More Grinding

Spent the day grinding the aft head and starboard side under the bunk. 

No pictures. 

Up next, removing the upper bunks, grinding that area, grinding the last of the floor, grinding the forward locker, and vacuuming up all the dust.  

I might take a hose to the inside of the boat and mop it real well. 

Demolition of Aft Head and Aft Cabin Bunk Supports

This post is for Friday. I can't change the date even though I started this post on Friday I finished it just after midnight.  Saturday I will be sailing with Ron out of the Navy Base in New London.  It will be a day off 

My plan for the day was to cut out the shelves and dividers supporting the aft bunks, and remove much of the aft head.

I started by cutting these wooden pieces out with a Sawsall and a Jigsaw.  It worked out fairly well, athough it took longer than expected. I revisited the tabbing with the Sawsall to remove as much tabbing as possible t save on grinding later.

After cutting out the aft bunks I moved on to the aft head. Here I initially wanted to preserve as much as possible. What I found was most of the tabbing was already broken.  The deeper I got into it removing pieces here and there, the more clear it became than more had to come out.  Pretty soon it was obvious almost all has to come out. Trying to save any of it would have meant more work. Just as I prepared the aft bunk area by grinding everything down to bare glass, the same holds true in the aft head.  When that is ground down clean, I can tab in anything, anywhere.

Given that the bulkhead tabbing looked pretty bad higher up on the aft side (I've already repaired the lower portion), and the head side all needed to be replaced, I am happy I tore it all out. Now I can start by strongly bonding the existing bulkhead in, and then add whatever platforms or cabinets I'd like. Each with a strong bond .

I was considering moving several seacocks and thru-hulls to make them more convenient to open and close.  While driving home it occurred to me that perhaps I should move the head forward and place it over the sea cocks. That might be easier than moving the seacocks. I'll have to look that over in the next few days and think about it. It might be a good option. 

I am also debating moving the two battery chargers. Placing them farther outboard or aft might be prudent. 

One advantage to moving the head forward a few feet is there is a dead-light above that area-- a non opening lexan panel that lets light in.  It would be nice to have that as a feature of the head. I could also install a small hatch above or a ducted fan on a timer for ventilation at some point.

Next I moved on to grinding. I wore my wrists out doing that. I used up all the sanding disks I had. I was able to grind the port side from the upper bunk tabbing down, and all the way back to the new aft bulkhead. Much of the later area was already done.  I used my last two sanding disks grinding the starboard side area adjacent to the aft bulkhead forward as far as I could. I'd already started that area while working On the bulkhead. The last two grinding disks finished off all but 5% of that area.  The remainder of the port side will be more difficult as it is hard to work on a sloped hull.  That should go quickly on Monday as I bought out the complete stock of 24 grit disks at two Home Depot's.  I now have 48 disks and can take back what I don't need. 

I also touched up the aft bulkhead I just installed and ground out an area that popped out and did not bond well. I dressed up the top tabbing but did not crawl into each lazarette to clean up the rough edges in those areas. I was pleased to see the bonding with the cockpit went well. 

After that I still have to grind out the aft head, which will be easier as most of this old tabbing pulled right off.  

Then I will need to clean up the port salon lockers, and the floor up forward.  These last two are to prepare for more tabbing followed by painting. 

Some photos:  

Port side upper bunk with supports and cabinets removed. This photo is a bit cocked. The oak trim piece defines the edge of the bunk. There are loose boards piled on top that make this picture confusing. 

Starboard side with cabinets and support removed. You can see the white horizontal tabbing still in place.

Aft head partially deconstructed. The wall panels were removed and I was cutting around the wires to remove the last of the horizontal piece here. I was still thinking I could keep the portion on the left. Some of the plywood had delaminates, which I could have repaired. The clincher for me was the poor state of the tabbing. I was pulling it off with my hands.  The upper piece above the yellow paint broke out with a screw driver in less than 30 seconds. It was not a good bond. The lower part can out even easier. Almost nine of it was well bonded. 

