I am not a fan of sanding, never have been but I realise that it is a necessary part of making just about anything in wood. This is a common sentiment amongst makers although I do know one or two who quite enjoy it.
Before the hull is turned back up the right way, I have to sand the hull under the waterline and complete the copper epoxy work.
I won’t bore you with the details, suffice it to say that this is not a difficult or time consuming task as this is just to provide a key for the next coat. So, lightly sanding is the requirement, not removal of material. Mind you there were one or two places that needed to be sanded away a little harder, but on the whole this one side took two or three hours to get to the stage you see here. Sanded, swept, air blasted and wiped with a cloth soaked in Acetone. I will need to go over a few spots where the epoxy is still shiny by hand but I’ll do that after I’ve sanded the other side.
Next task, the transom.
Sanded, coated with neat epoxy, fibreglass laid on and then coated with epoxy. I didn’t get the sanding quite right on the far side, the copper epoxy will protrude above the white boot top, but I’m not going to try and fix what is a cosmetic error now.
Second coat, applied with a brush and not a roller so that I don’t need to mix up as much epoxy. Although the rollers are only 4″ long, they really soak up a lot of epoxy which is then wasted.
Note the rubber glove over the stern navigation light to stop drops of epoxy dripping on it !!
Time for a cup of tea.
Having taken a break I started sanding the second side of the hull and was surprised to find that it took around half the time for the first side. Not sure why.
I marked the location of the upper edge of the boot top and then taped it.
This was carried around the transom.
The remainder of the touching up sanding I’ll do tomorrow and then decided whether or not to add the final two copper epoxy coats to the underwater hull or wait until next weekend.
Time for a cup of tea.