I put in a whole bunch of work on the boat this weekend. My main focus was polishing. I used Main Sail's tutorial, and Presta Gel Coat Compound and Ultra Cutting Creme, finished off with Collinite 885 paste wax. The sides are looking really good. I hope I can get the cabin sides, cockpit, and coaming to look half as good as the sides.
I also removed my hatch board retainers, the Shaefer cam cleats/fairleads for the jib sheets, and I'm getting ready to replace the hatch sliders. It was an interesting discovery that you can't remove the hatch without taking off the sliders. It will go neither all the way forward or aftwards, so the sides of the hatch have yet to be polished.
I was very happy to see that O'day countersunk the bolt holes in the fiberglass, so that the sealant has a good chance to seal around the fastener. I sanded the hatch retainers down to tan wood, removing the silvering. It's time to order some Cetol Natural Light and Gloss... I'll be replacing the cam cleats with Viadana "high angle" cam cleats. These are the same design cleat as Harken H150's.
My biggest question for the brain trust is what to use to seal the hatch sliders and hatch board retainers? I think an adhesive sealant is a good idea for the wood parts, especially the hatch sliders which I believe are screwed in. The hatch board retainers were well stuck, and I was almost concerned they would break before I got the one to pull off... So I definitely don't want to use 3M 4200 (and absolutely not 5200 "devil's glue".) I have a tube of 4000, which will probably stay kind of rubbery. I think I will seal all of the wood to the fiberglass - I don't like gaps on the edges which can trap dirt. For the new cam cleats, I will bed them with butyl tape.
Thanks,
Brian
I also removed my hatch board retainers, the Shaefer cam cleats/fairleads for the jib sheets, and I'm getting ready to replace the hatch sliders. It was an interesting discovery that you can't remove the hatch without taking off the sliders. It will go neither all the way forward or aftwards, so the sides of the hatch have yet to be polished.
I was very happy to see that O'day countersunk the bolt holes in the fiberglass, so that the sealant has a good chance to seal around the fastener. I sanded the hatch retainers down to tan wood, removing the silvering. It's time to order some Cetol Natural Light and Gloss... I'll be replacing the cam cleats with Viadana "high angle" cam cleats. These are the same design cleat as Harken H150's.
My biggest question for the brain trust is what to use to seal the hatch sliders and hatch board retainers? I think an adhesive sealant is a good idea for the wood parts, especially the hatch sliders which I believe are screwed in. The hatch board retainers were well stuck, and I was almost concerned they would break before I got the one to pull off... So I definitely don't want to use 3M 4200 (and absolutely not 5200 "devil's glue".) I have a tube of 4000, which will probably stay kind of rubbery. I think I will seal all of the wood to the fiberglass - I don't like gaps on the edges which can trap dirt. For the new cam cleats, I will bed them with butyl tape.
Thanks,
Brian
