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Thursday

Once more, by hand and machine as needed, I sanded the continuing work on the coachroof, bringing it incrementally closer to its final shape.

Meanwhile, I sanded the new fiberglass patches in the cockpit area.

Moving to the shop floor, I sanded all the new through hull patches, bringing the edges flush with the adjacent surfaces and ready for fairing.

After cleaning up, I applied a coat of fairing compound to the through hull patches.

On deck, I continued with another application of fairing compound on the coachroof and  on the new patches in the cockpit, plus some detail work in a few other areas here and there.

Later, I turned  to  the old hole leftover from a solar vent  in the coachroof.   Whether or not a  replacement  vent was in the plans for the future, we decided to patch the existing  hole and maintain flexibility for any and all  new installations later, and earlier I’d prepared the opening for patchwork by grinding around the existing hole in the usual way.  Now, I covered the inside of  the hole  and filled it with a structural epoxy plug before applying two layers of new fiberglass over the top, completing the patch.  Sometime later I’d address the inside of the opening.

Finally, I decided to enlarge a bit the new cutout for the lazarette hatch.  When I first cut the opening, I’d kept it a conservative size, not yet sure how large I could or should make it, but access would be enhanced with a larger opening, and with plenty of room inside it made sense to increase the size for better ingress to  the space, as well as to  make room for a hatch lining and raised edge.  I enlarged the opening by 2″ on each side and made preparations for the next steps to continue work on the  hatch opening.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  50°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Clearing, 72°

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Wednesday

No one likes the long board, but the huge coachroof, which had started out substantially unfair as a remnant of some previous repair effort, simply required it in order to highlight the basic contour of the deck and the low spots that I needed to fill between the various highs that would ultimately form the basis for the new shape.  Fortunately, at least at this early stage I didn’t need to use the laborious tool for long:  just enough to scratch up the surface and show me where to focus on the next fairing coat.  Since most of the surface was actually low, I knew I’d be filling again, probably several more times, and now I just needed to knock off any rough spots and high areas to prepare for the next round, most of which I could do with normal sanding tools once I’d as sense of things from the hand scratching.

There were a few other small detail areas that had fairing compound requiring sanding at this point as well, including some fillets along the deck edges and cockpit repairs, plus the port coaming repair and port cockpit locker area.  There’d be more detail work ahead as I continued the increasingly minor and light fairing and overall surface preparation work on the decks now that most of the major repair work was complete,

The main bulkhead was sort of pinned in place at the top outside corners (most of the top edge wasn’t secured at all) with wooden blocks, which were throughbolted to the bulkhead and then secured through the coachroof with carriage bolts from above and barrel nuts from below.  These were in the way of the new fairing work–I’d just worked around them for the first coat–and needed to be removed, since they were not what I saw as a permanent solution to the bulkhead, so from belowdecks I removed the nuts (easily, fortunately) and then pried up the bolts from above, leaving holes that I reamed out and prepared for filling in my usual way.

After cleanup and final preparations, including filling the now-empty boltholes, I applied a second coat of fairing compound to the coachroof, troweling longitudinally this time, which was perpendicular to how I’d applied the first coat to help fill the trowel marks and other low spots left after the first application.  This was starting to look better and smoother, but there were still obvious low “swales” in the reconstructed laminate beneath, and I knew there’d be several more rounds of fairing before I could approach a reasonable shape on the coachroof.  With such a huge area, I didn’t even try (OK, I tried, but didn’t fret) to avoid ridges or trowel marks between application rows, but each application would be that much better and already the massive port side was looking an order of magnitude better than its original shape.    Rome wasn’t built in a day.

There were still several old hardware and instrument holes in the cockpit that required patching, most notably the myriad openings in the base of the bridgedeck.  With no direct access to the back side of this area, other than a narrow slot accessible from inside the engine room, I decided my best approach would be to apply a permanent prefabricated panel behind the holes, over which I could fiberglass the patches from the inside.  To this end, I’d ordered a sheet of 1/8″ thick fiberglass, which I sanded to prepare for bonding.   To the extent possible, I prepared and cleaned up the surface behind the instruments, then wedged the fiberglass panel in place from behind, holding it securely with some wooden wedges.

