Final Shaping of the Companionway Hatch

October 31, 2019

Having arrived from a work trip in the late afternoon, I decided to get in a couple hours on the boat.  The companionway hatch was glued and cured, and was now in need of shaping, so that would be my focus for this afternoon.  

I began by moving the work table outside the shop, and then placing the companionway hatch on top.    I outfitted the large router with a straight-cutting bit, with a guide bearing.  The guide bearing would run alongside the hatch frame to trim the overhanging top flush.  With a hand saw, I first trimmed some of the longer slats comprising the hatch top. I then applied the router to the hatch, making my way around the frame of the hatch.  With the hatch top now flush to the hatch frame on all sides, I changed to a 1/4" round over router bit.  This round over bit also has a guide bearing, and so I used that bearing to the follow the hatch frame surface and rounded over the top.

The router imparted some roughness in the cutting process, so I cleaned up the surfaces with the 5" random orbital sander.  I smoothed the top of the hatch and the frame of the hatch.

Next, I outfitted the compact router with a small diameter groove cutting bit.  Using the straightedge, I cut the shallow groove at the seems of the glued up slats.  Like I had done for the lazarette and forward hatches, the grooves will contain the teak decking caulk - more of an aesthetic than anything.

With the grooves cut, I cleaned up the cut surfaces by hand sanding.

After wiping down the surfaces of the hatch, I applied a thinned sealer coat of Epifanes clear gloss varnish.  Application was with a foam brush.

As I had done with the other hatches, I wanted to get a sealer coat of varnish on prior to the black teak decking caulk, and prior to the successive build up of the 5 to 7 coats of varnish.

Total Time Today: 2.5 hrs

Assembling the Companionway Hatch Frame & Top

October 23, 2019

I picked up where I had left off yesterday evening on the companionway hatch, and so it was now time to assemble the hatch frame and top.  I began by sanding both sides of the recently glued up hatch top, using the 6" Bosch and 80-grit discs.  The top cleaned up nicely.  After sanding the excess epoxy from the surfaces, I blew it off with some compressed air, followed by a wipe down with solvent to remove the remaining wood dust.

I mixed a small pot of epoxy resin and wet out the bottom of the hatch top...

...as well as the top of the hatch frame.

With the balance of resin in my pot, I added colloidal silica to it in order to thicken it up.  I spread a fair amount on the top of the hatch frame, flipped it over, and then placed it onto the bottom of the hatch top.  I carefully aligned the two components, and secured the top and frame with a number of clamps.  I came back and cleaned up the epoxy squeeze out from both the exterior and interior of the frame.  Routing work will come next, as I have already done with the two other hatches.

Total Time Today: 1 hr

Gluing Up the Companionway Hatch Top

October 22, 2019

With my October weekends scarce due to a number of commitments, and having already burned a couple weeks vacation for the refit work, I decided to take some week nights here and there to progress the project.  Tonight, I made way out to the shop to glue up the companionway hatch top.  I had already prepared the teak slats for the top, and with a fresh supply of epoxy arriving recently,  I got to work on the assembly.  

My first job tonight, after laying out some protecting plastic sheeting on the work table, was to knock down the rough edges on each of the slats.  Coming out of the planer, the slats had some rough areas that required a bit of cleaning up.  With 150-grit paper, I quickly knocked the edges down, and then placed them up on the work table after a quick wipe down with a solvent laden rag.  After all of the slats had been cleaned up, I came back for another, more thorough, wipe down with the solvent rag.  Teak holds a lot of natural oils which help to protect it in the marine environment, but this oil can also cause a bad epoxy resin bond if not first removed.  

With the slats cleaned up and their surface oils removed, I then mixed a small cup of epoxy resin to wet the surfaces to be glued up.  If this step is overlooked, then a a bad bond could result due to the wood grain "sucking up" the resin.  After each of the surfaces were wet out, I came back with another small batch of epoxy resin.  This go round, I mixed in some West System 406 colloidal silica as a filler for any uneven surfaces / voids.   

