Tuesday

I got started again in the cabin, where I sanded all the epoxy fairing compound over the various liner/overhead patches.  This brought most areas close to their final contours, with only minor spot-filling still required, which I did next.

After sanding smooth the new corner pieces in the forward hatch surround,  I did a final test-fit of the hatch.  Remaining work here would take place later, when it became time to finish off the trim work around the inside of the hatch, but for now I stored the hatch away for safekeeping.

I dressed up the last coat of fairing compound on the bottom of the rudder, completing the preliminary work, then cut two layers of fiberglass to cover both sides and wrap around the bottom of the blade.  I left the second layer back a ways from the leading and trailing edges so that I could later incorporate a separate application of fiberglass to wrap these areas, since the curves and various planes wouldn’t allow all areas to be properly covered at once.

I spent the remainder of the morning cleaning up and preparing for my meeting with the owner, which took place over several hours in the after noon, during which we discussed myriad aspects of the interior and other work still to come on the boat.  The fruits of these discussions would be illustrated in these pages in the weeks to come.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  33°, partly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  A rain shower, perhaps, then mostly clearing, around 50°

Monday

In the cabin, I started with the new patches I’d installed in various spots of the overhead liner.  The new fiberglass required sanding to smooth it and bring it flush, as needed, with the surrounding surfaces and to prepare it for the next steps.

I lightly sanded the three patches over the insides of the old through hull openings in the head, galley, and port settee.

At the forward hatch, I lightly sanded the new fiberglass lining the inside of the opening.

After cleaning up, I applied a coat of epoxy fairing compound over the various liner patches as needed.

After some sanding of the latest round of rebuilding on the lower edge of the rudder blade, I finished up the initial reshaping work with a light coating of fairing compound to fine-tune the previous work, the last step before I could reglass the blade.

In the port cockpit locker, there was one more place I needed to install an inside patch over the old bilge pump hole, which I’d patched from the cockpit side earlier.

I prepared some triangular pieces of solid fiberglass for the forward hatch opening, to span the inside corners and finish off the inside of the opening where the hatch itself  curved around the corners.  Once cut, I epoxied these into the corners, leaving them so they extended above the top surface for later flush-trimming.

With all the currently-active tasks taken as far as I could for the moment, I started measuring the main cabin and galley areas for some of the new trim and woodwork that would be starting soon, rough measurements so I could begin to estimate the material required.  I had a meeting scheduled at the boat tomorrow with the owner, who was flying in for the purpose and his first time actually seeing the boat, and I looked forward to discussing with him the plans for the interior and some specifics that would soon dictate the next courses of action.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  32°, clouds.  Forecast for the day:  Sun, high 40s

Friday

After sanding the second round of hole filler in the cabin, I found many of the spots weren’t yet smooth and flush, so I was required to apply an additional coat of the filler throughout the cabin.  I had hoped to avoid this, but fortunately the white acrylic filler would cure quickly and I’d be able to get back to it later in the day.

While I left those spots to cure, I prepared to install various fiberglass patches throughout the interior, including the old deck prism openings and some cracks in the forward part of the liner, as well as three remaining through hull locations–the galley sink, head sink, and an old depth transducer location in the port settee locker–that I’d previously filled and patched from outside, but hadn’t yet patched from within because when I did some of the other patches earlier in the project, I’d yet to sand and prepare the inside of the hull in these other areas.

After cutting the new fiberglass for all areas, and other final preparations, I wet out with epoxy and installed all the patches.

To finish off the forward hatch frame installation, I installed narrow strips of fiberglass over the inside of the opening, extending from the new fiberglass frame down over the exposed core and deck structure.  I let the pieces hand down a bit over the gap between the deck and the interior liner, but did not attempt to incorporate the liner into the system.  The fiberglass would add some strength and also sealed off the exposed core; all this would later be hidden with trim.

By now, the putty over the holes in the cabin liner had cured, and I performed what I hoped was the final sanding of all areas.

To finish up the day, I continued work on the rudder, beginning with sanding and cleaning up the second round of reconstructive structural epoxy.

Afterwards, I built up the bottom edge just a bit more as needed, focusing mainly on the after corner where I wanted a “squarer” rounded shape.  By now, the shape was looking pretty close to what I was going for, and I expected one final round of minor shaping and smoothing to fine-tune the rudder before I could finish up with new fiberglass.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  -4°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 20°

Thursday

In the cabin, I spent the morning sanding the epoxy filler on all the fastener holes, as well as in the settee lockers.

After cleaning up, I applied a second round of filler to the fastener holes as needed.  In this case, I used a white quick-dry acrylic-based fine putty for this fine round of minor filling, an excellent product but one I don’t use often because my own preference for exterior work is and remains only epoxy-based fillers, but here in the cabin and for this purpose, this filler greatly streamlined the second round.

