Lazarette Buildout (Pt 2)

December 8, 2019

Having only a few hours time today for the Allied 24, I got straight to work on the cockpit locker hatches - having a bit of filling and fairing work to do.  The outboard edges of the cockpit lockers were at one time fastened with piano hinges, running the length of the hatches.  In a previous work session I had filled the holes from the underside.  Today, I bored out the old fastener holes from the top of the hatch, and prepped them to fill with thickened epoxy.

I vacuumed up the detritus, and solvent washed the surfaces.  With some "neat" epoxy resin (not thickened yet), I painted out the laminate to prepare for the thickened epoxy. With the remaining resin, I thickened it with a combination of 406 colloidal silica and 407 low-density fillers, and filled the fastener holes.

On the inboard edge of one of the hatches, I had previously dished out the laminate to prepare for a fiberglass patch.  The size of the old fastener hole in the this location would prevent me from simply filling it with thickened epoxy and then sanding the surface fair.  So to that end, I cut a small patch of 1708 biaxial cloth, wet the surface out and the fiberglass, and then applied the small fiberglass patch.   To finish things off, I applied a skim coat of fairing compound to the patch.  The next step for the hatches will be sanding and a final application of fairing compound prior to priming them.

Back on the boat, I turned my attention to the lazarette.  Yesterday I had templated and cut the inboard panels for the port and starboard shelving.  I was now ready to glue them in place.  I made sure each panel was plumb and square to the aft cockpit bulkhead, and then made marks on the interior of the hull to make sure I returned the panels to their proper positions.

I cleaned up the surfaces of the panels and the hull to prep for epoxy work.  I then mixed a pot of epoxy resin without any thickening agents to paint out the edges of the panels where they would come in contact with the boat.  Next, I mixed up some resin and thickened it with the usual 406/407 recipe.  This thickened epoxy was then applied to the edges of the panels, and then pressed into position.  I made sure that each panel was plumb, and then taped off each panel at a couple points to keep them from wondering outside of their plumb and square orientations.

The work to come will include tabbing the inboard panels to the hull, and templating for the shelf panels themselves.  

With things taken as far as I could with the shelving, I began work on the backing plate for the electric motor installation.  I selected and cut a piece of G-10 to use as the backing plate - a fiberglass and epoxy resin infused lamination producing an incredibly strong panel product.  The factory finish on the G-10 board is smooth, and requires some "roughing" up to create a textured surface that would promote a good mechanical bond.

I painted out the surface of the boat and the G-10 board with "neat" epoxy, and then followed that with a generous amount of thickened epoxy on the hull of the boat.  I pressed the G-10 board down into the thickened epoxy, gently rocking it from side to side to make sure that I had good contact and no voids beneath.  I put a small level on the board of make sure that it was level from side to side.  

My next task was to encase the G-10 backing plate in a couple layers of 1708 biaxial cloth, finishing it off with a layer of peel ply.  The peel ply would eliminate the need to water-wash to remove amine blush and sanding to create a rough surface for further epoxy work (paint or resin).

Total Time Today: 2.75 hrs