February 9, 2021
Lyra 14
Tuesday
Continuing the cycle with these things, I began the day with a round of sanding to prepare the various fiberglass patches I’d completed last time: The icebox hatch; vertical lazarette hatch; gauge holes. As needed, I removed the backing tape and molds from these repairs and prepared the back sides for additional work where necessary.
With a 1″ hole saw, I reopened the cockpit scuppers so I could continue work creating and cleaning up the top edges for finished appearance.
With a jigsaw, I slightly opened up the opening for the new cockpit sole hatch, as the solid fiberglass I’d installed around its perimeter overhung a bit on the forward side. With 1/8″ or so of trimming, the hatch fit properly once more. Meanwhile, I cut the opening for the forward hatch to the final size, following the lines I’d traced from the wooden hatch frame.
After final preparations, I added layers of fiberglass to the back sides of the icebox hatch repair, the engine gauge area, and the blower hole. I installed small fiberglass patches over the insides of the two old through hulls in the engine room as well.
In the cockpit, I applied the first layer of fairing compound to the repairs, as well as a skim coat on the cockpit seating areas and new cockpit sole, plus filling the various screw holes and other areas requiring minor repair and filling.
On the hull, I lightly sanded the first round of fairing filler on the transducer housing, then applied a second coat to further fine-tune the shape and fill the minor low spots.
To round out the day, I finished up the milling work on the new forward hatch frame, rounding over the top outside corner for appearance and to hold varnish, and sanding the whole piece through 220 grit. Then, I applied a thin sealer coat of varnish to the piece, the first of several coats I’d apply before installing the frame permanently on deck.
Total time billed on this job today: 5.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation: 8°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: Cloudy, light snow in the afternoon, 21°.