Dry-Fitting Cockpit Seat Trim, and First Coat Interior Paint

January 22, 2018

With arrangements made for a working day on Joule, I set out to finish the final pieces of the trim - the cockpit seat trim.  In previous work sessions I had used the original trim pieces as templates to remove the new trim pieces, in rough dimensional form, from the new teak stock.  With the new roughed-out trim pieces cut, I placed them into the steam box in order to be bent onto a form I had created that replicated the curve of the cockpit seating.

At this point, I placed the new teak trim pieces for the cockpit seating on the boat, they ran a little long and so required a bit of trimming.  I ran both the port and starboard trim over the table saw with the cross-cut jig, and removed 1/2" from the fore and aft ends of each board.

With the length dimension fine-tuned, I mounted the starboard cockpit seat trim using four small clamps.  The purpose of the seat trim is to hold seat cushions in place from starboard to port tack (burying the rails on each tack!).  I set the height along the length of the starboard seat, set the clamps firmly in place, and then measured the spacing of seven fasteners along the length of the trim board.  With the location of the fasteners identified, I then drilled very small pilot holes through both the trim and the cockpit seat itself.  

The small pilot hole allowed me to separately drill the cockpit seat and the cockpit seat trim for the tapping tool.  I used the #25 drill bit for the #10-24 fasteners, and drilled the seven holes on the cockpit seat as well as the cockpit seat trim.  The picture below shows the tapping of the first fastener hole on the starboard cockpit seat.  I repeated this process for the balance of the 6 holes on the cockpit seat, and then moved onto the starboard cockpit seat trim board...tapping those.  Finally, I drilled and tapped the same way for the port side of Joule: first the cockpit seat, and then the cockpit seat trim.  With he Cockpit seat trim dry-fitted, I turned to other pressing items: painting.

In the coming days, I will begin to oil all of Joule's trim pieces: toe rails, rub rails, port and starboard horizontal companionway trim, port and starboard vertical companionway trim, companionway slide hatch trim (top and bottom pieces), port and starboard coaming boards, aft cockpit trim, port and starboard cockpit seat trim, the taff rail, and the various deck pads for hardware installations.  For now, I started application of the first coat of interior paint: Pettit EZ CabinCoat.

The paint application does not require a special primer or sanding for mechanical bonding, so this will be a great on-going maintenance paint for Joule's owners.  The prep for the application of the paint simple requires a warm water-ammonia solution scrub to free the surface of any waxes or other contaminants that would foul good adhesion.  Old habits die hard, and so in a previous work session I sanded the surface of the molded fiberglass interior (v-berth, overhead, cabin sole, and quarter berths) with 80-grit paper by hand and with the RO sander.  With the amount of work thus far, and Joule's interior open to the environs, I went ahead and roughed the surface us with a couple 80-grit discs (hand-sanding) to be safe.  

After the sanding, I thoroughly vacuumed the surfaces of the interior, followed by a good wipe with a solvent-laden rag...rags.  The time had come to paint, and it could not have been simpler: open paint can, mix paint, pour into roller tray, apply.  No thinning is required with the Pettit EZ Cabin Coat, and if you must thin, it calls for thinning it no more than 10% by volume....wait for it...with WATER!

Okay, so over the next couple hours I applied paint to the interior - working some areas repeatedly.  There will be, likely, two additional coats going onto the interior surfaces.

Total Time Today: 5.5 hrs

Third Coat of Topsides Paint

January 21, 2018

With absolutely stellar weather, I was eager to get out there and begin the hull prep for the third coat of topsides paint.  I changed my approach in sanding with now having two coats on Joule, choosing to take off the gloss and knock down the high spots with 320-grit paper.  The topsides are laying on increasingly better with each application  After sanding the second coat down to create a good mechanical bonding surface, I notice the high spots are becoming less obvious as well.  As with the other prep work for the topsides paint, I first worked my way around Joule with a focus on the water line.  All of the sanding work for the finish paint is done by hand, with the waterline requiring nothing less - slower, but necessary.  The picture below shows the glossy second coat and the opacity of the recently sanded surface of the second coat.

With the sanding work out of the way, I mixed a pot of Rochelle Red and set it aside for the 20-minute induction period.  During this time, I vacuumed the hull of the sanding residue and then wiped it down with a solvent.

With the induction period expired, I thinned the pot by ~20% and got to painting.  Shown below, coat number three.  The next work session will involve removing the brightwork and starting the oil application, as well as deck/cockpit painting.

Total Time Today: 3.5 hrs

Fitting Brightwork, Priming Last of the Repairs, and Sanding Washboards

January 20, 2018

I was wanting to get to another coat of paint on the topsides today, but I also needed to finish out the brightwork and that meant dry-fitting the various components onto Joule.  So, the day revolved around the brightwork.  

I started with the coaming boards.  Using the small bottle jack and bracing system, I set the boards in place.  In previous work I had marked and drilled for the fasteners, and this was my starting point for the day.  I drilled for the 1/4"-20 machine screws, and then tapped the holes for the machine screws.

