Thursday

Focusing on the several patches where I’d applied a third round of filler, but going over the whole hull at the same time, I performed a final sanding of the hull, this time with a palm sander (and by hand) and 120 grit paper.  Any final fine-tuning, pinhole-filling, and other detail work would now wait till after high-build primer.

After blowing down the boat and shop, and sweeping up, I cleaned up the entire hull, deck, and (as needed) interior with vacuum and solvent wash to rid everything of dust and prepare the boat for masking and other final preparations.

My first task once the boat was clean was to lay out and mark the new and improved waterline, by which I always mean the top edge of the bottom paint.  In this case, there was a fair bit of correcting necessary, and based on the owners’ information, photos of the boat in the water, and the existing (and fairly obvious) water marks on the hull, I’d already prepared for the new waterline’s position during the sanding phase.

To begin, I adjusted the boat as needed on the stands to bring her level from side to side.  She’d been level on the trailer when I’d started, but the work and various adjustments of the stands for sanding access had thrown things slightly out of whack.

Now, armed with some reference measurements I’d taken before I removed the old paint, and starting at the bow “just because”, I recreated the position of the old, actual floating waterline (37″ down the stem from the chainplate).  This represented where the boat had actually floated, but to strike the new waterline, I had to transfer this measurement up enough to allow a border of bottom paint above the water.  With a straightedge and level, I made a new mark 1-1/2″ vertically above the original:  This would be the level of the newly-struck waterline, or, in this case, the lower edge of the new topsides paint and striping.

Note that all pictures of me holding levels are for illustrative purposes only, to show the process; the level may not be perfectly positioned as I juggle camera and hand positioning.

As it happened, the mark for the new waterline at the bow coincided with the faint factory scribe mark for the DWL.  This made sense because at the bow, the correct paint level actually needed to be lower than the paint-as-delivered, which is why I’d sanded off several inches of the old bottom paint in the forward quarters of the boat.

I set up a wide, straight beam at the new, leveling it side to side.

Next, I repeated the process at the stern, starting with an 8″ measurement on centerline from the transom corner, which signified the actual floating waterline according to anecdotal, visual, and photographic evidence as detailed earlier in the project.  Again, I transferred the mark up 1-1/2″ vertically to create the new waterline with appropriate reveal, and set up a second horizontal beam right at this mark.

Now I went through my usual ritual to mark the line along the entire hull, using a tensioned string between the two beams.  With the string just touching the hull amidships on one side, I brought it in incrementally towards each end (first the stern, then the bow) till the string touched the hull, then taped it in place before repeating.  Each time, I made small pencil marks on the hull at the top of the string.  This simple, visual process creates a perfect planar line between the stem and stern.

I repeated the process on the starboard side.

With the whole hull thusly marked, and after breaking down the beams, I masked off just below my pencil marks, creating the lower edge of the new topsides paint, and eventually the top edge of the antifouling paint.  Additional lines for striping would come later in the process, once the finish primer was complete.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  14°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Snow, 3-5″ forecast, about 8″ in reality, 18°.

Wednesday

Another round of finish sanding brought the hull nearly to its final readiness, but there were a few small low spots that would require another round of epoxy fairing compound, so after cleaning up I spot-applied the additional material where needed.

While I was thinking of it, I used the solar panel to mark the screw locations and drill pilotholes through the newly epoxy-filled holes in the lazarette hatch–another small item to tick off the pre-primer list.

The owner requested that I install an oarlock for a sculling oar on the transom, and with some time on hand I made up a teak block to support the oarlock socket and raise it high enough for clearance over the lazarette hatch.  To better secure the base and oarlock to the taffrail when the time came, I enlarged the mounting holes from their standard #10 to 1/4″ size, which I not only felt would be stronger, but I couldn’t get the bolt length I needed (4.5″) in #10 anyway.

I’d await final installation till later, and I had to order the bolts anyway, so for now I finished up with a coat of Cetol on the new base.

Total time billed on this job today:  3.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  7°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Mostly sunny, 18°.

Tuesday

After a spritz of water, I got to sanding the fiberglass patches on various parts of the hull, bringing the new laminate down flush with the adjacent surfaces at each location.  Afterwards, I switched to a finishing sander and further smoothed these areas, as well as places where I’d applied fairing compound last time.

After vacuuming and solvent-washing the hull, I applied more epoxy fairing compound over these areas as needed.

