So on went the mask and goggles and I wet crazy grinding the floors. I also cleaned up, with the grinder, the rough edges on my recent tabbing work and while i was at it, hit the rough edges of the tabbing inside of the starboard settee lockers. I don't want to be reaching in their for something and cutting my fingers on sharp edges.
Here is a view the port side bulkhead tabbing adjacent to the aft head. This bulkhead had no tabbing at all prior to this! It now has a layer of stitched mat, followed by a fillet and then a layer of mat and a layer of roving. To the right is the newly exposed floor--the tan colored bits.
The starboard side did have some tabbing originally, but it was broken and the 'repair' someone made was a thin layer of fiberglass cloth--completely useless except to prevent cuts. I ground it all off and laid it up like the other side with a fillet to smooth the curve.
I may add one or two more layers of stitched mat tabbing to these two bulkheads. It would be easy to do now and add a bit more strength. I will probably overlap them at the elbow so I can both go higher on the bulkhead side and add more thickness to the elbow area. I might have to grind off a little more paint to do this take the bond up higher.
Back to the cabin sole (floors). There is only a tiny amount left to grind off in the forward cabin and forward passageway--15 minutes work.
I will also need to fill some areas of the floor to fair it some. These would be the areas I repaired which in a few spots are not as flat as is like. A random orbital sander will identify those areas and some easy sand West 410 filler added to my epoxy mix will fix those.
It makes sense to me to priming and painting the lockers, at the same time as the floor. I can protect these from epoxy drips with wax and/or lay down some plastic sheeting covered with paper, which will also make clean up work faster.
Once painted, I can also use a hose after vacuuming the inside of the boat to eliminate all dust. One of my goals is to be able to keep the boat clean as time goes on. It would be nice to overnight on it a few nights a week to save on my commuting and allow me to work longer hours.
I started grinding the companionway bulkhead.
I started countersinking the exposed bolt heads that are used to support my two isolation transformers and the engine anti-siphon loop. I'd lake to cover this with either white laminate, white epoxy paint, or a nice wood veneer.
The bulkhead on the right will be removed and replaced--probably with 3/4" plywood, and shortened to make the teak hand grip more comfortable.
I spent a lot of time vacuuming also to control the dust.
My final job of the day was sanding the boards that drop in the floor. Next I put a coat of epoxy on those I had not finished--the two water tank cover boards, and the two mast base access boards. It is even more important for these to be sanded primed and painted along with the floor because wood is not as durable as fiberglass.
Tomorrows plans include cutting one of my 2x12's into dividers for my pickup bed. My truck is full of rolls of wire, tools and boat parts. I want to organize it into three sections placing the things I won't need right away close to the cab, the things I need near the tail gate, and everything else, like tools, in bins in the middle.
The idea being to get everything off the boat that I am not using so it is easy to keep clean and dust free.
Also, the area where all the tools and things are stored, the aft upper berths may all be ripped out soon. Getting everything off the boat will make room to work.
Once the aft bulkhead goes in, I will have to enter and leave that aft compartment from the lazarettes. I'm thinking about setting up tarps for shade and to protect the deck. I need a small work bench to allow me to mix epoxy on deck.
Today I rigged one tarp for shade I plan to rig a few more. One forward for shade, and one aft for both shade and protection for my fiberglass materials and epoxy.
