The picture below shows the area adjacent to the engine intake valve in the stbd quarter berth reglassed with 2 layers. You can see I marked with a Sharpie the fiberglass pieces after cutting from the cloth. The lighter markings are visible through the translucent layer of cured resin infiltrated fiberglass on the top layer. The lower portion of the picture shows the area around the top portion of the hull valve. Remember from a previous post that I kept the old valve in place and built up an epoxy base around the valve to isolate it.
The view below is the stbd quarter berth looking aft. Note the fiberglass is tied in to a strip about 2 inches wide adjacent to the settee bulkhead for structural integrity.
A view inside the transom is shown with the engine control panel removed. A plate made from 1/2" fiberglass was bonded to the inside of the transom to serve as a doubler behind the rudder gudgeons. The original construction had this done with marine plywood that was waterlogged. There will be no chance of anything getting water logged in the future!
You can see below where I slipped with the Fein tool when removing the old core in the transom. The areas were ground down, filled with fairing compound (West Systems epoxy thickened with 410 Microlight filler), then sanded using 220 grit paper. Note the temporary hoses connected to the deck drain to facilitate cockpit draining - remember, I don't have the luxury of doing this inside an enclosure.
The areas on the stbd aft quarter that had blisters have been recored (wet balsa was the source of the blisters). The area has been faired, sanded and 4 layers of Interlux 2000e barrier coat applied. The area was feathered using an orbital sander to make it easier to match the final painted surface edges.
Here is Warren taking a break from waxing the hull in advance of wrapping the hull above the waterline in plastic so the bottom could be sanded and sprayed.
This is the result of spraying VC Offshore on the bottom. Shown is the area where the blisters were repaired. The bottom was sprayed on Saturday morning 25 April, then wet sanded on Sunday 26 April.
Sunday 26 April had record weather approaching 80 degrees. This was perfect to spray gelcoat. The transom was masked, gelcoat mixed for color match (I was lucky this time - you can't see the difference), and sprayed on with Preval disposable sprayers. Lesson learned - you really need to thin the gelcoat or the sprayers sputter and clog.
Rhapsody was launched on Friday 1 May. The transom and below the waterline where the work was done is great. Topside the boat looks like a disaster area and needs some serious preservation work and cleanup. More pictures to follow!
