November 4, 2017
After a quick run up to the big box for a few odds and ends, I got to work on water-washing the amine blush off of the previously cured epoxy work on the cockpit locker lids and the companionway slide hatch. Because today's work did not focus on the continuation of the hatches (nearly complete as they are), I dried off their surfaces and set them aside for later work. I am in the early stages of getting primer on Joule - both deck and topsides - and so I needed to address any remaining items that stood in the way of that primer application. Last week I was able to get the first coat of primer on the topsides, and as a result was able to protect the epoxy work from any UV degradation, but I also found a couple spots that needed some additional attention. These areas are small, but nevertheless need to be addressed before any further primer coats are applied, or topcoat for that matter. For today, my intention was to dry-fit the new Spartan deadlights, and this involved expanding the opening to receive the interior diameter of the frame.
I used one of the deadlights to create a template out of some leftover countertop laminate, and then applied the template to the cabin sides to outline the material to be removed. I used this template to mark the new openings for both starboard and port.
Once I had my cut marks outlined, I grabbed my spiral saw and a newly purchased carbide bit to expand the openings to accept the new bronze deadlights.
After I had removed a majority of the material with the spiral saw, I then finished up with hand-sanding by using a sheet of 40-grit paper. The new deadlights fit well and fit flush to the cabin sides.
I had taped a sheet of plastic on the interior to catch the fiberglass detritus as I cut the openings, and after having vacuumed up that dust and debris, I solvent-washed the openings to prepare for some fairing work.
The coring had, at one time in the past, been addressed to prevent rot in the event that water made ingress. Still, I had some fairing work to do after removing some of the interior and exterior laminate, so I painted out the surfaces with neat epoxy and then followed that with an application of thickened epoxy. I will come back and fair these openings to then proceed with primer coatings, top coatings and eventual installation of the new ports.
The most significant project on the list today was to get to the installation of the new topskin for the cabin sole. I also water-washed the previous work and dried all surfaces for the cabin sole. I then sanded the surfaces with the RO Sander and an 80-grit disc, vacuumed the sanding dust and thoroughly wiped the surfaces down with a solvent to capture any remaining contaminants.
With the surfaces prepped for further work, I applied a sheet of plastic to create templates for the layers of fiberglass that would need to go down to complete the recoring work.
I split the top skin work into two sections: one, forward of the bilge access, and the second aft of the bilge access. I cut three layers for both of these sections: two interior layers and one layer extending over the interior layers to tie in the tapered grinds of the surrounding original topskin.
I started off by wetting out the substrate, and then applied a skim coat of thickened epoxy to fill in any areas of significance. With the surfaces prepped, I then laid down the first of two inner layers. I then moved to wet this layer out with neat epoxy, and quickly followed with the second inner layer. I finished the inner layer installations by rolling the glass out with a fin roller, removing air bubbles and ensuring good saturation as I went.
I followed the inner layers with the outer layer installation. Like I had done for the previous layer, I saturated the glass with neat epoxy and rolled it out with the fin roller. As a final task, I applied a skim coat of thickened epoxy to a portion of the topskin's weave and also filled a couple locations that required it.
Total Time Today: 6 hrs