Arriving at Somerledi, I quickly got into the work with a water-wash of the prior filling and fairing work - a scrub with water and a Scotchbrite pad to remove the amine blush on the surface of the cured epoxy. The sun and heat quickly dried the hull as I gathered the sanding equipment and materials. The sanding work was more limited on the forward portion of Somerledi's hull, having worked most of the blisters in previous sessions, while the aft third of her hull required most of the final sanding work. Using 60 and 80-grit discs, I spot-sanded the fairing compound, starting at the bow and working my way aft to the rudder. Once I completed the rudder, I moved my effort to the smaller trim tab rudder of Somerledi's windvane self-steering system. I removed the bottom paint layers from the small rudder, and generally prepped it for barrier coat paint. At this point, all surfaces below the waterline that one could view by walking around the hull have been addressed: blisters ground out, fiberglassed and/or filled with epoxy-fairing compound, and sanded. The portions of Somerledi's hull hidden beneath the pads of the boat stands have yet to be work, but these stands will be repositioned to allow access for work. Additionally, the bottom of the keel had yet to be sanded, so this is exactly what I got into after finishing up the rudder trim tab. I laid down an old towel onto the ground tarp, and used the palm sander as well as hand-work to remove the bottom paint down to gelcoat - leaving just trace amounts of the bottom paint. I noticed that no barrier coat had previously been used on the bottom of the keel as had been used on the hull sides below the waterline. I completed the sanding work by roughing up the applied barrier coat paint to either side of the boat stand pads - knowing that the pads would be moved in the near future, and that I wanted to get a second and third coat to these portions of the hull prior to the stands covering them up. After roughing up the barrier coat previously applied, I thoroughly water-washed the hull to prepare for barrier coat application.

After the sanding work on Somerledi's hull, readying her for full barrier coat coverage, I transitioned tasks, moving up to the cockpit to work on the balance of seacocks to be removed. I brought a yard hose up into the cockpit, removed the cockpit sole boards, and thoroughly rinsed the ~8 weeks of yard debris from the cockpit, throwing leaves and other large detritus over the side and rinsing the balance of gunk down through the cockpit scuppers. With the cockpit sole boards removed and the cockpit clean, I removed the large Bomar hatch in the cockpit floor - a seriously-built aluminum hatch resembling something you might find on a WWII destroyer! The hatch opening and location was just perfect, however; it allowed great access to the aft end of the power plant, the shaft coupling, shaft seal, raw water filter, and the seacocks I was targeting for today's removal.

Removing the seacocks and thru-hulls are obviously required in order to replace them, and removing the galley and head-related seacocks present no issue; however, the cockpit scuppers necessitate a bit of thought since Somerledi is exposed to rainfall. Simply disconnecting the cockpit scupper seacocks would either flood the bilge or fill the cockpit to the point of spilling over the companionway. The port cockpit scupper seacock was connected to one drain in the cockpit - port forward. There are four drains in the cockpit in total. The starboard cockpit scupper seacock is connected to the starboard forward drain, as well as the two cockpit drains in the aft portion of the floor. This connection is accomplished through a t-fitting, easily accessible through the Bomar hatch. The final seacock to be removed today was the raw water, or engine cooling water. This is run through a strainer prior to feeding the engine as a coolant.

Removal of these seacocks began with the port scupper, and like the other seacocks removed thus far, it came out too easily. I started with removal of the grounding wire, and then backing off the tension of the two hose clamps securing the drain hose to the seacock. With these items removed, I tapped the seacock with a hammer, alternating 180-degrees in my effort - just tapped the seacock! It loosened to a point to where I hand-pulled the seacock and remaining thru hull fitting from the hull. I labeled and stored the seacock for later work. A quick test of the existing drain hose, since I had ample length, to extend through the opening in the hull proved impossible - the hose diameter was at or slightly larger than the thru hull fitting. I knew. I would face the same issue with the starboard scupper seacock, the hose diameters and the seacocks being the same sizes. I decided to sacrifice a section of the galley sink drain line since its smaller OD would allow it to be inserted in the ID of the cockpit scupper drain hoses. I removed two sections, roughly eight inches, from the galley drain hose. The first eight-inch section was inserted into the existing port scupper drain hose, secured with a hose clamp, and then lead through the thru hull aperture to allow the cockpit to drain while under repair. I repeated this process for the starboard cockpit scupper seacock, this time connecting the smaller galley drain hose to a section of larger hose coming off the t-fitting that was unique to the starboard scupper solution. Photos include the success of the temporary fix, preventing water from filling the bilge. The raw-water seacock also came out with fuss, and its thru hull aperture sealed with a bit of towel.

Finally, I got to the barrier coat application towards the end of the day, and it included the roughed up areas around the boat stand pads, the rudder trim tab, and the bottom of the keel. Areas covered by the boat stands will get the same treatment as the balance of the hull (blister repair where required) prior to bottom paint.

Total Hrs: 7.25