February 10, 2023

Further 43

Friday

I removed the temporary coaming stand-ins and reamed out the various screw holes left from the initial dodger template process, along with various other fastener holes that I’d so far left unfilled.  The owners had agreed that I should simply fill all remaining holes, including several on the aft edge of the cockpit.  With preparations complete, and after cleaning up appropriately, I filled all the holes with fairing compound, and applied a third round to portions of the cockpit as needed.

Next, I did the final rounds of finish sanding on the coachroof, stopping just short of the areas where I’d filled the screw holes, and focusing some extra attention on the hatch frames, removing any last bits of paint from the top surfaces of both frames and sanding by hand as needed.  For the moment, the temporarily-installed sea hood prevented access to the companionway rails and area forward of the companionway, so those would end up being one of the last areas to get its final sanding once I removed the temporary installation after the dodger template was complete.

I lightly sanded the foredeck and sidedecks with the final grits of 80-120, completing the pre-primer work there.

For the moment, that was about all I could do to move things forward on the boat herself, so I finished up the day’s work by gluing up with epoxy the two blanks for the cockpit coamings.

Total time billed on this job today: 5.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 34°, foggy, 33°. Forecast for the day: Cloudy and foggy, gradually becoming mostly sunny, 50°