November 8, 2017
Steadfast 11
Wednesday
During the first part of the morning, I finished up the sanding chores around the bulwarks, wrapping up the aft end of the starboard side and then moving on to the port side.
There were a few areas on the hull that I knew required some minor filling, including a large gouge on the stem and some areas along both waterline amidships where there were some minor gelcoat voids. Even though the waterline areas were below the level of finish paint, I still wanted to address them; they’d come to light when I removed the old paint and barrier coat during sanding efforts. Because I knew that the gouge on the stem, at least, might well require a couple rounds of fairing filler to satisfactorily smooth out, to ensure ample time in my hopeful prep schedule leading up to primer I moved right ahead with the fill in these areas before getting into the cleanup of the rest of the hull. After spot solvent-washing as needed, I applied epoxy fairing compound to these areas as needed.
Afterwards, I cleaned up from the past week’s sanding and starting to get the shop in order for the “cleaner” work ahead. After sweeping and blowing down, I vacuumed and solvent-washed the hull to remove sanding dust and clean it sufficiently for the final prep tasks ahead, including additional masking and any additional minor repairs.
While the solvent evaporated and aired out, I headed out to pick up my order of primer and paint for the work ahead.
Total time billed on this job today: 6.75 hours
0600 Weather Observation: 27°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny, 46°