A quick afternoon session on Biscuit resulted in bringing the intricate work of the cockpit seat gutters to their first coat or primer, as well as prepping the underside of the companionway hatch to receive a layer of 1708 biaxial cloth.

Upon arrival, I headed over to the paint booth to hand sand the final round of fairing filler applied to the cockpit search hatch gutters. So with 150-grit paper and the trusty elbow grease, I worked my way around the gutters cleaning up the last bit of fairing. I also prepped the tiller base for primer by sanding the base itself and the immediate surrounding surfaces. A thorough vacuum of the areas to be primed followed by a good solvent-wash had me heading back over to the shop to mix a small pot of Alexseal finish primer. After the necessary induction period elapsed, I applied the primer to the tight spaces within the gutter by foam brush. I made two passes each on the port and starboard gutters, as well as the tiller base. Obviously more primer to be applied in the coming ways, but it was good to get the surfaces of these challenges places covered with the first application of primer.

I closed up the paint booth and made my way back over to the shop, companionway hatch in hand. the underside of the companionway hatch was stiffened by adhering a thin layer, likely 1/4", of plywood. However, years of use caused some delamination and full separation of the outer most layers on a portion of the plywood backer. In a previous work session I had removed these loose layers and tapered the edges on all four sides, including grinding back roughly 1/2" of the laminate down to clean glass. The plan is to apply a layer, possibly two, of 1708 biaxial cloth to seal the plywood and offer additional strength to the hatch itself. Prior to the application of fiberglass, I needed to prep the plywood by fairing out the uneven portions (where the outer most layer of plywood had now been removed). I mixed a batch of the TotalBoat TotalFair and applied it with a squeegee, ensuring an even plane was achieved for the fiberglass to be laid upon. Subsequent sanding will further fair this surface and offer up a surface ready for glass.

Total Hrs: 2.5