecast for the day:  Rain showers and windy, then clearing, 71°