I continued working the blisters on the starboard hull today, which included sanding the first round of fairing filler and application of the final skim coat of fairing to those same areas. I did manage to apply the first epoxy filler to the the shallow divots (ground out blisters) on the rudder too, but ran short on time in order to begin laying fiberglass to the deeper blisters that had been ground out previously.

I began with my usual water-wash to remove the amine blush from the repairs areas that received their first application of West System epoxy filler (a combination of 406 colloidal silica and 407 low-density fairing filler). I scrubbed the surface with a Scotchbrite pad and then thoroughly rinsed the entire starboard hull. I gathered my sanding gear while the warm temperatures air dried the hull's surface. With the 5" orbital and the 6" Bosch, and 80-grit disks, I took the work down to fair - using the larger 6" sander on the wider work and the 5" orbital on the turn of the bilge and smaller areas. The sanding was the bulk of the work today, as it just goes slowly and methodically.

With the sanding completed, I again rinsed the hull, picked up the spent disks and prepped for additional fairing work. I worked from the bow to the stern, wiping the surface clean of debris with acetone, and followed that with application of a skim coat of thickened West System epoxy - using 410 micro-light for the final fairing application. A final sand on these areas will have the hull ready to receive barrier coat, but prior to that I will be addressing the balance of the shallow work areas and the deeper grinds to receive 1708 biaxial fiberglass patches. The work is nearly ready to change focus towards the seacocks and thru hulls.

Total Hrs: 6.75