Lazarette Hatches | Installation

I installed the lazarette hatches alongside the other hardware fittings.

I recalled that this was a bit of a drama the first time round, so I did a dry run using plain nuts instead of new Nylocks before committing to the final exercise.

This is the port hatch, test installed.

It was a lot easier then I expected.

Here are both hatches, dry fitted.

Happy that both hatches could be refitted without any trouble, I went ahead and sealed them in place with new Nyloc nuts.

This is the port hatch, with installation tools.

Having decent tools is the secret of success with this type of activity.

Finally, here are both hatches fully installed.

Now, what's next?

Hull Hardware Fittings | Installation

With painting the upper hull largely complete, it was time to refit all the hardware which I removed many weeks ago.

But before I could start that, I needed to finish painting the inside of the Dorade boxes.

First I masked off the front cabin wall, to prevent paint drips. Like this.

Then I abraded and cleaned the floor of each Dorade box and applied a third coat of gloss using a brush with its handle cut off short to allow access through the inspection ports.

A roller was used to apply the gloss and the brush to tip it out and paint the joins and corners. Here they are.

That worked well.

Leaving the Dorade boxes to dry I proceeded to dry fit all the hardware fittings, to be sure that everything still fitted and to familiarise myself with the various methods of installation.

Everything went into place without any problems.

One other thing I did test before final installation was the fit of the boom gallows and the support poles.

Here they are successfully fitted. You can see the rubber mallet that I use as a 'persuader' to tap the gallows into place on top of the poles.

The first fittings to be installed were the halyard lead sheaves on the cabin roof.

These have very limited contact with the surface, so I used butyl tape to make gaskets on which to bed the footings rather than use a sealant.

Here are the port sheaves installed, showing butyl tape roughly in place and the installation tools.

When the sheaves were securely in place and bedded in I trimmed off excess tape with a sharpened wooden spatula, like this.

That worked well and I think it is a good solution.

This is the butyl tape in question.

I found it was too thick and unwieldy for installing small fittings - it's 2mm thick and strongly resists flattening out - but it seems to be ideal for making gaskets for screws, bolts and similar fastenings.

All other fittings were reinstalled with white marine sealant. This is it.

It is Geocell Marine silicone rubber sealant, and is ideal for non-permanent waterproof bonding of fittings, hatches, portlights and the like.

It comes highly recommended.

Here it is in the gun, ready for use.

A bottle of methylated spirits is essential for cleaning up squeeze-out and associated mess.

The meths works really well with kitchen roll, keeping deck, tools and hands clean.

This is the port forward mooring cleat, fastened to the Dorade box in the forward deck well.

These are the port halyard cleats, on the cabin roof.

And here are the port stern mooring cleat and boom gallows stanchion support.

This is the upper rudder pivot eye bolt in place.

And this is the port anchor chock.

The machine screws for the ventilator bottom plates were held in place with lumps of Blu Tack during installation, while sealant was applied and the Nyloc nuts fitted. Like this.

And here is the starboard plate after final installation.

The port and starboard Dorade box inspection port surrounds were installed. Here they are.

And here they are with the inspection ports in place.

Here are the centreboard pendant thimble and cleat. I used butyl tape to install the cleat, because it is subject to high stress loads and requires a strong bedding.

I fitted new Nyloc nuts throughout where required - all the used nuts were discarded.

A selection of good tools were essential for this activity. Here they all are, in the forward deck well.

That's pretty much it for the hardware fittings. There are a couple more parts to go on, but they aren't on the critical path.

Onwards and upwards!

Companionway Slide | Painting the Interior

I was getting ready to varnish the grab rails, which would mean working on the companionway slide.

So before I started that I decided to finish all paintwork on the slide by refreshing the white eggshell finish on the interior.

This is the same paint that I used when repainting the inside of the cabin last year. It is a tough, trade spec, solvent based, interior paint. Here it is.

