Painted the topside , re bedded the hardware and added grab rails
Top was bare and worn when I got the boat outer Grab rails missing and inners secured with a bolt stuck thru the ceiling and caulked on the outside...I pulled the bolts wire wheeled the caulk off and prepped to seal the core as per Maine Sail ...
However Paceship doesn't have a cored cabin top...it's a 1/2" thick outer an 1" airspace and a 1/4" inner liner...I didn't like the way the old halyard block went thru the ceiling with large hole bolting to outer layer...
But I didn't want to thru bolt with the air space and depend on the 1/4" inner layer to hold the rails...so I drilled thru for the bolts then opened the outside to 3/8" and filled the airspace with Great Stuff foam..
When that hardened, I hollowed out a 3/4" block and filled with
epoxy to make a solid "plug" to drill and thru bolt to.
The scuffed up areas were coated with a white Marine Primer from Rustoleum around the windows and where I had removed old
rigging...A couple small cracks were "caulked" so I wire wheeled them and faired with
epoxy and primed...
Then I gave it a good brush wash with TSP detergent and pressure washed it clean...At that point it was looking pretty nice and I could have left it but gave it a coat of Parkers Marine Top Coat "Mariner White"...I got the primer and top coat from the local
Paint Dealer...marine grade, and in stock if I need an extra quart to finish a project...Paint was applied with a 1/4" nap roller and "Tipped" or backbrushed and cut in with a 2 1/2" trim brush...
I installed the grab rails with butyl tape sealant, bolted from bottom up with hidden nuts in the rail...
Bolts got a "ring" of sealant and the foot of the rail received a single layer....Then tightened till I got a "squish seal" along the foot ( I can trim off the excess)...Inside Screw head has decorator ring to match the rest of the trim attachments..
While I had the
rigging/hardware off I decided to run both
Jib and Main Halyard back to cabin, (only had main before) along with a down haul for the
jib...I'm running Cam
Cleats to
Winch to back up cinch
cleats...The old system just had a
winch and one wimpy
cleat to tie off on...
All the "shear force" hardware was bedded with butyl tape and screwed down with drilled and tapped machine screws into heavier outer layer of glass... anything that has a "pull force" on it (like rails and turning blocks) were plugged and thru bolted with reinforcing washer on inside to prevent pull thru..
I also washed my sails while the
paint dried, but thats for a different thread...
Connect with Facebook
1Likes
(Hey, whoever gets there first, we're both going sailing on her..I'm gonna need help first time I "launch" this thing anyway...)