I swear there is a hatch top under that modern art installation.  I aligned the ends of the slats on one side, placed another layer of plastic sheeting over the teak slats, and then applied clamps on either end and one in the middle.  I then built up a few pieces of random stock on either end of the hatch top and placed a large panel over that.  On top of the panel, I applied weight to keep the hatch top in plane.  Tomorrow, I will come back and clean things up (epoxy squeeze out), and then prepare to glue the hatch top to the hatch frame.

Total Time Today: 1.25 hrs

Spot Fairing & Priming the Decks

October 17, 2019

I wouldn't have a lot of time today, so I got to work earlier than usual, and happily took advantage of some cooler weather settling into the Jacksonville area.  I checked on the lazarette and forward hatches, having varnished them yesterday, and they were curing nicely.  Yesterday's coat would be the first of 5 or 6 coats.  I set them aside in the shop so as to not accidentally knock them over, or otherwise disturb their aesthetic. 

I decided to move forward with getting a coat of finish primer on the decks, but first needed to apply some fairing compound to the starboard molded coaming board within the cockpit.  Since I had this fairing to do yet, I decided to avoid priming the cockpit.  I mixed up a small amount of the two-part TotalFair and applied it to the base of the fiberglass molded coaming within the cockpit.

Because the topcoat paint scheme for the decks and cockpit will be Alexseal's Oyster White, I did not want to use the Alexseal primer, which was in gray.  I would reserve the gray primer for the darker topsides color - Flag Blue.  I broke out the Interlux Primekote from my personal supply cabinet to achieve what I needed to this morning.  The two-part epoxy-based primer is an excellent product, and has produced outstanding results for me on a few projects.  

I mixed a total of 16 ounces of material, combining the two parts, and then thinned that 16 ounces by 25%, which resulted in a total of 20 ounces to apply to the decks.  Prior to thinning the product with Interlux 2333N, I waited the 20-minute induction time, allowing the two parts to catalyze.

Application was with a foam roller, and coverage was good.  This primer is a bit thick in application, but the solvent-resistant foam roller was able to work the material out in an even coat.

I began on the port side of the coachroof, and worked down the cabin sides to the deck and then forward.  I turned at the bow and worked my way aft on the starboard side of the boat.

I rounded the starboard aft quarter and completed the poop deck before rounding the port aft quarter.  I finished up at the port aft cabin bulkhead, and painted out the starboard and port aft cabin bulkhead with the remaining paint.  This would likely be 1 of 2 coats of primer for the decks.  

Total Time Today: 3 hrs

Working on the Three Hatches (Companionway, Forward, and Lazarette)

October 16, 2019

I got started today by removing the clamps from the companionway hatch frame and cleaning up any of the remaining cured epoxy.  The glue-up was easy and without complications.

I then set about measuring the location of the aluminum hatch slides, after first cutting the slides to length with the angle grinder and a cut-off wheel attachment.  The edge of the hatch slides are set to protrude 5/16" from the outside edge of the outboard frame boards.  This flange (i.e. hatch slides) will be captured by the companionway hatch rails. 

With the location of the hatch slides known, I move on to marking the location of fasteners that I would need to drill for.  Using a small punch, and finding the location of the 5 fasteners (per side) evenly spaced, I tapped an indentation for the drill bit to center onto.

I drilled out the holes for the fasteners on the bench top drill press, and then tapered the holes for the fasteners to recess into.

Placing the hatch slides onto the hatch frame, I marked the transferred the location of the holes onto the frame itself.  I then drilled 1/8" pilot holes for the #10 wood screws, and fastened the hatch slides to the frame.

I couldn't resist test-fitting the hatch and companionway rails - all fit nicely, with the hatch sliding unencumbered.

With the companionway hatch taken as far as I could due to not having a supply of epoxy resin, I turned my attention to the other hatches.  With the teak decking caulk fully cured, I could now sand the over fill...and apply the first full coat of varnish.  From my supply cabinet, I pulled a fresh quart of Epifanes varnish to apply to the hatches.

After sanding the lazarette hatch with 150-grit paper, I applied a lightly thinned coat of Epifanes high gloss varnish.

