Sanding the Coachroof, Foredeck and Cockpit Well

June 30, 2019

I was looking to get the coachroof and foredeck nearly faired this weekend, but alas I ran out of resin required to achieve that goal.  I ordered more epoxy resin, that would arrive tomorrow, and then progressed forward with the sanding.  After water-washing all of the areas I had previously applied epoxy fairing compound to, I began sanding on the coachroof.  I worked the entirety of the surface with the Bosch 6", knocking down all of the obvious high spots and then blended in the small height variances caused by the 10" knife I used to apply the previous round of fairing compound. 

After a thorough sanding of the area, I applied a straightedge to identify the few remaining low spots.  These low spots would require fairing compound, and so would have to wait.

Next, I moved on to the foredeck.  The foredeck repair is nearly complete, and after sanding the previous day's application of fairing compound, I could see that only an additional skim coat in a few areas would be needed.

I moved back to the cockpit well and sanded the recent core repair at the aft end.  The surface would need at least a couple skim coats of fairing compound as well.  In addition to this large repair area, I also hand-sanded numerous spots around the cockpit well that had been previously filled.  The many corners and tight radius transitions between perpendicular surfaces within the cockpit well make for time consuming hand-sanding work.  Give me large swaths of deck and hull sides any day!

After completing the sanding on the exterior surfaces for the day, I moved below.  Twisting and contorting my head, arms and shoulders through the cockpit locker hatches, I managed to sand the recently applied tabbing and hull surfaces that the peel ply could not cover.  Those areas that were not covered by the peel ply were water-washed at the beginning of the work today, and now with the amine blush removed I could scuff up the surfaces to prepare for paint.

The cockpit well is very stable now, I've eliminated the "creaking and popping" sounds at the aft end.

Using a small 5" random orbital sander, I sanded and removed what loose material remained on the forward side of the lazarette bulkhead.  

I worked from starboard to port with the 5" sander and 40-grit discs.

The entirety of the space accessed by the cockpit locker hatches would be painted out with the epoxy-based TotalBoat TotalProtect system - gray in color; not blue ;-)

I completed the work on the port side.  With the heat index being as high as it was, as well as not having resin to continue with the fairing, I decided to knock for the day.  In the next session, I'll be focusing in on completing the fairing of the coachroof and foredeck, as well as painting out the space beneath the cockpit locker hatches.

Total Time Today: 4 hrs