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Tuesday

My first order of business was to sand the loose hatches and cockpit to remove and smooth the epoxy skim coat.

Switching to finish-sanding tools and grits, I sanded the remainder of the deck areas with a 6″ orbital finish sander, taking two passes and  sanding smooth the various spot-fairing I’d applied last time, and smoothing the entire surfaces through 120 grit, the final major sanding passes required on these areas, other than any additional fine-tuning that would happen later.  When I’d completed the passes with the larger sander over the bulk of the decks, including the cabin trunk and portions of the cockpit, I used a small vibrating sander, along with hand work, to sand the bulwarks and any detail areas, such as the gutters outboard of the winch islands and other areas where tools couldn’t reach.  This full day of sanding set me up well for a series of small and related projects and repairs, layout, and other details next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Cloudy, 24°.  Snow shower.  Forecast for the day:  Mostly sunny, highs in the 30s

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Monday

To get started, I applied another round of fairing compound to the fastener holes and elsewhere in the coachroof and sidedecks as needed, taking care of minor low spots after the initial fill.

During an earlier phase of the project, I’d drilled three test holes in the decks that I’d yet to repair–two on the sidedeck, one on the foredeck.  During the skim coat, I’d filled the center parts of these holes, but now needed to install some fiberglass over the top, in some pre-ground areas I’d prepared.

There were several small, abandoned holes in the cockpit that required repair, along with various other fastener holes to fill, as with elsewhere on the deck.  Among the areas to repair were an obsolete engine room blower outlet (and the blower itself), an old electrical plug hole, and a hole in the port cabin bulkhead that had contained a 12-volt receptacle.  After unbolting and removing the old blower from the back side of the hole in the cockpit well, I prepared this area and the others for fiberglassing by grinding out roughly circular areas to accommodate the patches.

While I was working in the cockpit locker, I removed the old and weak battery platforms, a simple task with a chisel.  I planned to rebuild these not only because the originals were damaged and weak, but because the owner also wanted the ability to double the battery capacity in the future.

In addition, I prepared various fastener holes, including the original coaming bolt holes, for filling as a matter of course, and bored out the mast step fastener holes and those for a deck plate above the engine for filling and core isolation later.

After cleanup, I filled the various holes and skim-coated the cockpit sole and seating areas with epoxy fairing compound.

Elsewhere in the shop, I sanded as necessary the various loose hatches to remove the nonskid pattern as needed and prepare the hatches for additional work.  Then, I applied a skim-coat of epoxy fairing compound to fill and smooth any vestiges of nonskid pattern and repair small voids as needed.

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  12°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Clouds, snow showers and light snow in the afternoon, 20s

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Friday

After cleaning up from the latest snowstorm outside, I got a late start in the shop and focused on sanding the skim-coated decks, removing the excess epoxy and bringing the decks closer to their final state of primer readiness.  Many of the fastener holes and larger repairs would require another application of fairing compound, but now the old nonskid pattern was essentially smooth, and final rounds of finish sanding would take care of the rest.

With sanding complete, I vacuumed and solvent-washed the decks, leaving them ready for additional work next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Windy, partly cloudy, 14°.  12-15″ snow yesterday and overnight.  Forecast for the day:  Windy, temperatures dropping through the day.

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Thursday

With various known hardware locations on deck, I chose to bore out and prepare these holes now, looking to streamline the hardware reinstallation later.  In addition, there were several now-obsolete fastener locations that required filling before primer and paint.

Starting on the coachroof, I bored out all the handrail fastener holes with a 5/8″ bit, reaming out the core around the fastener locations.  The existing spacing seemed to work with the published dimensions of the new teak rails I planned to install.  I also bored out all the screw holes from the sea hood, and a few other fastener locations where I knew the original hardware would be reinstalled.  In other areas, I reamed out the tops of fastener holes that would be abandoned going forward.  With a small grinder, I ground out a few stress cracks that emanated from some of the fastener holes so that I could fill and repair these minor areas.  Afterwards, I vacuumed out the holes and drill spoils, and solvent-washed the entire coachroof.