Similarly, I applied varnish to the forward hatch.  

Total Time Today: 4 hrs

Building the Companionway Hatch & Finishing the Hatch Slide Rails

October 15, 2019

I got started today with cleaning the recently sanded topsides with an acetone wipe down, and followed that with a can of black spray paint.  I applied a thin layer of paint over the surface to use as a guide coat for sanding and fairing the surface.  I will come back and longboard (long sanding board) the surface to take off as much of the black paint as possible.  Any remaining black paint will highlight low spots on the surface that will need to be faired with an epoxy fairing compound.

But sanding the hull was not in the cards today.  I returned to the companionway slide rails to finish them.  First thing that I did was to trim the surplus length of StarBoard that I glued in the rails to provide an easy slide surface, as well as to secure the hatch.

From there, I routed out a groove in the StarBoard material to capture and hold the companionway hatch.  I accomplished this by using a small trim router with a guide attachment set to run down the middle of the StarBoard.  I then began to ease the edges and shape the rails to a finished design.

A protective coat of varnish will be applied soon, followed by fitting the rails onto the coachroof.

With the rails nearly complete, I set out to build the companionway hatch itself.  I started by selecting  a length of teak from the stock I had on hand, and cut the lengths for the hatch frame.  

For the port and starboard boards (I'll refer to them as the two outboard frame boards) that will make up the frame of the hatch, I will be setting in a length of aluminum to serve as the slides.  These two aluminum slides will be captured in the groove I cut in the StarBoard insert glued into the companionway slide rails.  The thickness of the aluminum slides is 3/16 of an inch, so I raised the table saw blade that amount in order to remove material on the underside of those outboard frame boards.

On the forward section of the outboard frame boards, comprising two of the four frame boards of the companionway hatch, there is roughly 4" that will not include the length of aluminum slides.  Forward of that point,  I reduced the height of the outboard frame boards by 3/6" - to accept the aluminum slides, and appear flush to the bottom of the teak frame boards.

With the frame boards ready to glue up, I turned my attention to dimensioning the slats that will make up the top of the hatch.  My plan was to set the width of these slats to be 1.5" and the thickness to be 1/2".  The overall measurement of the hatch frame is 26.5" in width by 26" in length.  The top of the hatch would require 18 slats.

I crept up on the thickness of the slats by running them through the planer, taking off material in increments until I achieved the 1/2" thickness dimension. 

I laid out the hatch slats, and then moved them around until I was happy with the order of slats - looking for like color and grain.  I was low on epoxy resin, so the glue up would have to wait until later in the week, but the hatch top is ready to go.

I did, however, have enough resin to glue up of the frame boards.  I aligned the boards as I wanted (for aesthetics), flipped them over, and then wiped the boards down with acetone to remove the teak oils.  I mixed a small amount of resin, and then wet out the surfaces to be joined.

With the remaining resin, I thickened it with 406 colloidal silica and applied it to the surfaces to be joined.  With clamps, I pulled the boards together and cleaned up the squeeze out.  You can see the "step down" on the frame board in the picture below...this is where the aluminum slides will be mounted, and will be flush with the bottom of the hatch frame.

Total Time Today: 7 hrs

Sanding & Fairing the Cove Stripe and Counter

October 14, 2019

Having a full day available to me - actually most of the week due to vacation - I began with the companionway slide rails.  The roughed out shape was done, and so it was time to begin to fine-tune the rails to prep for installation.  Today, I would prepare a slot in the rails that the aluminum tabs on the companionway hatch would slide - allowing the hatch to move back and forth.

I started by ripping four lengths of King StarBoard - a UV state marine grade plastic - to insert in the companionway rails.  Next, I set up the companionway hatch trim and the rails on the coachroof of the boat to measure roughly where the KingBoard should be installed.  Back in the shop, I settled on the location of the KingBoard - 3/4" up from the surface of the coachroof.  I installed a 1/2" groove cutting bit in the router, set the router table's fence 3/4" from the edge of the cutting bit, set the bit to be 1/2" higher than the table...and routed out both grooves.  

