I started the day by vacuuming and solvent washing the areas to be worked, prepping the surface to accept epoxy resin and fiberglass. Once this chore was completed, I started to build templates for each of the areas to receive new glass. I taped plastic sheeting in place, and using a black Sharpie, I then traced an area that was to become the fiberglass patch.

With the templates prepared, I returned to the shop to cut out the individual pieces of new 1708 biaxial cloth: two each for the port side, the starboard side, and the small void in the forward, port lower corner of the interior liner. I also cut one layer of cloth for the enclosed thru-hull to the port side.

After I had all of the new fiberglass layers cut and marked, I then gathered materials to support the effort of glassing in the new fiberglass cloth. I moved a small table to the pole barn and set up a glassing station. I started with the starboard-side repair area - the largest of the three. The plan today was to first install two layers on the backside of the repair areas, to serve as a backing plate for the next step which is application of fiberglass to the visible frontside surfaces. Applying neat epoxy to the backside surface, or wetting it out, was my first step in effecting the repair. The temperatures were in the mid-seventies, yet I still chose to use the West System slow hardener in order to provide a bit more working time. The surface was primed for new glass, so I began to wet out the first layer, brought it up into Biscuit's cabin and applied it. I gently massaged the freshly applied layer into its final position, and then turned my attention to the second layer. Down at the glassing station, I placed the second layer onto the wet-out pad and worked fresh epoxy into the biaxial/csm fabric. The wet-out pad, an adequate piece of cardboard covered with plastic, makes for a great way to move wet cloth from here to there....so I moved the second layer for the starboard "backing plate" from boat-side to Biscuit's cabin. I placed the second layer into position, and then finished it with a layer of peel ply on both the back and front of the starboard repair area. I repeated this process for each of the interior liner repairs, and then applied the one layer to the interior of the port-side hull where the former thru-hull lived.

The next steps in the interior repair will be the focused on the front surface, with clean-up on the backside as well as the "engine pan"....the space beneath the cockpit where the cockpit seacocks are installed.

Total Hrs: 4.25