February 23, 2021

Lyra 24

Tuesday

I’d planned to spend the day on the second coat of interior paint, but after careful inspection of all areas, and as critically as possible, I couldn’t find any reason why it would be necessary or even beneficial:  The finish on the first coat was so good as to obviate it, and I couldn’t find a notable fault.  Happy, if a bit surprised, to save the effort, I removed the masking tape and left the paint alone to continue curing before getting into any more interior work.  I planned to paint the cabin sole late in the week, which would give it the weekend to cure.

After some unrelated nits and nats during the morning, I got back to work on the generator storage area.  To test-fit the bottom platform in its final position, I used hot glue to mount a pair of temporary support blocks on the aft side of the cockpit well inside the locker, on which I could rest the plywood platform to check its angle properly against the “natural” angle of the generator in repose.  I ended up using a couple extra scraps of wood to raise the platform just a bit further, which worked pretty well and appeared to support the generator when installed.

After removing the temporary blocks and cleaning the bonding area, I installed with epoxy adhesive a 24″ hardwood cleat at the proper location; this would eventually support the inner edge of the new shelf.

For protection, I masked off the deck around the hatch opening, then installed the fiberglass hatch coaming permanently with thickened epoxy, forming a fillet around the outer edge and removing the tape when complete.  During an earlier work session, I’d already sanded away the paint from this narrow border to give the epoxy something real to bond to.

In a similar vein, I made final preparations towards the forward hatch installation.  Using the now-varnished hatch frame as a guide, I masked along its perimeter on the deck.  This gave me a line inside of which I needed to sand away the various paints to expose gelcoat for bonding.  With a sander, I could brush up against and slightly over the tape without causing damage to the adjacent areas, and remove the coatings within.  Inside the cabin, I used delicate surface tape and plastic to cover the opening and prevent sanding dust from going inside on the new paint.

Now I temporarily reinstalled the frame once more, and masked around it again, this time as protection against the epoxy I’d use to secure the frame to the deck in the near future.

Total time billed on this job today:  4 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  30°, partly clear, a crusty inch or two of snow from overnight.  Forecast for the day:   Partly sunny, 41°