Next, I filled all the 5/8″ fastener plugs with a strengthened and thickened epoxy mixture, pushing out air and packing the holes full.  (I’d taped over the holes from inside where needed.)  With that complete, I skim-coated the coachroof with fairing compound, sticking mainly to the nonskid areas to fill what remained of the nonskid pattern that I’d sanded earlier.  I also filled obsolete screw holes, as well as the various cracks I’d ground out.

With the work on the coachroof done for now, I repeated the basic process on the sidedecks and foredeck, though there were far fewer holes to deal with here.  The winch islands required some additional work, including grinding out some stress cracking and preparing myriad holes for filling, as the hardware being installed here would be completely different than what I removed.

After cleaning up, I filled the fastener holes as needed, then skim-coated the old nonskid pattern with more fairing compound.

In and around the cockpit, there was just a bit more fairing work to do  on the poop deck and icebox repairs, taking care of some lingering low spots.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  10°, cloudy and light snow.  Forecast for the day:  Heavy snow with blizzard conditions in the afternoon, 20s.

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Wednesday

The various deck patches required another round of light sanding to smooth the latest application of fairing compound.  These areas were mainly at their final contours and would require only minor additional work as I continued prep work elsewhere on deck.

In the cockpit, I completed two rounds of sanding to remove the nonskid pattern and begin to clean up the substrate for the work ahead.  With myriad corners and tight spots, I’d soon be back with different sanding tools to take care of the detail work.

The owner planned a visit to the boat during the afternoon, so with the sanding work complete I suspended major deck work for the moment so I could clean up the boat and have things in reasonable order for the visit, rather than proceed with additional surface prep or fairing work right away.  Meanwhile, I turned to several related tasks with deck hardware while I awaited his arrival.   Some time earlier, during a slow moment, I’d gone through the lifeline stanchions and bases, many of which were mismatched and in otherwise suspect condition.  I had a complete set off stanchion bases that I’d ended up with from somewhere, and with a bit of work I removed the existing stanchion tubes from their various bases and prepared the “new” bases to accept them.  In two cases, the existing stanchions were bent (port forward) or mismatched, and I had a couple tubes that matched as well, so I swapped them out as needed.

The small hatch that covered the steering gear room aft was in poor condition, and still had some hardware attached,  Preparing for the repairs and eventual refinishing, I removed the existing hinge and frozen hasp; now I could concentrate on reinforcing the damaged aft edge and the cosmetic/quasi-structural work to bring the hatch into an acceptable condition.  Preparing the various loose hatches, including the cockpit locker lids, companionway slide, and sea hood, was coming right up on my work list as I shifted from major structural work to a host of smaller final preparation issues.

While the owner was making up some seat cushion templates on the boat, I continued work on one of the deadlight frames.  The owner hoped to reuse the original frames, but had also talked about external-mount plastic instead.  The first order of business was to determine the condition of the existing frames, including figuring out how to disassemble the frame and remove the lens for replacement:  the frames were unlike others I’d encountered previously and at first glance the means of lens installation was not readily apparent.  The one I chose happened to be the starboard forward frame, shown initially in place on the boat to highlight its original condition.

Cleaning up the old sealant from the faying surface was simple enough, but cautions exploratory surgery on the exterior part of the frame still required a bit of time before I understood how the lens was secured–and how to remove it.  Eventually, I determined that the lens, which bedded against a flat surface inside the frame, was held in place with an adhesive gasket material on its own bedding surface, plus an external rubber gasket that was pressed/inserted into a groove in the frame itself.    This gasket created a wide filled shape, but had over the years been covered with external silicone that hid the original material.