The slim permanent portion of the new outboard bracket was to be painted to match the hull and thus blend in all the more, and as a first step I wanted to apply special metal primer to the aluminum bracket mount, which would enhance corrosion protection and provide a better bond for the finish primer later in the process.  To prepare, I sanded the bracket with 80 grit paper, creating good scuff marks.  Then, after mixing my batch of paint and using a small disposable sprayer, I applied a good coat of the protective metal primer to both sides of the bracket, suspending the bottom side on a couple narrow supports beneath.

Back on deck, I reinstalled the bronze hawsepipe on the foredeck after first redrilling the 2″ mounting hole through the fiberglass I’d laid over the opening from beneath and preparing the screw holes to accept new 10-24 x 3/4″ bronze screws to replace the original stainless steel tappers.  I bedded the hawsepipe well in sealant.

I’d saved the core pattern I used on the starboard poop deck, since it showed the location of the deck cleat.  Now, using the pattern as a guide, I marked the holes for the cleat with a small pilot bit so that I could easily find them after the paint and primer was on and ensure the cleat was located where it needed to be, since I’d omitted the core and replaced it with solid fiberglass in that area.  I double-checked the position with that on the port side.

For the moment, that was what I could accomplish as I worked closer and closer to primer and paint time.

Total time billed on this job today:  5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  27°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny and windy, temperature dropping through the day. 

Monday

I spent much of the morning sanding the hull with a 6″ orbital finishing sander and 80-120 grit paper, going over the entire hull to prepare the original gelcoat for repairs and primer.  This removed vestiges of gloss, scuffed the surface, and removed final bits of paint from the old boottop.  As needed, I sanded by hand along the base of the rubrail, and at some of the tighter areas particularly at the stem, where the sander wouldn’t fit alongside the trailer’s bow support.

I vaccumed and solvent-washed the hull, then cut out the little fiberglass patches I’d patterned last time.  I wet out and installed the fiberglass in epoxy resin,  using a patch in each place on the hull where old surface cracking required stabilization before filling and fairing.  I filled smaller dings I’d ground out with epoxy fairing compound.

On the starboard side of the hull, there were a couple places where print-through (post-cure shrinkage that allows the pattern of the structural fabric to show through from the outside) was readily apparent to the eye and even the touch.  While eliminating print-through is a fool’s errand, where it was so noticeable I applied fairing compound to help even out the texture and improve the final results.  These spots on the starboard side were located mainly just aft of amidships, and right aft of the stem.

With the hull work stagnant for now, I moved on to the hawsepipe on the foredeck.  With the solid fiberglass patch covering the opening form inside, and having had plenty of time for the void to dry out, now was the right time to inject the void between the deck skins with a thickened epoxy mixture, shop-made from epoxy resin, high-density filler, and silica.

I finished up the port toerail repair by chiseling and sanding the bungs smooth, then applying more Cetol over the repair and immediately-adjacent parts of the rail.  Later, I removed the lifelines and stanchions to prepare for eventually wrapping the decks in plastic during the painting process.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  30°, mainly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Mostly cloudy, chance of light snow, 33°

Friday

The small areas in the cockpit and poop deck required a bit of sanding to smooth and otherwise complete.  At this point, I thought the major work was done in the cockpit, though as I continued with the painting preparations I’d keep my eyes open for any spots that might need some touch-up sanding.  There’d be another opportunity for pinhole filling and fine-tuning following the high-build primer application.

Meanwhile, I sanded as needed the lazarette hatch to smooth the recent epoxy application, and also on the transom repairs.

Next, I continued work on removing the old boottop and, as needed, a bit of bottom paint.  During the morning, I worked my way down the starboard side, then back forward along the port, removing most of the old paint and hard white coating (barrier?) beneath, leaving some vestiges of the old paint here and there that would be removed during the next several hull-sanding steps with finer sandpaper and less aggressive tools.

After cleaning up a bit, I installed permanently the little toerail section on the port side amidships.  I bunged the screw holes and left the glue to cure.

To round out the day, I made patterns of the various patches on the hull that I needed to repair, and transferred the patterns to a leftover piece of fiberglass.  I ran out of time and couldn’t get these patches installed as I’d hoped, but that would come soon.

Total time billed on this job today:  4 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  32°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Mostly cloudy, 42°

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°