With rain disrupting the continued work on Somerledi's bottom Saturday, I pivoted to another project at the shop but returned Sunday to progress the work. I started by water-washing the amine blush from the cured epoxy fairing (second, and third round on some spots) to the port side blisters. As per usual, I also rinsed the starboard side of the hull - blisters exposed and to be worked next week.

Using a combo of the 5" and 6" sanders, and 809-grit paper, I worked over the fairing filler, bringing the surface to fair and ready for continued work. This took a bulk of the time, sanding the port side bottom, and was followed by an another water rinse. As the hull air-dried, I began to create a work station at the tailgate of the truck, aiming to fill the remaining deeper blisters with patches - roughly 20 in all. I set up the epoxy station with ample cups and stir sticks, the fairing compounds, and the 1708 biaxial fiberglass with clear plastic for templating the patches.

The surface now dry, I covered the length of the hull and rudder with a good acetone wipe down to remove any unwanted surface contaminates that remained. The hull was ready for the next steps, but just prior, I ran my hand over the filled and faired work to ensure I wasn't visually missing any additional fairing work to be done. I did have a few more that needed some work, so I penciled a box around these locations so as to avoid inadvertently applying barrier coat. Also at this time, I created templates of the ~20 patches to be glassed into the remaining deeper blisters. My first step was to mix some epoxy with 407 low-density and 410 micro-light fairing fillers, and then to squeegee on a final fairing pass. These locations were a tan color and can be seen in the work photos. Next, I prepared the small patches from the 1708 biaxial glass, mixed epoxy, and began applying those patches from the stern to roughly amidships. I decided to apply peel ply to these patches without any further application of an initial fairing filler pass. All work done on the port blisters and daylight fading, I turned my attention to the barrier coat application.

I removed the two-part epoxy-based product from its packaging - a Toalboat product, TotalProtect - and gathered needed tools. The base material needed a good mix since the solids were separated, and so spent about ten minutes reincorporating the base product. I secured a couple graduated cups, poured in 24 ounces of the base, and then added the catalyzer - a 3:1 mix ratio product. I combined the components within the first graduated cup and set it to the side for its required 15-minute induction period. About ten minutes later, I repeated the process for the second graduated cup.

With a standard 3/8" nap paint roller, I applied the barrier coat working from bow to stern and avoiding the areas required additional filler and sanding work - a small percentage the port hull. With the first graduated cup of barrier coat, I was able to get nearly to the end of the hull. I replenish the paint tray with the second cup of barrier coat and after another good stir to complete the port hull and rudder, and then began at the bow again to finish out the available barrier coat. It's great to see Somerledi's smooth hull again, and knowing the hundreds of small blisters had been addressed. Next week, the work will focus on the starboard repairs to those ground out blisters, but will also include sanding and fairing the small amount of work to do on the port hull.

Total Hrs: 8.5