Back down at the rudder, I sanded the first round of epoxy filler I’d applied to the bottom of the rudder, as I worked to essentially create a new rudder core from thin air.

With the first round smoothed out sufficiently and cleaned, I applied another layer, building up the rudder shape closer to the final contours I wanted.  My goal was a basically flat bottom (parallel to the line I’d drawn on the rudder earlier), with a generous curve at the forward edge and a somewhat more square–but still curved–after corner.  This general shape would match photos of sisterships I’d found here and there.

With this second round, I though I was pretty close on the forward corner and basic shape of the bottom edge, but the after corner would require additional material later.  This solid epoxy “core” would later be covered in new fiberglass and tied in with the existing rudder blade.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  -10°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, teens.

Wednesday

To begin, I cleaned up the interior pretty thoroughly, vacuuming and then solvent-washing as needed to prepare all the surfaces for epoxy filler.  Once clean, I went around the boat and applied a coat of filler to the fastener holes  and other areas I’d prepared.

In the lockers beneath the settees, where I’d removed that old core material, there remained an edge around the insides of the lockers leftover from the old fiberglass, and, having sanded it as far as practicable, I used some epoxy filler to smooth out the transition. not going crazy with the process since these were only storage lockers.

In the overhead in the galley and head, I filled the shallow voids left from the deck prism patches I’d installed on the deck side during the bridgedeck recore with a strengthened epoxy mixture, bringing the center areas flush with the surrounding fiberglass that I’d prepared.  Similarly, I filled some larger fastener holes beneath the foredeck and in the head with the mixture as well, preparing these areas for a layer of fiberglass that would come soon.

Having taken the interior as far as I could from now, and with some time left in the day, I turned to the rudder.  The lower edge of the blade still required some rebuilding and repair, and to begin, I sanded off the bottom paint, barrier coat, and gelcoat with a grinder, preparing a section of the bottom of the blade for new fiberglass.  I also cleaned up the mess that passed for the bottom edge to prepare it for filling and eventual reglassing.

I thought the basic shape left on the starboard side of the blade was more or less how the rudder had been originally shaped, and served as the most raw basis for how to rebuild the lower edge, though in the end I’d judge the final shape by eye as needed.  After cleaning up the area, I started with some epoxy thickened with high-density filler, pressing it into the voids between the rudder sides and then beginning to rebuild the shape from there.  It would most likely take a couple more applications to get the shape back where it needed to be, after which time I could glass over the whole thing to complete the repair.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  31°, snow, about 3-4 inches down so far.  Forecast for the day:  Snow ending (about 5-6″ total) and clearing, growing colder with snow squalls.

Tuesday

After a mid-morning start following some errands and other business, I continued finish-sanding work on the remaining surfaces in the main cabin, including the port settee, both sides of the cabin trunk, and the galley area.  When I was through with the larger tool, I switched to a small palm sander and 120 grit paper and finished up work on various corners and tight spots to complete the basic prep work in the main and forward cabins.

Afterwards, I went around the interior with a drill and countersink bit, and reamed out all the old screw holes throughout the interior, making the holes wider to better accept epoxy filler.  I liked to start with a clean slate and not be tied to any existing holes, particularly in a situation where I wasn’t sure how new trim and other details would come together.

Next, I used a grinder to open up a few cracks here and there, mainly in sections of the port side where the liner had apparently once been cut out for access to the hull and deck.  These seams had opened up in places, and the non-reinforced seams would show through new coatings unless I improved the bonding.  I kept these areas minimal, since this was just a non-structural interior liner and my only purpose was to better hide these seams and old cracks.  While I had the grinder out, I prepared the area around the old deck prism above the galley, and also some old fastener holes beneath the foredeck that required more substantial filling and patching.

The main bulkhead was tabbed along the hull, but not at the decks, and originally (or at least as-delivered here) the bulkhead was pinned at the top corners by wooden blocks, which were bolted through the bulkhead and had once been bolted awkwardly through the deck.  I’d removed the large bolts through the deck during that phase of work, and now I finally got around to removing the blocks and their remaining bolts from the bulkheads.  Later, I planned to tab the main bulkhead to the deck throughout.

The final area requiring bulk surface preparations was the head compartment, with myriad small but multi-faceted surfaces to prepare.  As in the galley, the after bulkhead here was covered with Formica and didn’t need the sanding prep at this time.  For the moment, I also chose to leave alone the molded sole section, which incorporated a shower pan as well as a molded nonskid area, plus a platform for a toilet.  This section was a different color and was in pretty good shape as is, and on the off chance it could be kept as-is, I avoided it for now.

