January 20, 2022

Lyra Phase 2-18

Thursday

I began with a round of sanding on the new solid laminates at the mast step and “bulge” on the forward coachroof recore, bringing the edges flush as needed and otherwise preparing these areas.

On the upper coachroof, I sanded the new laminate covering the recore repair there, bring it flush all around and preparing the area for fairing.  While I was there, I sanded most of the paint off the companionway hatch; I’d finish this up later, once I removed it from the boat.

To prepare the large repair for its new fiberglass, I applied some epoxy filler as needed, fairing the two solid glass areas in with the surrounding core.  This was mainly at the edges of the solid areas, where there was a slight depression.  Before beginning, I masked over the two nearby portlights, and remasked the after part of the forward hatch for protection during the glasswork to come.

Next, I installed three layers of 1708 in epoxy resin, starting with the smallest piece that just covered the core and extended to the edges of the cutout, filing this area up to the level of the surrounding decks, then the two larger, overlapping layers extending to the outer reaches of the prepared deck areas.   The port edge of the largest piece unraveled a bit as the cloth stretched during installation, leading to the messy appearance along that edge, but most of that would get sanded off in the next steps.

Pleased to have the deck whole again, I finished up the deck work for now with some additional fairing compound on the two or three spots requiring it around the deck, and the first coat of fairing filler on the small recore repair.

With the bulk of the deck work complete, and no longer a pressing need for staging at deck height, I lowered the planks to a height comfortable for working on the hull, which would be my next and immediate focus in the coming days.  Before moving the staging, I slightly adjusted the jackstands as needed to bring the boat level, which would be required later when it was time to strike the waterline.

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  26°, cloudy.   Forecast for the day:  Cloudy, chance of snow showers, then clearing and temperature dropping thereafter.