Lackey Sailing | Lyra Phase 2-12

January 12, 2022

Lyra Phase 2-12

Wednesday

I removed the brace, fixing screws, and wooden alignment blocks from the new deck repair/overhead panel, then made preparations to tab the repair to the adjacent surfaces, beginning with making a cut list for the tabbing pieces needed all around. Afterwards, I used a thickened epoxy mixture to fill the small transition between the panel and the adjacent bonding surfaces, wetting out all areas in the process.

Leaving that to tack up a bit, I cut all the pieces of tabbing, then wet them out and installed them around the perimeter of the repair.

Continuing the refinishing work on the mast beam, I lightly sanded and then applied a second coat of varnish.

Meanwhile, I went around the decks and ground out any small areas requiring repairs: Cracks, old filler that wasn’t up to snuff, and that sort of thing. I also ground out a circular area around the obsolete fuel fill opening on the starboard side to prepare this for patching.

After cleaning up the areas in question, I applied epoxy fairing compound as needed (first round), and skim-coated the decks aft of the cabin trunk to fill remnants of the old molded nonskid pattern and other minor issues. I installed rounds of fiberglass to patch the fuel fill opening, and patched two larger cracks in the raised toerail with fiberglass.

That was all I could do on the decks for the moment, so I moved to the hull, where, beginning at the stern, I measured and marked the existing locations of the painted waterline and, importantly, the actual waterline as determined by the clear scum line on the hull. I’d use these baseline measurements in a few weeks to determine and strike the new waterline and striping when the time came. Working off the actual waterline now, I made new marks 2-1/2″ vertically above at stem and stern and noted the reference measurement, which would ultimately become the two determining points for the new line.