RESTORATION PROGRESS: HULL
This is what I started with.
I removed all 5 of the through-hull fittings by grinding, because they were all frozen in place. I first stripped what I could of the hard, baked-on bottom paint. I began sanding off what the stripper couldn't remove.
Once the task was undertaken, it became obvious that the blistering in the gel coat was too extensive to ignore. I therefore started anew, removing the gelcoat to expose the underlying fiberglass. Sanding off the gelcoat was hot, tiring, uncomfortable, and grueling drudgery that you could not have paid me to do. I am driven only by the objective and fueled by a vision of the final outcome. Having done it, though, I'm glad I did, because it will eliminate another worry. Here is a photo of the hull, stripped of gelcoat.
Next, I removed the rudder, which was not a simple task. First, the gudgeon is buried under layers of fiberglass which had to be ground away to expose it. The second challenge was removing the gudgeon pins. Third, I had to cut into the trailer's keel support plank in order to drop the rudder. This is another job I would have preferred to avoid, but I could not ignore the obvious structural concerns. There was cracking of the fiberglass around the rudder shaft. The cause appears to be from from aggressive sanding of the leading edge of the rudder at the rudder shaft, some time in the past. Here you see the thin fiberglass skin I easily peeled off of the rudder shaft. I will have to re-glass the rudder with epoxy and cloth.
Examination of the rudder showed a bent shaft, which had to be corrected, in addition to re-
glassing the rudder. The results aren't well shown here because the layers of glass and epoxy
are transparent, but I'm happy with the results: Another problem repaired.
For the repair, I took the gudgeon to a bronze sculptor named Lazaro Valdes in Miami. He can do sand, lost wax, or ceramic shell casting, but he doesn't speak English. The repair cost me $75.00. His contact information is:
I'm nearing the end of this restoration, because I have turned my attention to the hull. After removing the gel coat due to blistering, I coated the fiberglass with 6 coats of epoxy, and followed that with 4 red Zyrex epoxy barrier coats, all the way to the top of the bootstripe. My plan is to then paint the bottom with blue anti-fouling bottom paint, leaving the top few inches of the barrier coat exposed as a bootstripe. My concern with this plan is the UV exposure of the epoxy bootstripe, so if I notice any degradation, I will paint it.
Here is a photo with the barrier coats applied...