After various rounds of sanding with different tools and by hand, followed by hole reaming and some spot grinding to prepare a couple areas for larger patches, I completed the basic head surface prep to the same level as the rest of the cabin.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  0°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Increasing clouds, snow showers, then snow overnight, 20s

 

Monday

After a late-ish start while I took care of other business, I started in main cabin, where I worked in the lockers beneath the settees, cleaning up the final remnants of the old coring that I’d removed.

Beneath the galley, I cleaned up the lowermost locker as much as I could given the access, focusing on the inside of the old galley sink through hull, which I’d previously filled and patched from  the outside, but this patch still required fiberglass on the inside, which I’d do soon.  That hose is attached to the drain on the old icebox, and remains currently inaccessible.

In the forward cabin, I used a grinder to clean up the cuts at the aft end of the berth, where I’d removed the old, tall hanging lockers, and also cleaned up the hull and surrounding areas as needed in these corners.

Next, I sanded all the forward cabin liners, including the berth platform and edges, undersides of the deck, and overhead, with three separate rounds of sanding:  first with 80 grit to break and remove the gloss and clean the surface; then two rounds of sanding with an orbital finishing sander, ending with 120 grit, to hone the surface properly for the upcoming primer and paint steps (ad whatever else).  I still needed to come back and finish up the corners and detail areas.

With a bit of time left in the day, I moved back to the main cabin and finish-sanded the starboard settee, again with the 6″ orbital sander and ending at 120 grit.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  20°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 21°

Friday

In the forward cabin, I removed the tall hanging lockers at the aft end of each berth.  I used a saw to cut along the intersection of these lockers with the sides of the v-berth liner, and along the edge of the berth top, leaving a bit of an edge that I’d clean up and make flush later with additional sanding.  I cut out the lockers in a few sections to keep the size manageable, and removed remnants of the old tabbing along the hull sides to finish up the removal for now.

Removing the lockers greatly opened up and enhanced the space, and allowed decent access to the inside of the hull and forwardmost chainplate locations, and would greatly streamline further work efforts in the near future.  For now, I wasn’t sure how the owner wanted to finish off the space, but we’d discuss it during an upcoming meeting at the boat.  I’d soon clean up the areas with additional sanding, but for right now I planned to focus the rest of the day in the main cabin.

I turned back to the lockers beneath the settees, particularly on the port side, where I removed the rest of the core from the area with a grinder; I’d tried prying and scraping it, but found it too time-consuming.  With one remaining sanding disc on the grinder, I ground away the remaining square foot or so of core, and lightly cleaned up the lockers on both sides.  There was more and better sanding still to come soon, but I needed a new supply of the sanding discs first.

The main cabin largely consisted of molded, gelcoated interior components and liners, including the galley, settees and backrests, and the overhead, and the original finishes were old, tired, and stained.  On the port side, where work had been done in the past by others, there was some nasty glossy white paint filled with bubbles and roller stipple.  (Note:  lots of additional photos of the interior in various stages of disassembly and “as-arrived” condition can be found in the early pages of this project.)

During the remainder of the day, I sanded all the gelcoated surfaces in the main cabin and galley, removing gloss from the gelcoat and, where necessary, removing that nasty old paint.  This included all areas of the settees and backrests, the galley and companionway areas, the underside of the bridgedeck, and the undersides of the sidedecks.  This initial round of sanding was a sort of initial cleaning pass, and I planned additional finish sanding soon to take care of final surface prep for primer as well as deal with detail areas and corners.  The large bulkhead aft of the galley was still covered with well-stuck Formica and didn’t receive any attention at this time.  In some areas, I had to remove hated silicone sealant residue, which the builders had used beneath some of the trim and around the large port above the galley.    It was like sanding a car tire, but I prevailed.

The molded overhead was pockmarked with holes from hardware installations above, as well as a nightmare area above the galley where various old work had occurred.  This overhead was never going to be the final surface in the new interior, but I felt it was still necessary to sand it with coarse paper to clean, degloss, and abrade the surface so it would be ready for whatever future treatments I might do.

The overhead was also too ugly to live, and after all, I had to work in this space for some months.  A happy boat restorer is…well, happy.  It just felt better in the boat after I’d sanded the overhead clean.

I cleaned up the dust and detritus from the past two days’ sanding, and looked forward to repeating the process in the forward cabin next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  7 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  30°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Increasing clouds, 32°

Thursday

After a hiatus to work on other projects, and in keeping with the overall delivery schedule for this boat, I returned to work on Scupper, this time with my focus on the interior.  During the first phase of work, I’d removed interior trim and the like, but the main surfaces remained largely untouched and now required what I tend to call “bulk prep”–sanding and related surface prep.  All the interior surfaces would require some level of prep, including the molded overhead and interior components (the largest area of the interior), plus all locker and bilge spaces and any exposed areas of the inside of the hull.