Not wanting to unduly damage anything, I proceeded slowly and eventually loosened a portion of the gasket, which was a friction fit inside the groove and overlapped with lens with a bit of a molded-in shoulder as well.  With some difficulty, I pried out enough of the gasket so I could pull it free from around the lens.

This exposed the edge of the lens, and with a bit of work I loosened the plastic lens from its bedding and removed it, along with the adhesive gasket beneath.  I broke this lens in the process, though this was of no matter.  The aluminum frame featured two grooves:  one for the external gasket, and another smaller one outside of the lens itself.  The disassembly was  a bit fussy and time-consuming, though now that I knew what was what, I expected the remaining three would go more quickly.

The starboard forward frame happened to be the worst of the lot but even so was in good condition overall; I’d only had trouble removing the screws from inside when I took off the trim ring, as a couple of the screws had welded themselves to the aluminum.  The owner and I agreed that given my findings, it’d be OK to proceed with re-using the frames, though I figured upon assembly that I’d rely on flexible sealant rather than attempt to replace any of the special gaskets.

After some additional consultation and discussions with the owner, he departed for home, and I called it a day.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  -11°, mostly clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 24°

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Tuesday

I spent the large part of the day at the controls of my sander, sanding not only the newly-repaired deck areas, but now also the remaining areas to remove the molded-in nonskid pattern and otherwise begin the surface preparation for the other decks areas and cabin trunk.   I worked over the decks with two grits, removing the bulk of the molded nonskid pattern.   Since this deck had never been painted, the smooth areas, such as the sides of the cabin trunk, required only a lighter sanding to start.   There’d be several more rounds of sanding to come–including plenty off hand-sanding in tight areas–as I continued other small repairs, additional fairing, and surface prep in the days to come.  I left the as-yet unsanded cockpit for another day, as I needed to allow enough time to clean up and apply another round of fairing compound.

The recored areas of the deck, which had now received two coats of fairing compound since reconstruction, were mostly looking pretty good and generally fair, with just some typical low areas from tool marks and the like.  After cleaning up the decks as needed, I  applied more fairing compound to these areas as needed, focusing on the obvious low spots.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  -20°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sun with increasing clouds, 8°

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Friday

After the usual preparations, I spent a couple hours sanding the first round of fairing compound over the various deck areas.  The first pass of fairing compound brought most of the deck areas to their proper overall contours, leaving behind some low spots requiring additional filling and fine-tuning.

Once I’d cleaned up, I applied a second coat of epoxy fairing compound as needed,  and a first coat on the new icebox repair.

Total time billed on this job today:  3 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Clear, -20°.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, then snow flurries and light snow in the afternoon, around 7°

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Thursday

To begin, I sanded the new fiberglass over the icebox hatch in the cockpit and the main mast step, bringing the edges flush as needed and lightly scuffing the remainder of the patches to prepare for additional work ahead.  I removed wedges and tape from the underside of the icebox hatch and also lightly sanded these areas as needed, as I’d have to come back later and fiberglass from beneath as well.

Meanwhile, I cut, wet out, and applied three additional layers of fiberglass to fill the center of the ice hatch from above, bringing the center nearly level with the adjacent decks.

After some additional cleanup and solvent wash, I applied a first round of epoxy fairing compound to the new deck repairs in all areas, skim-coating to fill the weave of the cloth and beginning to fair out any low areas.

Total time billed on this job today:  3.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Clear, -12°.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 3°

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Wednesday

Next on my agenda was the old icebox hatch in the port forward corner of the cockpit.  Earlier, I’d removed a molded collar and the center portion of the opening, leaving a raw hole through the deck that required patching and reinforcement.

Before getting into the rebuilding in earnest, I turned to the rudimentary electrical system located just below the hatch, consisting of a pair of battery boxes and some simple wiring that the owner had installed earlier in the year.  Some of the cabling ran through wire mounts near the deck, on the old tabbing that had once connected to the ice hatch blank above.

