Oxnard - Day 19

Get ready for a couple of very boring posts.
My week-end has been as boring as those too.
Through-Hulls, Through Hulls, ... 5 of them.

After extraction, it is not pretty.

You can notice : 3 layers of paint, One layer of gelcoat and like 10 layers of fiberglass.
The original through-hulls were flush-mounted. Which is nice for a racing boat (which mine is not, at least by modern considerations) but means they are mounted as a cavity inside the Hull itself.
I quickly realised I will have to fill that cavity with a glass job.

Weapons of mass destruction

Epoxy job that I wanted to avoid. I did my surfboard repairs, of course, the last couple of years.

Toxic stuff

I mean, a boat is like a giant surfboard. That should be as easy, right ?

After sanding

Except everything is bigger. Takes a good couple of hours to get the hole sanded and cleaned in a contortionist position (Under the hull, like 1 meter high).

Rubbing the hole in Wax

Getting ready to fill. I try to cover the hole to avoid to re-drill it afterward :)

Mixing Epoxy and Filler

I will know after 2 days that my initial dosage of the filler was way to light. I guess I do not know what 'Peanut butter like' means. No worries, it does not impact the strength of the setup. It takes just more time, more glass and stick less in a vertical setup.

After Filling, 1st pass

Told you, it is pretty ugly. Way to liquid. It eventually pan out, with a lot of --more-- sanding.

a glassed one

The last through-hull is an interesting story. Not sure why, but this one was glassed through all the way down with a 5 inches reinforcement to make it flat (which I get , because it is for the depth sounder). However, it made it impossible to remove by standard techniques.

Only solution, force my way to drill around and literally tear from the hull. You have no idea how this setup is strong. Took me hours at night.

Told you, boring. And this was only the first day.