I sanded the surface with a P120 grit ready for paint, and then applied two coats of eggshell with a roller, as I did in the cabin. Like this.

That looked good, so the slide was set aside to dry until needed.

Topside Panels, Seatback Tops & Transom Skirt | Final Coat

I was very happy to be applying the final coat of gloss to the topsides, because that meant that repainting the upper hull was complete. Such joy!

I started at the rear of the port topside panel and worked my way forwards and around the bow, painting the upper breast hook en route, and then down the starboard side to the stern.

Lastly I painted the transom skirt, completing the upper hull.

This what it looked like.

And is the transom skirt.

And here is the view from port with the tape pulled.

Lastly this is the transom skirt with the tape pulled.

Looking good!

As usual now, I thinned the paint with 5% Epifanes Easy Flow conditioner.

Now I can think seriously about refitting all the hardware, but I must finish painting the rudder and inside the Dorade boxes.

I do believe the end is in sight...

Companionway Hood & Cabin Roof | Final Coat

I left the seatbacks and the rear cabin wall to cure for a couple of days and wet sanded the overlap onto the cabin roof and the seatback tops.

Using a felt roller sleeve I then applied the fifth and final coat of gloss to the companionway hood and the cabin roof, thinned with 5% Easy Flow conditioner.

This is what it looked like, viewed from starboard.

No bad at all! The felt roller certainly achieves a better finish than the foam.

The rear face of the tabernacle got its final coat at the same time, like this.

Lastly I pulled the tape from the toe rails, revealing the sapele for the first time in months!

Here is the starboard rail.

This feels like real progress, at last.

Rudder | White Gloss & Tape Damage

With time on my hands I started to apply the second coat of white gloss to the rudder.

First I wet sanded the first coat on the whole rudder with a P400 grit. Like this.

I covered the lower pivot eye with Blu Tack to mask it off from paint. Here it is.

Then I applied masking tape for a second coat, as here.

I used a wooden spoon to burnish the edges of the tape, to stop any bleeding.

When painting the cockpit I found that application with a foam roller sleeve improved as it became fully loaded with paint.

This meant initial coverage was patchy, because it was not getting enough paint onto the surface and I was losing the wet edge too easily.

I decided to experiment with a short pile felt roller, which I already had but had not used.

This is them.

Here it is in action with a good brush for tipping out.

That worked well. Here is the rudder with its second coat of white gloss, thinned with %5 Easy Flow conditioner.

No brush marks or patches. Excellent!

While the paint was flowing I gave the interior and the sides of the tabernacle their final coat of gloss.

It looked good, like this.

And finally I pulled the masking tape on the rudder and this happened.

The blue gloss peeled off with the tape. I was surprised because I had used the low tack professional tape that I learned to used when painting the undersides and transom.

Maybe I didn't leave the blue paint long enough to cure. Who knows...

It's not the end of the world and it has happened so many times before that I know how to fix the damage.

Onwards and upwards! 

Cockpit | Refinishing

When the paint in the cockpit had cured I inspected the finish, and was immediately disappointed.

There were small but visible curtains on the rear cabin wall and seatbacks, and I had lost the wet edge in several places. The shiny gloss sheen highlighted it all beautifully!

The cockpit deck wasn't perfect, but it would be mostly covered by the non-slip finish so that didn't matter.

I thought about it for a while and decided to refinish the seatbacks and cabin wall, as I did with the forward deck well. It's tedious in the extreme but I only want to do this once...

So I left the deck as it was and wet sanded the seatbacks and the cabin wall - again.

This is the port seatback being sanded.

When that was done I taped the cabin roof and seatback tops to achieve an overlap across the edges. Like this.

Lastly I applied a fresh coat of paint as carefully as I could, and left it to cure. I used 5% Easy Flow conditioner to thin the paint.

This is the cockpit with tape pulled.

It's not perfect but it is much better, and it is certainly good enough.

So that's the cockpit finished. Hooray!