I then sanded the lengths of KingBoard, applied epoxy resin in the grooves, and inserted the snugly fitting lengths of KingBoard.  I set them to the side to cure.  

I moved out to the boat with the Bosch sander to sand the recent application of epoxy fairing compound.  I was pleasantly surprised that after sanding this one application the surface was well on its way to be fair.  After completing this sanding, I moved on to the balance of the remaining sanding work on the topsides.

On both the starboard and port sides of the boat, I had yet to sand the strip of topsides above the cove stripe.  I did this today with the small 5" sander and 60-grit discs.  I also sanded the edges of the rail, as it turns inboard, by hand.

Sanding the cove stripes came next, and it was a bear of job due to the fact that I could not get a tool in the tight inset.  This was all done by hand, and was slooooow going.  I used a combination of 60-grit discs and 80-grit discs to accomplish this task.  After the cove stripes were completed I sanded the bow, and that would complete the removal of all topsides and deck paint on the boat.

After the sanding was completed, I thoroughly vacuumed the surfaces in and around the cove stripe as well as the deck and coachroof, followed by a good wire down with acetone.  I also removed the sanding debris from the counter (motor mount), and applied another skim coat of epoxy fairing compound.  I would not be surprised if this second application of fairing compound completes the fairing of the surfaces.

The last bit of fairing work I had was to drag a tongue depressor loaded up with TotalFair through the cove stripe, and fill a couple voids here and there along the edge of the cove stripe.  A quick sand tomorrow with 120/150-grit paper would finish out the fairing of the cove stripe.  

Tomorrow, I will begin fairing the surface of the topsides.  The owner has selected Flag Blue for the topsides paint, and this darker color requires near perfection on the surface fairing.  

Total Time Today: 7.75 hrs

Sanding the Outboard Edge of the Hull (Rails)

October 13, 2019

Having arrived back in town on a trip, the family ran a few required errands before arriving home and allowing me to get a couple hours on the boat.  The task for this afternoon was sanding the outboard edge of the hull (i.e. the rails).  I had applied fairing compound in the days previous to fill voids, gouges, gashes, low-spots, and the like.  Today, I would be taking the material down to fair it in with the surrounding surfaces.  I began on the starboard side of the boat, about amidships.

I worked my way forward on the starboard side, using 60-grit discs as well 150-grit discs, both without and without a slender block of wood to help maintain the plane.  At the bow, I turned to port and worked my way aft.

The process was essentially rough sanding with the 60-grit paper and the block of wood to knock down most of the material.  I then would transition to hand sanding with the 60-grit paper, and then turn to sanding with the 150-grit paper and the block of wood.  I finished by hand sanding with the 150-grit paper.

I wrapped things up where I had begun the sanding session.  In the coming days I will be applying the first round of topcoat primer paint.  The surface is now refined enough to begin the finish paint process.

Total Time Today: 2.5 hrs

Sanding the Topsides & Fairing the Counter

October 10, 2019

I took some vacation since it was accumulating and in need of being utilized...so I got started this morning with finishing the topsides sanding.  I used the Bosch vacuum system and the 6" random orbital sander with 60-grit discs.  I had last left off roughly amidships on the starboard side, the port side being complete.  I worked moving forward to the bow, sanding from just below the cove tripe to the just below the old waterline.

I left paint around the bow (what would be the cutwater on a wooden vessel), saving that for hand sanding so as to not overly get into the gelcoat.

With the starboard side complete (with the exception of the portion just above the cove stripe, both starboard and port), I moved to the stern of the boat.  I worked to remove material from both the port and starboard outboard edges in toward the center line.  The dark strip in the center is fairing compound from patching the fastener holes from the old aft chain plate.

Next, I water-washed the 1708 biaxial cloth I added to the outboard engine well patch and motor mount installation, and then sanded this surface with 60-grit paper to rough it up for further epoxy work.

As a final to-do before heading out of town for the weekend, I applied a skim coat of fairing compound to begin fairing in the fiberglass work on the counter of the boat.

Total Time Today: 4 hrs