August 31, 2019
With Hurricane Dorian inching closer, I wasted no time with getting the bottom sealed up. I had the new seacocks dry-fit, but now needed to effect the final install. I got to work by grabbing all the tools and material I would need for the task, and headed over to the boat. I first removed the thru-hulls and sanded the surface in preparation for both the application of Sitkaflex 291-Lot to bed the screws, thru-hulls, and seacocks, as well as thickened epoxy to cover the recessed screw heads.
With the 5" random orbital sander and a couple 80-grit discs, I removed bottom paint and sanded the epoxy barrier coat paint I had recently applied.
Happy with the work, I wiped the surfaces with acetone and moved on to "gooping" up the components with Sitkaflex for the install.
I began by applying a generous amount of Sitka Flex to two screw heads, opposing ones on the four-screw/four-corner pattern, and inserted them.
I covered the two screws (four shown inserted below) and pushed them into their slots, and then covered them with tape.
I moved up into the boat and placed some of the bedding compound on the seacock base plate and around the screw holes.
I then generously applied the polyurethane bedding compound to the bottom surface of the seacock, and placed it onto its base plate. I then moved back outside the boat and repeated the process for the other two opposing screws.
With the seacock in position, and all four screws penetrating up through the boat, base plate, and seacock, I then threaded on the backing bolts. Being a one-man job, I applied my helpers to each of the backing bolts and headed back out of the boat to tighten the screws down.
With all four screws and bolts tightened securely, I cleaned up the squeeze out polyurethane. You can see good squeeze out between the top surface of the base plate and the bottom surface of the seacock by looking up through the thru-hull opening in the photo below.
My next task was to insert and tighten down the thru-hull fitting itself. I applied a good amount of the Sitkaflex to the base of the thru-hull - there is a groove recessed around the inside of the thru-hull flange to help create a water-tight gasket upon installation.
I inserted the thru-hull and threaded it into the seacock. I then used my thru-hull wrench to tighten the thru-hull securely in place. I removed the squeeze out, and generally cleaned up the installation. repeated the same process of installation for the starboard side of the boat.
At this point, I moved back up into the boat to continue the installation of the new settee tops. I needed to get the seacocks installed before I moved on to installing the cabin tops, and this was primarily due to an easier installation of the seacocks without the smaller opening of the settee tops in place. The seacocks can be removed, replaced, or serviced with the new settee tops in place, but the job of installation was made easier without them installed.
That said, I was now ready to install the settee tops. Starting on the port side of the boat, I use a sheet of plastic to template the shape of the existing fiberglass molded settee top. While the plastic was in place over the fiberglass surface, I transferred the locations where I had removed the gelcoat down to bare fiberglass onto the plastic sheeting. These ground locations would be the glue points for the thickened epoxy to anchor down the new meranti plywood tops.
I secured the plastic sheeting template to the bottom of the new meranti plywood settee top, and transferred the "anchor points" to the bottom of the new settee top.
I then sanded the areas that would be in contact with the thickened epoxy. The GREY! paint that I applied the bottom surface of the settee top is epoxy-base paint, so to get the best mechanical bond possible, I needed to sand the surface.
I wet out both the fiberglass molded settee as well as the bottom surface of the new meranti settee top - in the anchor point areas only.
Next, I applied thickened epoxy to the anchor points on the molded fiberglass settee top.
Setting the new meranti plywood settee top in place, I weighted the top to ensure good contact between plywood, thickened epoxy, and fiberglass.
I repeated the process for the starboard side of the boat.
The next task for the settee tops is to tab them with 1708 biaxial tape on their outboard edge, as it comes into contact with the hull.
I moved back outside to complete the install of the seacocks. More specifically, to cover the recessed screw heads with thickened epoxy. I again thoroughly wiped the surface with acetone, and then mixed a small batch of thickened epoxy.
With a plastic squeegee in hand, I firmly pressed the thickened epoxy into the screw head recess, and faired it as best I could. I took a bot of time on this so that I could most likely sand and then coat with epoxy prior to painting with the barrier coat. Installation looked tidy.
Total Time Today: 4.25 hrs
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