August 27, 2017
Enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon on the patio, drifting in and out of napping, it was everything I had in me to will myself up and out into the heat. Once I was out there, however, I managed to get a few things done on Joule. Florida's summer heat requires acclimation if one is to labor in it, so in this regard the office is not my friend. Alas, Joule and her owners are no doubt looking forward to launch day, and with that in mind I was back at it.
I began by removing the tabernacle mast step, making quick work of three bolts and a few hammer taps.
I then removed the remaining sealant with razor and solvent; I followed with 80-grit paper on the RO sander to take the surface down o gelcoat.
I then turned my attention to the deadlights. Each deadlight frame was fixed with 6 screws.
After removing the screws, I tapped the deadlight out of its position from the inside. After gently taping on the interior frame, the sealant finally relented its hold and allowed the deadlight to emerge. As I had done with the mast step, I removed the excess sealant with a razor blade and then solvent. I sanded the area around the deadlight to remove the old layers of paint.
The Starboard deadlight did not fair as well. Turns out the deadlights are not bronze, or stainless for that matter, but plastic! Yes, Joule is at her core plastic (fiberglass reinforced), but well protected from the sun's damaging UV. The deadlights suffer from severe UV degradation; the starboard trim simply separated from its interior frame and then broke clean through - the sealant having greater strength that the deadlight trim.
With the deadlights and mast step removed, I turned my attention to the old fastener holes. I set out to taper the holes with the drill bit shown below.
I methodically made my way across the entire boat's surface and opened up each of the old fastener holes as the first step in preparing to fill and fair them.
Next, I wanted to take care of the 2" hole in the wall of the starboard cockpit seat. Used previously to house the plug for charging the battery, the new owners to decided to do away with it.
I created a taper around the opening to accept the 1708 biaxial cloth, I sanded the interior surface, and then wiped both the interior and exterior down with solvent.
I cut a square piece of 1708 as backing to seal this opening, and applied it to the surface I had just previously wet out with straight epoxy.
Using a small sheet of plastic, I made patterns of two pieces of 1708 to be used to fill the tapered area. Prior to applying the layers of cloth to the tapered section, I mixed roughly an ounce of epoxy and thickened it with 406 silica to fill the center portion of the hole. After applying the thickened epoxy with a squeegee, I then wet out the two layers of 1708 and placed them.
With the balance of my time today, I finished preparing a portion of the old fasteners holes - cleaning them with solvent, and then wetting them out with a bit of straight epoxy. I then mixed a couple ounces of epoxy and thickened with a mixture of 406 silica and 407 low-density filler. Starting in the cockpit, I made my way across the aft of the cockpit and down the starboard side.
Satisfied with this first application, I existed the cockpit for the starboard rail.
Starting at Joule's hind quarter, I made my way down her starboard rail filling the old rub rail fastener holes with this first application of thickened epoxy.
I will be back along this rail to sand, and prep for a final fill and fair as my next step in getting Joule ready for primer.
Total Time Today: 3 hrs