Sanding, Glassing, and Thru-hull Removal and Prep

April 24, 2019

With a few days of vacation to burn, I resumed work on the Allied 24 today.  I'm making great progress on the exterior surfaces, but with a number of "issues" (aka chips, cracks and voids in the gelcoat), the fairing-sanding-fairing process has a time multiplier across the entirety of the boat.  Nevertheless, I am ticking them off a few at a time.

I started today with a water-wash of the previous session's epoxy work, a perfunctory task following any epoxy work in order to remove the amine blush (waxy surface) that forms on the curing resin.  I began at the lazarette hatch frame, and with the 5" ROB and hand-sanding I shaped the repaired surfaces to bring them into fair with the surrounding surfaces.    

I moved forward through the cockpit, sanding the previously filled areas.  I would come back after completing the entirety of the sanding to apply the next round of fairing compound...an iterative process to bring things up to, well, fair.

I repeated the process on the forward hatch frame.  I reapplied fairing compound to the recently sanded surfaces, and then applied 1708 biaxial cloth to the aft portion of the hatch frame to close in a notch that was cut into it.

I also applied 10oz cloth to a repair area in the cockpit well - vertical surface on the starboard side.

I then followed the application of fiberglass cloth with a skim coat of fairing compound.

I then moved up onto the coach roof, and I applied a couple layers of 1708 biaxial cloth to the mast step.  I then applied a skim coat of fairing compound, but afterward I realized that I would need at least one more layer of 1708.

With the sanding and resin work done for today, I turned to more analog tasks: the cockpit well scuppers and their thru-hulls.  I first began with removing the cockpit well scuppers.

I then removed the thru-hulls.  I did this by using the 4" angle grinder and cut-off wheel to essentially destroy the mushroom fitting, and then pulled the balance of the fitting through the open hole from the interior of the boat.

I then used the angle grinder and a 40-grit flap wheel disc to grind tapers around the top surface of where the cockpit well scuppers once resided.  I will be closing these open holes in completely and then relocating new drains.

I repeated the process on the starboard side as well.

While I had the angle grinder out, I ground the typical 12:1 taper in the hull as prep for the eventual glassing in of these open holes.  The 12:1 taper is 12 x the thickness of the hull's laminate.  The hull is 3/8 at the turn of the bilge, and so therefore the widest layer of 1708 biaxial would have a 4.5" radius.  

I repeated the process on the port side.  The existing thru-hulls are simply the mushroom fittings with a backing but securing it.  If there happen to be a failure of the hose from the cockpit well to the mushroom fitting, the boat would sink.  So, proper seacocks are called for and will be slightly relocated.

Total Time Today: 5 hrs