From outside, I applied a thickened structural epoxy mixture to smooth in the old cutout edges with the surrounding area, which also would ultimately well adhere the backing to the boat and new repair work.    While I let this cure for a time, I prepared two layers of fiberglass for the patch, cut to fit as needed, and later installed there new fiberglass in epoxy resin.  Meanwhile, in the cockpit well I installed new fiberglass over several existing holes that I’d previously repaired and filled with thickened epoxy during an earlier work session.

During the remainder of the day, I patterned and cut fiberglass for the 12 through hull patches required on the bottom and, in a few cases, on the topsides.

I’d long ago prepared all these old openings for the patch work by grinding out around the holes to accept the new fiberglass from outside, and in another work session I’d filled the round holes with my usual epoxy mixture from within, so all areas were ready for the new work after the usual solvent wash, epoxy application, and minor fine filling to better accept the fiberglass over the existing plugs.  With all the new fiberglass cut to shape, I wet out each patch and installed it in the usual way.

Total time billed on this job today:   8.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  45°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 50s

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Thursday

After a day away from the shop working at a remote project, I got back to the deck and hull work with the usual round of sanding, this time mainly with a less aggressive finishing sander now that most of the fairing work was in its final stages.  There’d be additional, finer rounds of sanding soon ahead, but for the moment most deck areas were pretty much where they needed to be, other than some minor lows still requiring filling.

After sanding, some of the ground-out divots and gouges on the hull still required additional work, as many had received only one coat of fairing compound, but it was too awkward doing serious work on these areas with the staging at the higher height meant for deck work, so for the moment I planned to leave the hull mainly alone for more detailed attention as needed later on.

I removed the masking tape from the hull in way of the various through hulls I’d filled earlier, and as needed gave these areas a light sanding to prepare for the new fiberglass over the outside (and eventually inside).

After cleaning up the coachroof, I applied a first coat of epoxy fairing compound over the whole area, starting to even out the contours of the curved surface.  The first application was intended to fill the most obvious lows and bring some semblance of an overall contour to the area, but there’d be plenty of sanding and additional fairing to come.

The main bulkhead was pinned in place with some wooden blocks that were bolted through the cabin top with these barrel bolts.  I planned to remove these and secure the bulkhead in another way (tabbing), but for the moment I just left the fairing compound away from the bolt heads.

On the remainder of the deck, I focused mainly on little details, like cleaning up and re-filleting some of the corners in and around many of the areas I’d repaired earlier and between deck and cabin trunk/cockpit coaming, and continuing to fair in the large coaming repair on the port side and the repair to the port cockpit locker opening.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  42°, fog.  Forecast for the day:  Fog lifting, sun for most of the day, around 70°

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Tuesday

First thing, I sanded all the deck areas as needed, removing excess fairing compound from the various areas currently underway.  Most of the fastener holes and small repairs would require some additional fairing work, as expected.

This time, in addition to cleaning up the decks once I’d finished sanding, I spent some time cleaning the bilges, interior, and related spaces, where I’d not really ventured in some time and which had become a Stygian mess.  With some of the upcoming work soon to require my reentry into the cabin and other spaces, it was too dirty for anything, and I had to make it at least remotely habitable by cleaning up the extensive dust, core debris, and other detritus that had accumulated over the past several weeks of intensive deck work.

After a solvent wash, I went around the decks and applied additional fairing compound as necessary, mainly focused on the cabin trunk and cockpit coamings with their myriad  small repairs, but I touched up a few areas on the main decks as they became evident.

It seemed like as good a time as any to apply a first coat of fairing compound to a number of small places I’d ground out on the hull during the early stages of the project.  I’d worked on some of the uppermost sections while I was rebuilding the hull/deck joint, and now I went around the rest of the lower sections of the hull to begin the repairs on the remaining divots.

With a bit of time left in the day, I decided to get to work on the through hull openings, which I’d earlier ground out from outside the hull, ready to accept new fiberglass once I’d made some other preparations.  To start, I used a drum sander as needed to clean up the insides of the old holes and remove any remnants of sealant or other contaminants.  Then, I solvent-washed inside and out as needed, and masked over the openings from outside so I could fill the holes with a thickened structural epoxy mixture as a sort of plug over which I could later laminate the new layers of fiberglass, both outside and inside.