Here nothing is Kraft except for the head platform. This broke out fairly easily. 

A close up.  I didn't want to ruin the support structure for the platform, do I cut from right to left with a Sawsall to preserve the mount. I may take that out anyway, but it would be nice to keep something.

Same area but with a view from forward. I vacuumed up the saw dust and debris. The tabbing around here was all removed with a screw driver or my hand. Very little remains.  My conclusion was that Ericon did a very poor job with the tabbing. I don't think the hull surfaces were prepared at all. Much of the tabbing was at right angles with no fillet to make a smooth curve. Fiberglass cannot make shape bends like this--it will break. While it it fine for holding a panel in place, a follow up fillet and some heave roving is important. That is what I plan to do here. 

Here are three pieces of tabbing I took out in 30 seconds with a screw driver and a hemmed to tap it in. These are the pieces above the yellow line in the earlier photo

While I hoped to save some of this I am happy with the decision to rip it out. I will be able to tab in the bulkheads better. I may have to remove my charger inverter to access the top forward cover of the head. That is something to think about moving.

I also noticed the tabbing on the bunks is very poor also. Of course my tearing out its support structure did not help. Still these will be easy pieces to replace, although it means grinding out more tabbing on each side. 

Will this be the end of deconstruction?  Not quite. I will be removing the shelf above the galley, both galley countertops, and possibly the refrigerator.  That will come later. 

A word about taping. While the tape I use is actually pretty strong for making sharp bends, it will break because that is what fiberglass does with repetitive stress over time. The solution is to apply a fillet and more tape in a smoother curve. The more important the bond, the more layers and the wider the tape should be. Right now I'm considering reinforcing all my bonds more strongly. I will be using roving on top of a fillet to spread the loads out over a broader area and to reduce 'hard spots' on the hull. Taping of furniture seems adequate, but after all the failers I've seen, I plan to add a fillet on much of these, along with another layer of stitched mat tape.  I don't want my bonds to fail. So while it seems like overkill, that is what I will do. 

Next up:  Removal of upper bunks and completion of grinding tasks.  After that I will be doing more tabbing, followed by priming and painting--the salon lockers and settees, along with the floors.  

Prepping the cabin sole for priming and paint

Today I did some more grinding. As the floors are almost entirely done with respect to the structure, I am nearly ready to paint. I decided to grind off all the old layers of paint and do the final prep work for priming and painting the cabin sole.  I can do this the same time I paint the port and starboard settees and lockers. 

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.

In the background here to, you can see the tan base layer of the floor exposed after all the paint was ground off.   The lines are breaks in the non skid for decoration. 

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. 

There is Kokini wondering what all that noise was. I had this hatch shut while I was working.

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.

Grinding, Tabbing, and Floor Boards

I ground away all the surfaces under the two lazarettes.  Each side had a thin board glassed to the hull that locks in a triangular vertical board which prevents things in the lazarette from falling into the steering gear.  One side was already broken out. The other side looked sloppy so I cut I out and cleaned up the surface in preparation for replacing these.   It is now ready for new wood strips to be tabbed in. Then I can decide how to secure new triangular boards--I may make a few changes on the port side which will have the auto pilot. 

I'd like to build some shelves, hooks for rope, mount for fire extinguisher, a shelf for deck gear, and place a fenders.  The starboard side is larger and should holld my dinghy when it is rolled up.  in any event, a few carefully placed pieces of marine plywood tabbed in will increase my storage capability tremendously and keep things organized.  I want to use the space under the cockpit directly behind the rudder post for things like motor oil.  I can box that in easily enough on two sides and a hinged flap for the access side.

I am giving thought to building a custom mount for my large Danforth anchor, although I may sell that and buy a Fortress--which is a awkward size, but lighter and has better holding.  It would make a good anchor if I can find a place  to mount it--either inside or locked tight on a stern rail. Inside would be best.  