Additional work on the electrical system and battery storage area was part of the scope of this project, part of the upcoming list that I’d get to soon enough once I finished up most of the deck work and surface prep, but for now I wanted to clear the area to allow best access for the repairs above.  Since the old half-attached tabbing on the bulkhead was in the way of my planned repair, and wasn’t worth salvage regardless, I removed the wires from the clamps in that area, freeing me to remove the tabbing itself with a chisel and just a little bit of elbow grease.  I removed the batteries and some of their cabling, storing the batteries elsewhere for safekeeping; the battery platforms would require partial rebuilding, as well as expansion, according to my work list from the owner, so they needed to come out in any case:  the upper area, at least, showed signs of significant damage to the plywood, with some crushing and breakage.

After some final surface prep to the underside of the laminate adjoining the icebox hole, as well as to the bulkhead where the old tabbing had been secured, I covered the opening from beneath with a prefabricated sheet of 1/8″ fiberglass, securing it with wedges and tape from beneath.  This laminate would serve as a permanent mold for the new work, allowing me to laminate strongly over the top as well as tab securely from beneath to seal and strengthen the old opening.

To secure this for now and also to allow a smooth transition between the fiberglass sheet and the surrounding deck areas,  I filled the gaps around the edges with a strengthened and thickened epoxy mixture, forcing the adhesive into the gaps and creating a wide fillet on all sides.  I left this to partially cure for the moment while I prepared a couple layers of fiberglass for the area and worked on a couple other related projects.

Meanwhile, I got back to work on the main mast step.  My earlier laminates had nearly filled the void left by core removal, but since the inner skin was a bit inconsistent in its shape and depth, the forward side, particularly to starboard, was a bit lower than the port and after sides.  So to start, I installed three additional layers of fiberglass over the lowest area, bringing this section nearly level with the surrounding deck and the other areas of the patch,  then filled what remained smooth and level with epoxy thickened and reinforced with high-density filler and silica, just to even out the surface so I could laminate over the top.

After a lunch break, the high-density epoxy filler on both patches had cured sufficiently to allow me to continue, starting with the icebox hatch.  With two layers of newly-cut fiberglass, I laminated over the top of the new base, bringing the material out to the edges of the ground/prepared areas of the adjacent decks.  These layers would form the basis for all that was to come.    The patch was still low in the center, but I’d wait to install additional layers of fiberglass till the initial setup cured, mainly to ensure stability of the whole arrangement.

At the mast step, I installed two overlapping layers of fiberglass over the center of the patch and extending out over the adjacent sidedecks, completing the laminate work for this repair and tying the whole patch into the coachroof.

During the remainder of my reduced holiday-week-hours shop day,  I prepared the chainplates to bring to a machine shop for reproduction, determining which ones were identical and could be used to copy related plates rather than bring the whole stack in.  I also worked on other hardware assessment, busywork (yet necessary) that seemed to fit well with the lightweight schedule for the week; more on this to come in subsequent posts.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  0° , clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, high about 10°

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Friday

Since sanding and other work might obliterate my pattern markings for the chainplate locations, I made my first task marking, then roughly re-cutting, the 12 chainplate locations.  My 5-minute patterns worked excellently.  The reddish-tinged hole on the port sidedeck (the last photo) marks the center off the waste deck fill, which I’d filled with solid laminate sheeting and had earlier measured and marked for with a reference on some tape at the toerail.

With the chainplate holes re-cut for now, and a rough cut to remove most of the excess material over the steering room hatch, I sanded the new laminate to bring the edges flush with the adjacent decks as necessary, and otherwise scuff the patches to prepare them for additional work and fairing, all of which would be soon to come.  I was pleased with the new fiberglass and happy to have the most major part of the deck repairs behind me, though lots of additional work, including the bulk of the deck surface prep, remained for the weeks ahead.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Mostly clear, 4.  Forecast for the day:  Clouding up, snow in the afternoon and overnight, 3-5″ predicted (we ended up with about 4″)