December 13, 2017
After a some deliberation, the owners of Joule decided to go ahead and have the old navigation light mount and wiring access holes on the cabin sides patched. The intention for Joule was to be purely a daysailer, and any dusk to dawn operation would be satisfied by utilizing portable navigation lights - lights that can be temporarily mounted on the bow pulpit, and then removed as the Joule is closed up.
Since I was afforded time in the afternoon, I decided to go ahead and patch these openings. I began by wrapping a couple small mixing sticks with tape and then securing them as backing plates for the eventual patching of the holes. Next, I marked the area within which to grind a taper, both port and starboard.
Using a 40-grit flap disc on the angle grinder, I ground a taper around both openings to accept layers of fiberglass cloth.
I used sheet sand paper and roughed up the interior of the openings, removing any remaining sealant that was part of the prior installation process for the navigational lights. I then thoroughly cleaned the surfaces, both inside and out, with solvent.
My next step was to prepare templates for the few layers of 1708 biaxial cloth - in all, I used three layers on each side, progressively smaller in size.
With the fiberglass cut and marked with orientation lines, I then decided to cut a couple piece of "core" material. Using a one inch hole saw, I removed two teak "plugs" which would serve as core material for the patching of the cabin sides. I wiped both of these plugs with solvent to remove the oils that are abundant on teak wood, so as to not interfere with the epoxy bonding.
Next step was to wet out the openings - both inside and out - with neat epoxy, as well as the teak plugs. With the surfaces prepped for further fill work, I mixed a batch of thickened epoxy to ready myself for installation of the teak core plugs.
Using a small mixing stick, I applied the thickened mixture to the openings. I did not totally fill the openings, knowing that I would get squeeze-out as I inserted the teak plugs. Sure enough, I got a liberal amount of squeeze-out, and so I removed the excess with the edge of the mixing stick.
With both the starboard and port cabin sides filled (core and thickened epoxy), I was ready to apply the cloth layers.
Back in the shop, I laid out the progressively smaller layers of cloth on two separate plastic sheets - for port and for starboard cabin sides. I then wet out each of the layers.
One at a time, I walked the plastic sheets over to Joule, laid them onto the side decks and readied myself to apply the cloth. Starting with the larger layer of 1708, I placed it onto the prepared surface, and with gentle pressure, ensured good adhesion without air pockets. I repeated the steps for both sides. In the coming days, I will water-wash the cured epoxy, sand, and then get to fairing the patched navigation light openings.
Total Time Today: 1.5 hrs