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
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