For the coaming board installation, I selected 1/4"-20 machine screws with oval heads, a finisher washer, and backed with a flat washer and a nut.  I installed nine fasteners per coaming board.

Having the coaming boards in place would allow me to fit the aft cockpit trim, and it would also allow me to be one step closer to painting the cockpit and decks.

There are a few more items to do yet on the coaming boards before I call them complete: trim the tips of the coaming return blocks, create crescents on the aft ends for deck drainage, and finally, oil the boards.

With the coaming boards in place, I turned my attention to the companionway trim - both the vertical and the horizontal trim pieces.  I brought the slide hatch over to Joule to help in aligning the horizontal trim pieces.  I began with aligning the starboard slide hatch trim (pictured below).  I already had these 4 pieces of trim marked for fasteners and bored for bungs with a forstner bit, so I lined up the first of the trim pieces and pre-drilled for the #10 wood screws (self-tappers).  With that first screw in place on the starboard side, I aligned the balance of the trim piece fore-and-aft.  Once i was happy with the alignment, I pre-drilled for the forward most screw, and then set that one in place.  I then repeated the pre-drilling and placement of the remaining three screws.  With the starboard side complete, I moved over and installed the port piece in the same manner.

With the horizontal trim in place, and the slide hatch functioning as it should, I moved on to installing the vertical trim pieces.  Beginning with the port side, I aligned the top of the vertical piece to the bottom of the horizontal piece.  I fiddle around a bit with the positioning, and once I was happy, I pre-drilled for the #10 wood screws (again, sell-tappers).  I brought the washboards out to assist me with aligning the vertical pieces, and with the previous explained process, I managed to get the starboard side in place.

The trim for the slide hatch was now complete.  I will clean up the adjoining pieces with some sanding work to fine-tune the fit, and then oil the trim pieces prior to final installation.  Washboards looking good ;-)

My next piece to fit would the aft cockpit trim.  The coaming boards provided the dimension required for this piece of trim.  I hand-worked the ends to ensure a snug fit.  With the trim in place, I measured for the fasteners, and pre-drilled through the trim and aft bulkhead to mark the location.  In this instance I chose to recess #10 machine screws, backed with washers and nuts, and bunged for a clean appearance while in the cockpit.  With the marks made for the eventual fasteners, I took the board into the shop and drilled for 1/2" bungs.

With the trim piece prepared for installation, I then tapped for the #10 machine screws.

The installation took place earlier in the day, but in the super-human focus I was generating, I forgot to capture the just-completed-installation.  The photo below shows the aft cockpit trim in place.  Again, I will need to oil the teak prior to final installation and bunging of the fastener holes.

I switched gears once the brightwork was completed (in fact, there is more brightwork: the cockpit seat trim...brother!), so I moved on to the hardware prep.  I chose to work the aft deck today, working through the mainsheet cleat, mainsheet block, motor mount, and aft cleat.  I started by tapping for the three #8 machine screws for the mainsheet cam cleat.

In previous work I over-drilled the new core installation and filled with thickened epoxy - this serves to isolate the aft deck core from any future water ingress.  I aligned the base pad (a plastic pad, not the wooden pad shown below) with the areas that I had filled with epoxy and pre-drilled for the tap.  With the holes drilled, I then tapped them for the #8 screws.  The mainsheet cam cleat will be installed onto the wooden pad, and backed with a piece go G-10 underneath the deck.

I repeated the exercise for the mainsheet double block.  For this hardware item, I chose to install with #10 machine screws; again, mounted onto a wooden pad and backed with G-10 from the underside of the deck.

The motor mount was next.  The Cape Dory Typhoons came with a motor mount that would hinge onto this mount and lay aft over the taff rail.  With the height of this mount and the height of the taff rail being similar, I chose not to install this hardware item onto a wooden pad; rather, it would rest directly on the deck and bedded with a polysulfide (as will all hardware items).  I pre-drilled for the 1/4"-20 bronze machine screws, and then tapped (or threaded) the holes.

The final piece of hardware prep for the day was the aft deck cleat.  This cleat would be elevated somewhat by the small wooden pad, set with 1/4"-20 bronze machine screws, and backed with G-10.

The last bit of work for the evening, and it was dark by now, was to get primer on the last bit of repair work done on Joule - coring the cabin sole, coring the cockpit sole, and the work done on the aft deck to keep water from coming into contact with the newly installed core in that area.  I mixed a small pot of Interlux Primekote, waited for the 20-minute induction period to elapse, and then began on the cabin sole - (two coats applied).

I moved onto the cockpit sole (two coats applied)...

...and finally, the aft deck work - the areas for the fasteners in which I over-drilled and filled with epoxy to create a barrier to preserve the core material- (two coats applied).

I had removed the washboards earlier, and while working with them today kept taking an evil eye from them....they just looked ridden hard and put away wet!  I was out of teak stock, but the boards appeared to be in solid condition, and just needed to be cleaned up a bit.  

Through 80 and 120-grit discs, and some hand-sanding, I brought the boards back to looking pretty, pretty good...not great, but good - they will serve their purpose.

Total Time Today: 7.5 hrs