September 1, 2019
I started the day by water-washing the epoxy filler/fairing compound I had previously applied to fill the recessed screw heads, as well as the application to the ongoing work of glassing in the old engine well in the counter of the boat. My focus for the work session today was not on the old engine well and motor mount, but I took the opportunity while I had the sander out to work this area a bit. I also took the time to test-sand the port aft quarter of the topsides. The finish paint and grey primer sanded well with the 80-grit discs I used, but would be made easier with the 60-grit discs I planned for. The time on the topsides will be spent in the cove stripe.
My primary need for getting the sanding tools out today was to sand fair the thickened epoxy I had applied to the holes made by recessing the screw heads securing the seacocks. This was accomplished forthwith, explaining my desire to keep sanding while I had the tool out (port aft quarter topsides and motor mount area).
With the sanding completed, I moved into the boat to accomplish my initial focus for the day - tabbing work in the main cabin. I had another layer of tabbing to add to the primary bulkheads - a 6" wide layer of tabbing - and I wanted to begin on the tabbing process for the new cabin settee tops. I took measures for the areas requiring the tabbing, made notes, and returned to the wood shop to prepare the fiberglass.
In the wood shop, I cut the lengths of fiberglass per the notes I took on the boat. In a few back-and-forth trips, I was able to get the wider layer of 6" tabbing onto the bulkhead, beginning with the starboard side. (sorry for the blurry pic)
I repeated my process for the port side primary bulkhead. (again, sorry for the blurry pic)
I had trepidation on both filling in the small outboard void between the new meranti settee top and the hull, and tabbing the settee tops to the hull with a layer of 6" biaxial fiberglass tape. In the hot climate of Florida, the fiberglass tends to "kick" quickly, and this would potentially disrupt the chemical bonding process of wet out fiberglass-to-epoxy filler. So I decided to focus today on filling in this void, in preparation for tabbing the area tomorrow. (pic below: forward starboard settee)
I cleaned the surface and then brushed on epoxy resin to saturate the edge of the meranti plywood, so as to create the best bond that I could. (pic below: aft starboard settee)
I then mixed up two separate, large batches of epoxy resin and thickened it with a combination of 406 colloidal silica and 407 low-density filler in order to create a non-sagging and workable material to fill the void in the outboard edge of the settee. (pic below: forward port settee)
Using a plastic squeegee, I pushed the thickened epoxy resin into the void, creating a slight fillet, or radius, from the settee top to the hull side. I will come back tomorrow to sand the surface, and then apply tabbing to the area. (pic below: aft port settee)
I progressed as far as possible inside the boat today, so I moved back outside to compete my tasks for the day. I cleaned up the surfaces around the thru-hulls with acetone in order to prepare for additional epoxy work. Since this fairing compound will reside beneath the waterline, I need to seal the epoxy-based material with a layer of straight epoxy resin (no thickeners), prior to painting it. So I mixed an ounce of resin and applied it to the surface with a chip brush.
While I was working over on the starboard side of the boat, and heaving previously ground out a couple questionable spots beneath the waterline, I took the opportunity to clean the areas, wet them out with epoxy resin, and to fill them with thickened epoxy resin. I will later comeback to sand, seal, and paint.
Over on the port side of the hull, I repeated the process of sealing the epoxy work around the thru-hulls.
As I had done on the starboard side, I had a void on the port side too. In the previous work session, I had filled the small void, so what was left for this spot was to seal it. I sanded it earlier in the day, so all that was left was to clean the surface and seal it with epoxy resin. That concluded work for the day.
Total Time Today: 3.75 hrs
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