A Little Progress in a Lot of Places

I've been nibbling away at the to-do list a little bit at a time.  No big items to cross off yet, but a big push forward along a very wide line.  

• I have completed the re-installation of the transom steering quadrant cut-out, this time through-bolted and bedded in butyl.  The transom area is also fully potted in thickened epoxy, so it's solid as a rock and watertight.
• Backing plates are installed on the toilet intake, head sink drain, and waste discharge holes.  I used 1/2" FRP sheets from McMaster-Carr to save laminating time, and they came out great!  Much, much better than the rotten plywood I peeled off the hull.
• I fought a brutal battle with the cockpit drains.  The through hulls were installed with locking nuts rather than proper seacocks, and when the boat was built they gel-coated the threads.  This made it impossible to remove the fixtures.  My recourse was to break out the big Sawzall and cut a star patter in the through-hulls after slicing off the in-line valve.  A quick grind with the Dremel took care of the mushroom fitting, and a few hammer taps later it all came out.
• The jib tracks were reinstalled using 3m 4200 because I didn't want to wait for the butyl to arrive.  My mistake, my regret.  I have a mess to clean up now, but I hope they will remain sealed.  If not I'll clean them up and use the butyl.
• Another few blisters I'd missed on the hull have been faired.
• The long stress cracks on the keel-hull joint area are now repaired.
• The rudder hardware is 90% faired over with my favorite 3m Premium marine filler.

My next milestone will be installing the backing pads on the cockpit drains, rebedding the drains in the cockpit sole, and getting the new seacocks in place so the rain won't fill the bilge.  Pumping the bilge is a colossal waste of boat building time!