I also noticed the tabbing had broken away on the bulkhead on the aft end of the galley. It was covered up with a thin piece of cloth tape that did nothing. I ground that out and tabbed in some stitched mat tape. I'll fillet and add roving on top next.  The opposite side had nothing holding it in place. I ground that out and taped it. It will get the same treatment with roving. 

This was brutal work in 96 deg temperatures when I started. Running fans brought the temperature down and since I started late in the day, temps continued to drop.  Fortunately it was dry.  Even so I was completely soaked when I pulled off my environmental suit. 

The last boat near me finally went in. I am thinking about spray painting or tip and rolling my topsides.   I have some 600 grit sand paper and I will start with wet sanding the hull soon. I would like some help with that. I may hire a helper. It is possible wet sanding and buffing might be all that is needed. There is one spot my helper repaired when he used the wrong color white paint. I might have given him the wrong color. That will need to be sanded smooth in preparation for painting. 

While I repaired all the fiberglass portion of my cabin sole, there were a few little things left to do around where the wooden boards drop in at the mast.  My friend Ron is making me new boards.  Those should be done Friday--tomorrow. 

I repaired the lip that supports those boards and Ron is also building a new underfloor support for this. 

Note the left side is a little low. I may have to space that up a bit as it does not want to come up, even with wedges.  The brown filler covers countersunk bolts on top and fills some gaps on bottom. I used bolt do clamp it together wen glued and for strength. It will need some grinding and another application of filler to finish.

I am mighty tempted to sand, prime and paint the cabin some (floors).  While dripping epoxy would ruin it again, I found a huge roll of 3' wide construction paper in the dumpster, so I could cover it easily enough to prevent drips. It would've very nice to have the floor completely done.  And it was be easier to sweep up.  I may start up forward and begin prepping it for paint. All this will be covered with synthetic teak flooring when the interior is completed. 

I've discovered that a powerful shop wet/dry vacuum with lots of attachments is my best friend. I made a huge mess grinding in the last few days and that tool removed most of the dust without stirring it up. I have a new filter for it and plani to go back to Home Depot for their best Hepta filter.  The narrow attachment with the brush on the end works fantastic.  I was able to vacuum the walls and get almost everything.   Only water and hose would work better. If I can finish the dirty work grinding fiberglass I can think about overnighting on the boat which would save fuel time, and speed things up.

Finally, I have been removing everything from the boat and that has helped in keeling things clean. 

Today I will be grinding the inside of a locker, vacuuming it and tabbing it up prepping it for priming and painting.  I look forward to the end of the fiberglassing and the beginning of priming and painting. 

Grinding Away

Starboard side settee bottom is pretty much done. I still have to paint this and it will be getting done teak trim. 

Meanwhile, I have been working aft grinding the lazarette and aft bulkhead area prepping for some tabbing. I ran out of sanding disks. I have more to do as I found a two bulkheads that need tabbing and the inside of one locker. I emptied more things off the boat to make it easier to clean and work.  I also need to grind the area under the port lazarette. 

I would dearly love to finish the grinding so I can overnight on the boat and save on the commuting.

I was unable to attach the hoses as I needed to heat them up to fit them over the tubes. That is my priority after I finish grinding tomorrow and vacuuming up the mess. 

I also need to stop by the machine shop to drill out my bronze tiller arm, and later this week the sheet metal guys to fabricate two galley counters, and a few other pieces. 

Prepping the Bulkhead for Skinning

Somehow this posting was deleted.

I spend a few hours cutting exposed screws on these bulkhead with a Dremel tool.  Following that I tried sanding the bulkhead wall.  That did not take off the old glue.  I took another pass with a grinder and 36 grit paper and that fouled the sandpaper but took it all off.

I started removing the trim and paneling on the other wall. 

The forward side paneling is primed and needs to be sanded and painted.