February 2, 2023

Further 37

Thursday

Using a 6″ finish sander, I sanded the entire coachroof, blending in the most recent round of fairing compound and smoothing all areas.  Only a few small lows and minor voids remained.  I also began removing the one-part paint from the center hatch coaming.

With the same tool, I sanded both sides of the forward cockpit bulkhead, not only to smooth my latest fairing compound on the instrument holes, but also to remove a coat of one-part paint over the entire area.  This exposed previous repairs of older instrument holes as well.

Continuing, I dressed up the starboard sidedeck outboard of the cockpit, where I’d finally achieved the shape I hoped for, as well as the top edge of the transom and the three though hulls in the counter.

Switching to a more aggressive tool, I sanded the new repairs in the cockpit, bringing the edges flush with the surrounding areas as required, and lightly scuffing the centers as needed.

The bulk of the foredeck was still untouched, and now it was time to sand the nonskid and prepare for skim-coating and final fairing work.  (First picture:  before)

After cleanup, I applied a skim coat of fairing compound to the entire foredeck, fairing in the edges of the raised nonskid areas as needed.  First, though, I added an oblong of fiberglass to one test hole I’d drilled in the foredeck earlier, which hole I’d also previously filled with epoxy.

Moving on, I added small areas of fairing compound to the areas requiring it on the coachroof, and instrument holes in the cockpit bulkhead.  I skimmed over the older, previously-filled openings that my sanding had uncovered earlier in the day.

Next, I troweled a layer of fairing compound over the new cockpit repairs, and some spot filling for the transom and counter.

With what was left of the day, I finished up work on the sea hood, smoothing in the spot fairing repairs from last time, then finish-sanding the part through 12o grit, the final required before high-build primer.  This piece was finished except for some quick hand work at the corners and edges.

Total time billed on this job today: 6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 2°, clear, dew point 4°. Forecast for the day: Mostly sunny, 32°