Thanks, Padre. It’s not quite as purty as it looks. It’s got a little alligatoring in a couple spots. But I think I’ve figured out what I did to cause it and I’m looking forward to testing my revised technique on the next part.
But the clock is ticking and it won’t be long before Spring has sprung here in paradise. The redbuds are abloom and in a few weeks, we’ll be in the thick of pollen season. Around the middle of March in these parts, everything, and I mean everything, will be covered in a thin layer of fine yellow dust when the oak trees bloom. I decided I’d better get going on my patching, fairing, and sanding so I can get a jump on painting while conditions are suitable.
So I started by patching about 175 screw holes all over the top cap and cockpit. I have a bad habit of trying to reinvent the wheel instead of using traditional methods, and I guess I did that on the screw holes. I reground an old ¾” paddle bit so it would drill a shallow countersink.
Then I filled the countersunk holes with a putty made of poly resin, cabosil, and chopped glass. I put a little patch of peel ply over each patch to consolidate the chopped glass and smooth the surface of the patch.
And after peeling off the peel ply:
It seems to have worked well. But there’s one thing I’ve learned about reinventing the wheel. Most of the time, if I come up with a great, new idea, I eventually discover that either it’s not new, or it’s not great. Hopefully, this one will work out. If all the screw holes pop the first time I take to the seas, at least I’ll know what not to do next time.
I got all the screw hole patches sanded down last weekend and took Friday off to shoot the first coat of 545 primer on the cap, hull sides, and transom.
I owe a debt of gratitude to strick for the guidance he provided in our phone conversations. He gave me some tips on prep and spraying and it showed in the results.
Next step was to go to work on the bottom. I figured it would be easier to hit one side at a time if I leaned the hull over to expose the belly of the whale:
After sanding:
For a 39 year old hull, it’s in pretty good shape. There are a few shallow scratches and scrapes, but no real damage. I hit the port side bottom with fairing compound:
And then shifted it to the other side to go to work on the starboard side:
I still need to sand, fair, and sand the starboard side of the bottom and sand the port side. Then I can shoot it with 545. I’m thinking I will shoot the keel with some gelcoat before priming so if the paint scratches, it won’t be as obvious.
Dave