Almost... There...

I took Wednesday of this week off work to try to grease the skids for a solid toe rail installation this weekend.  As usual, my ambitions were far in excess of my accomplishments.  However, I did make enough progress to keep all this within the realm of the possible.

I spent pretty much the entire day cleaning out the starboard deck to hull joint.  It's a really grueling, time consuming, and non-rewarding activity much like grinding bottom paint, but fortunately without the toxic dust.  Using a heavy cat's paw (small crowbar) and the biggest screwdriver I could find I pried up the deck to about a 1/4" gap.  In some places I could do better, but within 4-6' of the bulkheads it's very hard to lift.

With the deck lifted I slipped in a fairly stiff 1.5" wide putty knife and scraped out as much of the old butyl sealant as I could.  The only way to really seal things up would be to scrub it off with mineral spirits, but there's just no way to do that without breaking the tabbing at the bulkheads.  

So, I have to be happy that I could remove the large amount of dried / failed sealant, and hope that I get a somewhat decent gasket out of the 3m 4200 I will be pumping in.  Perhaps not an adhesive, but a gasket.  I expect the seal between the toe rail and the hull / deck to handle the bulk of the waterproofing.  I feel confident that while not perfect, I am indeed making things better than they were.

While I was cleaning out the butyl, my Dad was prepping the toe rails by scraping off the old residue and thoroughly cleaning them with mineral spirits.  The remaining prep work is as follows:

• Acetone cleaning of the toe rails
• 1 coat primer, 2-3 coats Rust-o-leum flat black paint. (a few hours to dry...)
• Re-drill deck holes from the inside to open up deck holes which were made invisible during the core repair.
• Clean inside of deck-hull joint with mineral spirits.

I'm going to try to get this accomplished Saturday afternoon in a last minute sprint to the finish.  Sunday I have my family lined up to come out and help raise the rails and get them secured back on the boat.  So, if all goes well Ravat will have made some amazing strides toward structural integrity this weekend.  All I need is a few hours of dry weather on Saturday, and a full day of dry weather on Sunday.

AwlGrip is Amazing, and Gelcoat is Great!

Take a look at the SHINE on Ravat's new transom!  WOW!  And there's no more sign of the old "Cap N Crunch" logo which drove me insane.  The topsides are looking just as good.  Sort of like looking into 3 feet of milk on a sunny day.  It's just stunning.  The job was a lot more money than I wanted to spend, but I have to say, she looks like a new boat above the water line.

If you're anywhere near Rochester, NY and need paint or glass work done, talk to Chad at Shumway Marine.  He is a real master of his craft, and from the moment you speak to him you feel confident about his ability to deliver.

Not only is the topsides looking new, but the gelcoat job on the side-decks is fantastic. 

It has noticeably more traction than the old non-skid, but it doesn't really stand out in its texture - it blends perfectly.  The only difference is that it's very white while the rest of the decks are oxidized pretty badly.  But, after wet sanding an area I think the match will be prefect once the gelcoat is buffed out.  A

gain, a fantastic job by a real professional.  I managed to get it a bit dirty before taking a picture, but it sure is nice to see white again rather than the epoxy filler!

Now I just need to get the windows installed and the toe rails & jib tracks back in place so she's water tight again.  The storage compartment under the starboard settee was almost completely full of water.  Not fun.

2011 Launch Goal Set

Yes, that's right.  I'm throwing down the gauntlet with a goal of having her in bristol shape by April 15, 2011.  It's official, I've documented it for the world to see.  I am NOT missing another season, even if I have to power this boat with a canoe paddle.

As the AwlGrip draws near...

I've finally reached a decision on the hull restoration and have outsourced the painting to Shumway Marine.  I'm having the hull prepped, primed, and then painted with AwlGrip.  I'm keeping the same color confguration, just making it shiny again.  I will still complete the barrier coat and anti-fouling below the waterline.  Shumway Marine will also be laying new gelcoat on the side decks I repaired.

I debated about spending the extra money to have the decks AwlGripped as well, but decided against it.  For one thing it was really, very, very, very expensive.  For another thing, I still think I may make tweaks to the deck hardware configuration.  Gelcoat is more forgiving to reconfiguration than paint.

And so it is that I have purchased a can of gelcoat, and I will be performing my own repairs of some stress-cracks as well as a bunch of minor chipping, mostly in the cockpit.  When that's all done I'll pick up a polisher and compound the whole deck to see how much life I can breathe back into it.

When does all this happen?  Next week they will begin work, and it's estimated to take them approximately two weeks.  During that two weeks I need to prep the toe rails and get the windows ready so I can get it sealed up.

My last act of defiance will be a mad dash to rewire the mast and get it stepped so it doesn't spend another winter on the saw horses.  We'll see if the budget holds out for new halyards or not...

Exciting times!

Cutting out Backing Plates

I've managed to cut out the backing plates for my new through-hulls.  I had NO idea how hard it would be to cut 1/2" FRP sheets.  I'm using 20 TPI bi-metal blades in my jig-saw, and I can cut about two 4" backing plates before the teeth are ground to nothing.  The normal wood blades last about 30 seconds.  When the blades are cutting, it's very slow going as well.

At this point they are cut out and ready to be drilled for the bolts and through-hull.  I need to pick up some hole saws for the drill press next, and find the length I need for the bronze bolts.  Today I was able to get the hull ground clean in the areas these will mount, so I'm making good progress.

Now I can only hope that I won't blow through hole-saws the way I did jig saw blades as they are a lot more expensive.

Blister Repair: The Saga Continues

After finishing all the grinding from the first coat of Six/10 I scrubbed the hull with a Scotch-Brite pad to remove any bottom paint residue, and to clear any amine blush.  Today I returned with my final tube of Six/10 and filled the minor depressions which were left when I used the spreader to smooth the repairs.  Not my idea of a good time.

In hindsight, I am absolutely certain that I should have sanded the hull down, used traditional fairing compound of some sort (Interfill, West, etc.) and then re-applied the barrier coat.  While I am certain my current track will end with a solid repair, it is a horribly time consuming process to apply and sand the Six/10.  Live and learn.

Next step will be re-sanding the hull to fair the blisters.  This time it should go quicker as I have applied much less epoxy.  My last task will be determining whether or not to reapply a barrier coat to the whole hull, or to spot repair.  The areas I sanded occasionally broke through the barrier coat, so at a minimum they will need to be repaired.  It was isolated though, so I'm leaning towards repairing only as needed.

Stay tuned and we'll find out which path I choose.

Blister Repairs III - Still Going

Another long day of sanding, although I have definitely continued to improve my technique.  First of all, I have switched to using my nice Porter Cable 5" random orbit sander.  No more screwing around with that little palm sander.  Second, I'm now using 80 grit paper rather than 100 grit.  Big, big, big, difference!  I may even be able to use 60 grit to knock down the epoxy then hit them with 80 for a shorter duration.  But the bottom line is that I'm now making solid progress on the fairing.

My experiment in skipping the spreader and just building up the Six/10 was partially successful.  The blister are definitely more filled than when I used a spreader, but in many cases they still need a subtle touch up to become truly fair.  Less touch up than the holes where I used a spreader, but I'm not going to be able to get away without two coats.  The good news is that by not spreading the epoxy to surround the blister I'm saving a lot of time.  There may be a way to do this with a spreader, but I didn't find it.

I have about another  three hours of sanding to go at this pace, then a re-coat, then probably a day of sanding.  I have removed so much bottom paint at this point that I may just sand down what little remains and throw down a new layer of barrier coat to even everything up.  Not sure yet...  For now I'm just pleased to have made some solid progress.