After getting set back up with the various tools and lighting I needed, I got to work at the stem and started working my way back.  In the forward cabin, I used a sander to clean up the inside of the chainlocker, the huge space beneath the v-berth (in the forward section and as far aft as I could reach beneath the protruding molded lockers), and the exposed hull above the molded v-berth liner, removing as necessary old paint, grime, and generally smoothing the often rough surfaces to better prepare them for new paint and work ahead.  These areas wouldn’t be exposed in the final interior, but still required prep and other finishing work.

The v-berth featured two awkward and confining (and useless) “hanging lockers” molded into the aft end, which the owner and I had discussed removing.  These lockers seemed to close in the berth space, didn’t provide useful storage, and greatly limited decent access to the hull and chainplates.  For now, I stopped my prep work just forward of these looming, ineffective, unpleasant, unnecessary, and undesired walls, but planned to cut them flush with the berth in the immediate future (I was awaiting saw blades for this).

While I was in the forward cabin, I took the opportunity to clean up the inside of the forward hatch opening to prepare it for some interior glasswork to complete the new fiberglass frame I’d built earlier.  I planned to install a layer of fiberglass over the insides to seal off the exposed core, help tie in the hatch frame, and close off the opening between the interior liner and deck above.

Continuing aft, I worked in the main cabin to clean up the hull above the settees on each side (again, an area that would not be exposed in the final interior), and also inside the settee back lockers themselves, removing old paint and cleaning the surfaces as needed without going overboard.  I also similarly  cleaned up the inside of the hull inside the locker spaces in the head.

The lower lockers beneath the settees themselves required some extra work.  Much earlier in the project, during other rounds of work, I’d discovered that these lockers featured thin core against the hull, the purpose of which wasn’t clear (it wasn’t structural).  The core was on top of the inside of the actual hull laminate, and covered with an additional skin of fiberglass inside the locker.  What was clear was that the installation had been poorly executed, and the coring was damp and debonded from the skins above.  At the time, having determined that this wasn’t a serious structural issue, I left the lockers for another time.  That time was now.

On the starboard side, the old skins and coring were pretty easy to remove, so poor was the core’s condition.  With a cutting tool, I sliced through the top edge of the skin and along the edges as needed, eventually cutting the skin into large but manageable pieces that I could easily pry off.  This took most of what remained of the core with it, and the leftovers were easy to scrape free of the hull.

The port side, where everything was harder (this was the side that had received whatever major damage somewhere back in time, many of which repairs I’d already had to face and rebuild during the deck and exterior work), fought me tooth and nail.  The coring was generally in as poor condition as to starboard, but in some areas there was much thicker fiberglass over the top–probably part of the previous repair cycle–and some of the coring was still well-stuck despite its poor condition.  At some length and with effort, I eventually got most of the old core and top skin out, leaving some of the still-stuck areas for later removal with better tools (I didn’t want to stop and go down to get my core chisels right then).

Afterwards, I did a quick initial cleaning pass over the insides of these lockers with my grinder, using a couple of worn-out discs for now as I’d used up my supply during the day’s efforts.  This initial pass got rid of most of the leftover core scrim and loose bits, and some of the old paint, but I’d come back with fresh abrasives and finish up the job as soon as I could.  For now, my work here was done.

Total time billed on this job today:   7.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  40°, rain.  Forecast for the day:  Heavy rain, 50s

< Back to Scupper

Friday

With 220 grit and a palm sander, I sanded the spots on the hull where I’d applied fine filler earlier, removing the excess material and smoothing the hull.

Next, I lightly sanded the new fiberglass on the top of the rudder, just removing rough edges and lightly fairing with the surrounding areas.

There’d be more work on the rudder ahead, but for the moment I wanted to partially raise it back up into the boat and remove the temporary blocking, as I needed to move the boat over closer to the wall in the shop to make room for other projects for the next couple months till I got back to work on Scupper in earnest  with Phase 2  later in the winter.  With my jack, I lifted the rudder back up, then used a line wrapped over the poop deck to hold the rudder in place for now, just so I could reposition the boat.

Afterwards, I moved her over closer to the wall, opening some space to one side of the shop and near the door that I could use for some other projects on the docket.  It wasn’t a big move, but enough for what I needed, and I wouldn’t need full access to Scupper’s hull for the next round of work in any event.

Total time billed on this job today:  1.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  25°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Increasing clouds in the afternoon, rain overnight, 45°