Sanding, sanding, and more sanding

With temperatures being on the cool side this week we took the opportunity to do a lot of sanding. Its a nice job to do when its cool, when its hot out the temperature in the shop soars and its difficult to stay suited up for very long without overheating. We started on deck and got most of the old non-skid sanded off of the deck and cabin top. The texture had been badly damaged and it was necessary to sand it off. 40 grit 3M purple sanding disks made the work go fast.

The hull was sanded down to bare fiberglass between the toe-rail and the cove stripe in preparation for glassing the hull and deck joint. Tyler and Chris stopped by and asked if they could lend a hand sanding the bottom. They had done the first wave of sanding on it when the project first started and wanted to finish the job. I was grateful for the help! In four hours they had most of the bottom on the port side sanded down to bare fiberglass and promised to return tomorrow night to sand some more. If we can keep up this pace we should have most of it done by the weekend.

Anchor locker: glassing the core

Filled and faired the imperfections then cut the balsa core and test fit it. Removed it and wet the area with epoxy resin and installed the core, placed weights on it, and let it cure.

Once cured, a long-board sander and DA was used to fair the area. The low spots were filled and then the area was faired a final time. Two layers of Biaxial cloth were then rolled into place.

Anchor locker

I could not sleep last night, at 3am I was wide awake so I set off for the boat.

I crawled under the cockpit and realized I was very close to being done down there. One small partition to go and some minor fairing.
It made me smile. I crawled out and looked the interior over,.....most everything is well underway and either dfp (down for parts) or on hold till more of the dust making is done. The end is in sight for the interior!
I went on deck and wandered up to the anchor locker, put the density meter on the deck and plotted out the area that needed to be removed. Took the skill saw and cut thru the top layer of glass then used the fein tool with a scraper blade and had the zone cleaned up to the base laminate in no time flat. That tool is amazing!! Took an old hatch of of the salvaged boat and cut it down and laid it over the chain locker opening on deck. With a little modification I think it will work out fine. Then it hit me! I'm actually moving on to the exterior stuff now! :-) I will be working on glassing the hull and deck joint soon if this pace keeps up.

Ice Box

We had an icebox from the O'day we had salvaged so we cut it down to fit the location in the Alberg and tabbed, filled, and fair'd until it was ready to shoot. Jon, our detailer, then prepped and shot it with Gel-coat for us.

Getting there, one more coat of fairing compound to go!

Jon at work

Finished and curing

Hopefully we will fit it in the boat this weekend if the area is ready to receive it.

Engine bed, Port Lights, Galley, Electrical Panel

The electrical panel arrived and it is a thing of beauty :-) We templated the wood for it and test fit the location. Then the hull was insulated and the area finished. We have started pulling wire through the boat and it finally feels like the turning point of the project. The end is in sight,........a ways down the road yet,...........but in sight!

Decided on a basic layout for the galley and cut some lumber and made a mock up of it and adjusted it until I had the basic layout I was looking for. Templated them and cut them out as required and surfaced the tops with black laminate. We cut down an icebox out of a salvaged vessel and placed it and the sink aft of the stove. Should have it glassed and installed next week.

Decided we wanted opening ports so we cut some plywood and made mock ups onto the cabin side. The blue tape represents the frame of the portlight and the plywood insert represents the glass. The port lights were ordered from New Found Metals and should arrive in 60 - 90 days. Several calls were made to New Found Metals during the mock-up and their staff was always polite and very helpful at responding to my questions. Their portlights are sized by the actual glass size not the overall size; we are installing 3x10 for the four forward portlights, & 7x15 for the four aft.

The area of the hull was prepped for the engine bed and layers of mat and roving were laid up from the galley to the shaft log. Additional layers were added where the motor mounts will be and also under the thru-hull fittings for the cockpit drains. Epoxy and high density thickener was laid in for the thru-hull pads and once cured the adapter flanges were installed. The picture below shows the area before the final fairing has been done. A lot of glassing and tabbing has been done under the cockpit to strengthen it and make the three compartment individual watertight compartments.

Salon

Starboard Settee

The starboard settee front was tabbed in, and then the galley bulkhead was templated, made, and tabbed in place. The bulkhead was moved eight inches forward from the original bulkhead to accommodate the three burner gimbaled stove. This shortened the bunk from six foot three inches long to five foot seven inches long. The settee bunk was mocked up; water jugs were placed to determine the locker partition placement, and a template was made, the partition cut from a sheet of half inch plywood, fit into place and then glassed.

The settee top and back were then made in a similar manner, test fit, and removed for finishing. The hull behind and under the settee was insulated and the non insulated parts were painted with Pettit Dura-White paint. The top was then screwed down and bedded with 3M 5200.

The top has two hatches in it; one on each side of the locker partition. The shelf behind the settee was templated, made of ½” plywood, glassed into place, and painted with Pettit Dura-White paint.