Interior Sanding (post-"Final")

February 2, 2019

So I lied...I wasn't quite finished with the sanding of the interior.  Having removed the chainplates recently, I decided to clean up the chainplate knees and improve them.  There is some "jankiness" (technical term) to them, and a bit of sloppy tabbing, so I plan to improve the tabbing and fair out some of the unevenness on the surfaces.  I thought that while I was in there, and to improve access to said chainplate knees, I needed to remove the shelves running the length of the settees both on starboard and port hulls.  

The pictures above (port hull) and below (starboard) show the forward portion of the shelves.  I had removed the varnished fiddles in a previous work session, placed in the shop for safe-keeping, and undecided on whether I would be using them or fabricating new.

I began today with the oscillating tool, removing the light cloth tabbing securing the shelves to the hull.  I ran the tool along the length of the port shelf, first, and gently removed it for at least templating a new shelf.  These shelves were very rudimentary and in poor shape to boot.

I repeated the process for the starboard shelf, and set it to the side as well.  Scribing the hull to create a snug fitting shelf would be easy enough, it's just that I can't seem to throw anything away until I crafting its replacement. 

With the port shelf removed, as well as the starboard shelf, I got straight to grinding the old paint from the hull.  For this task, I donned a 40-grit flap wheel on my angle grinder.  The flap wheel is a superb tool in removing paint over a significant surface area; it also does a great job at tapering edges of fiberglass for repair and layup work.  I removed as much of the paint as I could on the chainplate knees as well, preparing for additional tabbing reinforcement.

I repeated the process on the starboard hull, to include the chainplate knees.  I finished the work session on the foredeck, tapering the edges around the area requiring new core, top skin and bottom skin.  I have laid up the initial layer of bottom skin, and will follow next with another layer of bottom skin, followed by new 1/2" balsa core and finally two layers of top skin - all tied in, solid and secure!

Total Time Today: 2.75 hrs