In the cockpit, I similarly filled some larger holes leftover from the bilge pump and other installations, after masking the openings from inside.

Finally, I prepared and installed new fiberglass over the port cockpit locker edge to repair and reinforce the damaged gelcoat and laminate there, and which I’d ground in preparation out earlier.

Total time billed on this job today:   7.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  30°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 70s

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Monday

Another  round of sanding brought both sides of the hull/deck close to where they needed to be, leaving only a few areas requiring  additional spot  filling.

Before continuing work on the main rehabilitation of the coachroof, I  wanted to prepare and fill the various fastener holes and test holes I’d drilled earlier in the project, as  well as prepare a large hole left over from  the solar vent for patching.  As needed, I used  a countersink, small grinder, or (for the solar vent hole) large grinder to prepare these areas for filling later in the day.

At the same  time, I went around the rest of the decks and cockpit to prepare some additional old fastener holes for patching, and also to grind out with a small sanding disc a large number of small dings, cracks, voids, and other issues in the cabin trunk, cockpit coamings, and elsewhere as  needed.  At the cockpit locker openings, I prepared the port side for some fiberglass patching, grinding a section that had been previously repaired and damaged  by the action of the locker lid hinges, and drilled out the fastener holes on the starboard side so I could fill them and allow flexibility in configuring the hinges sometime much later in the project.

After a thorough cleanup, I went around with epoxy fairing compound and a  trowel and spot-filled all the areas I’d just prepared, including fastener holes and spot-ground repairs, and also applied additional fairing compound to portions of the bridgedeck, hull/deck joint, and port sidedeck that required some fine-tuning.

On the port forward side of the cabin trunk, there was an older crack that had been previously filled by some other person, but early in the process I’d ground out the old filler since the crack needed additional reinforcement.  Similarly, in that timeframe I’d also  ground out a nasty section of the port cockpit coaming.  These areas have been showing up in other photos of the progress for weeks, but my focus was on the major repairs and these small details had to wait.  A few other repairs of similar magnitude, including patching the myriad instrument holes beneath the bridgedeck, loomed ahead in the immediate future as well.

Now, I prepared some biaxial fiberglass to fit the two patch areas and installed it in epoxy resin.  For the forward crack, one layer was sufficient to bridge the existing crack and help reinforce it, but at the coaming the damage required more of a buildup, mainly at the top edge where I’d had to grind back quite a bit of crushed and crumbled material.    I added in enough new fiberglass to at least approximate the original height for now.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  38°, mostly clear.  Forecast for the day:   Sunny, 70°

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Friday

I began once more with the sander, sanding all the hull/deck joint as needed, interrupted for an hour or so while another boat departed the shop for the season.  The port gunwale, with two coats of fairing compound, was nearly at final and appropriate contours on both hull and deck, but the deck side featured numerous chatter marks, pinholes, and other low areas from the previous application that would require additional work.  The starboard side and taffrail had a single coat of fairing compound, but with the original hull and deck in better shape on this side, things were already shaping up well, though additional applications would be required.

After cleaning up, I spot-applied more fairing compound on the port side, mostly focusing on skim-coating the port sidedeck to take care of most of the tool marks and other interruptions.   I’d planned from the getgo to use the fairing process from the hull/deck joint glasswork to bring the whole deck contour to where it needed to be, and with this application it looked like I’d be nearly there once it cured and I could sand it.

On the starboard side and taffrail, I used a wider trowel to bring the new gunwale edge smooth and fair into the existing deck surfaces, much as I’d done on the port side earlier.  Here, I expected that the second application would essentially complete the fairing work, with only minor spot-filling left to go.

With the most major deck repair work now approaching some state of completion and readiness, I looked forward in the coming days to focusing on the remaining (and still relatively substantial) deck work, including additional hole patching (instrument holes and other areas in the cockpit, plus several small repairs on the cabin sides), as well as continuing surface preparations and fairing work on the coachroof and nearby areas.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  48°, mostly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Mostly cloudy, chance of showers or thunderstorm, around 70°

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Thursday

I sanded the new fiberglass on the starboard hull/deck joint and across the transom, and also sanded the first round of fairing compound on the port side.

