December 15, 2022
Further 5
Thursday
Armed with a different, less aggressive sander and coarse discs, I continued work on the hull-deck joint area, removing the gelcoat from the black sheer strake and going over the rest of the area I’d ground in way of the old rubrail. This sanding session prepared the area for the new epoxy and fiberglass work ahead. In removing the black gelcoat, I strove first to maintain the shape of the hull so that fairing the new fiberglass would be as straightforward as possible, so there low remained areas (still colored black) that required minor filling before the tabbing operation, as well as some of the still-recessed areas left from the original joint construction and where the wooden strip had been.
The sheer strake seemed almost tailor-made for this project, with its slightly raised (versus the rest of the hull) profile and perfect depth to allow easy installation of 6″ fiberglass over the seam later, which would span the joint between the molded character line in the deck molding at the top edge and the bottom edge of the proud sheer strake.
With sanding complete for the moment, I cleaned up the boat and shop to a tolerable level. It would have been nice to move on with some additional minor prep work and epoxy filling, but I didn’t have enough time to do this before I had to leave for an appointment, so I’d continue next time.
Total time billed on this job today: 4.25 hours
0600 Weather Observation: 18°, partly cloudy, dew point 4°. Forecast for the day: Mostly cloudy then becoming sunny, 38°