Removing Interior Cladding

On Monday, the 27^th of July, I focused on deconstructing the interior wood cladding. I have found it nice to change up the pace on occasion by tackling different parts of Froonie’s restoration – I’ve plenty of ‘parts’ to choose from. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the scope of the restoration when I stop, sit, and let my eyes wonder from bow to stern, port rail to starboard rail. So I try and focus my efforts on one aspect of the restoration, and make the most of my limited time on the job. Sometimes it’s better to not see the forest through the trees!

So, back to the cladding: Froonie’s hull interior was clad with 2” by ¼” strips of a very lightweight wood species – possibly white pine.

The cladding was attached with stainless steel self-tapping screws to vertical furring strips placed, roughly, every 18”. The furring strips were tabbed onto the hull – in some places a 6” tab was laid the entire length of the furring strip, and in some cases a few short 5” or 6” tabs were used to secure the furring strip to the hull.

A lot of the tabbing could be removed by hand – a good sign that the lay up was not done properly. For the most part, I removed the furring strips by giving them a good heave. For the more stubborn portions of the furring strip, I applied my 4.5” angle grinder to the tabbing, cutting just enough to remove the strip and prepare the surface for the Porter Cable 7335 DA sander. The angle grinder made fast work of the old tabbing, and kept the fiberglass dust to a minimum as well.

I will continue with removal of the vertical furring strips, and sand the old tabbing back to fair with the hull’s interior surface. I am planning to lay up one layer of 6oz fiberglass cloth, and best I can, fair the surface with low-density filler and a bit of sanding. After I am reasonably satisfied with the hull’s interior surface, I will go ahead and tab new vertical furring strips onto the surface, spaced every 15” to 18”. The addition of the 6oz cloth will serve a couple purposes: it will add thickness to the hull and further strength, but will also provide a good surface from which to begin the fairing process. I am undecided right now if I will replace the current wood cladding, but am leaning more toward cleaning them up with a good sanding and reinstalling. They are in good shape, so there really is no need to spend the money to replace them – not to mention the time involved with cutting and pre-drilling for installation.

Tuesday, the 28^th, was spent further filling the old through-hull holes for port and starboard cockpit drains and for the head discharge and intake: sanding, wiping down with acetone, mixing epoxy and thickening with a combination of colloidal silica and low-density filler, and applying with a squeegee. …more sanding to come…