On the coachroof, I sanded off most of the old paint and did what I could at this point to even out the surface, my next step towards improving the appearance and finish of this large area.  I had to strike a balance between how much paint I could remove and how much to sand the fiberglass surface, since the paint had been applied without benefit of any fairing or smoothing and there were numerous areas where the paint was deep in the weave of the cloth and other low spots.

After cleaning up from the day’s sanding efforts, I applied epoxy fairing compound to the hull/deck joint as needed, with the first coat on the starboard side and transom.  With the second coat on the port side, I used a wider trowel to continue the overall fairing efforts on the rebuilt sidedeck (and other areas as needed), incorporating it into the new hull/deck joint.

Total time billed on this job today:  8.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  55°, mainly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Clouds and sun, showers, around 70 but becoming cooler in the afternoon

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Wednesday

To get started, I installed the two layers of biaxial tabbing on the starboard hull/deck joint, repeating the process I’d completed on the port side earlier.

After a break for a few hours while I completed some work on another project getting ready to leave the shop later in the week, I lightly sanded the new fiberglass on the port gunwale to prepare it for fairing.

After cleaning up, I installed two layers of tabbing over the taffrail/transom section of the hull/deck joint.  Here, I required shorter sections to better approximate the curvature of the seam.

Finally, I applied the first coat of epoxy fairing compound to the port gunwale, beginning to smooth the new work in to the existing surfaces of hull and deck.  For now, I focused on filling the edge between the top layer of tabbing and the existing surfaces, and filled the weave of the cloth in the remaining areas.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  40°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 80s

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Tuesday

I continued with another round of sanding on the deck areas as needed.

The coachroof would require a fair bit of work going forward, as the existing repairs, while apparently sound, were far from cosmetically acceptable.  As a first step, I had to get rid of the remnants of the old adhesive that had secured the Treadmaster.  In this case, since the existing surface was such a mess and wasn’t remotely fair to begin with, I used a sanding disc on a grinder to quickly remove the worse of the old adhesive and aggressive nonskid paint on the coachroof, taking care not to go too far and leaving behind a skim of paint that I’d remove another time with a less-aggressive tool.

My next main focus was the hull-deck joint.  Now that the port sidedeck was rebuilt, and the first round of fairing applied that had brought the edge to similar contours as the remaining portion of the deck, it was time to get to the fiberglassing.  To prepare, I masked off below the edge of the area I’d prepared on the hull to catch the inevitable drips of resin during the installation, and pre-cut a series of 24″ lengths of 6″ and 4″ biaxial tabbing that I’d use to glass over the joint.

I spent the remainder of the day installing the two layers of fiberglass over the port gunwale, starting at the bow with a couple special pieces that I cut to incorporate a hole repair over the old anchor hawse located near the rail.  I staggered the seams between the two layers by 12″, and, installing two sections at a time, worked my way aft to the transom by the end of the day.

To finish up, I pre-cut a couple special pieces for the starboard side, mainly to fit around the winch island, which would save time in the morning when I wanted to repeat the glassing process on the other side.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  30°, mostly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Clouds and a shower, then becoming sunny, 60°

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Thursday

I continued to close in towards the effective end of the most significant deck repairs with another round of sanding.  With many smaller cosmetic repairs still to go, as well as the work on the hull-deck joint, I looked forward to wrapping up this round of major work so I could focus on the rest.

After the usual cleanup, I applied additional fairing filler where necessary.  The bridgedeck and coachroof (and other, smaller areas) were all more or less at the proper contours, but there were sundry trowel marks and low spots that required attention.

On the new port sidedeck, I applied an initial coat of fairing filler to fill the weave of the cloth and bring the deck to an approximation of its final shape.  There was a sort of oddball transition at the forward end, where the “old repair” had met the existing foredeck, and where I’d cut out additional suspect material in order to make the new work better.  The need to start somewhere and build off the old work, particularly with the damaged and oddly-build inner skin on this side of the boat (and where it transitioned to the original construction in the area in question) required this transitional area, which had also been evident in the old work before demolition; the fact that it was evident was indicative of the overall effectiveness of that now-dismantled repair.

Now, though the little bump necessarily still existed, this section would fair in properly with the new after portion of the deck without much trouble.  The first coat made good strides in this direction.

Total time billed on this job today:  4 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  50°, fog and showers.  Forecast for the day:  Fog and showers, then improving in the afternoon