| Iota Refit |
Friday, March 21, 2008 Earlier in the week, I set the completed sea hood in place on deck so that it would be available as a reference for Seth from Mobile Canvas, who was due that day to begin the process of measuring and building a dodger for the boat. For the moment, I set it in place with no fasteners, with final installation planned for later in the week. Then, I spent time with Seth going over the dodger design and related items. While I was at it, I also set the forward hatch frame in place, with installation also planned soon. |
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Meanwhile, I continued with varnish on the coamings, now on the second side, with one coat per day during most of the week. Working here and there throughout the week, I also took care of details related to some of the final hardware installation, as I planned to wrap that up this week as well. On Friday afternoon, with a couple hours at my disposal, I turned to the final details of the sea hood installation. Previously, I'd outlined the area with masking tape, and now I removed the sea hood and marked for the fastener locations. In each location, I drilled a 1/2" hole through the top skin and into the core with a Forstner bit and cleaned out the waste and core. Then, in the usual way, I filled the voids with thickened epoxy, to provide a barrier for the future fasteners. I left this to cure overnight. |
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Next, I sanded the bearing surface where the new forward hatch frame would be secured; I'd previously taped off this opening as well. I rough-sanded away the paint in this area, cleaned it up, and then secured the hatch frame in a bed of thickened epoxy, clamping it in position and then cleaning up all the squeezeout before removing the tape to allow it to fully cure. |
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