It has been quite some time since I have blogged on the restoration of Froonie, and almost as long since I have dedicated any significant amount of time to the restoration. You know how it is...the Holidays keep us occupied with what is really important - friends and family, and the reason for the season!
The work here was done in the first half of December, with most of my time spent working on the new mast support beams. Over the course of the work I decided against glassing the beams in. The reason I have decided to leave the beams open and visible is due mostly to potential future repairs, adjustments. So, I will sand and apply oil to the oak beams, and finish off by bolting to the original mast support with stainless lag bolts. Here is a picture showing the dry fitting of the new mast beams. The original mast support is seen sandwiched between the new oak beams.
The forward hatch frame (built as part of the overhead) needed some fairing work. I imagined that the surface where the overhead transitioned into the hatch frame, when painted, would show a lot of gouges and haphazard-looking glass work.
So, I have undertaken a few fairing applications to bring the surface smoothed and finished in appearance. In addition, the top of the raised frame had areas where the fiberglass had broken away - likely as a result of careless size 12s entering and exiting the hatch opening. Since this was the third of three fairing applications, it is difficult to see where the fiberglass was laid to correct the areas that had been chipped. I wrapped a piece of cardboard in plastic and clamped it to the lip portion of the frame to hold the fiberglass cloth in place, and then built successive layers of epoxy filler until I had recreated the original lip of the frame. Here is the final fairing application. The frame has now been sanded, and is ready for primer.
After a lot of work removing the old ceiling backing strips, grinding the old tabbing off, and fairing the surface in preparation for reinstallation, I have now entered the phase of building back the ceiling work. For the backing strips, I have chosen to use a synthetic moulding product purchased from one of the big box home stores. The material is a composite plastic / foam product that should stand up well to the damp environs of a boat, and that works cooperatively with epoxy resins.
The material is approximately 2" wide by 1/4" thick, and takes the hull shape well through encouraging it to flex. My biggest headache is in not having a good process to keep the backing strip pressed securely to the hull while the thickened epoxy cures - thus the large amounts of duct tape, and the board wedged in there. Whatever works! Now that I am writing this, I still have not progressed past this first backing strip installation, and I need to give the process some more thought to come up with an easier method.
One small item that I needed to address, as I am preparing for topsides primer in the near future, was to remove the bow u-bolt, fill with thickened epoxy, and fair to a smooth surface. The overall length of the Sea Sprite 23', and its relative shallow draft, allow for it to be trailered. I have seen some owners craft mast raising devices in order to trailer the sailboat - the u-bolt on Froonie might have allowed for this.
Of course, it may have also been a convenient mooring point as well. Regardless, I thought it hurt the lines and looked a bit tacky, so I removed. The bolt was secured with washers and nuts on the backside of a wooden wedge block in the bow. I removed the rusty bolts, sanded both the wood block and hull, cleaned with acetone, and generally prepared for reinstallation of the block. I painted neat epoxy on the hull and coated all sides of the wood block. Next, I mixed up some thickened epoxy, applied it to the hull directly, placed a sheet of 6 oz fiberglass cloth over the epoxy and further saturated the cloth with neat epoxy, and finally bedded the wood block into the epoxy and onto the glass cloth. Lastly, I wrapped the 6 oz cloth over the wood block, sealing the entire assembly. The picture appears as though patches of the cloth remained dry - I believe this was a result of the camera flash, as the cloth was laid up correctly and properly wet-out.
Finally, progress thus far on the engine well is coming in fits of inspiration. There are a number of things to complete for the restoration of Froonie, and at times my mind gets a bit overwhelmed with the to-do list, so I jump around a lot instead of focusing my efforts on one area.
This, by the way, should be a lesson for all new or would-be project owners - inventory the boats needs meticulously, organize your required tools and materials, and focus your efforts! The engine well is coming along nicely, scatterbrain approach notwithstanding; and the picture is showing the process of fairing the sides. I am using #407 fairing filler and West System. You will notice the larger opening at the very bottom of the picture, and the notch cut out in the extreme aft of this opening. The opening is for the outboard motor's prop to be lowered through; the notch will be enclosed eventually (fiberglass and fairing to a finished surface).
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