Bow and Engine Well Fairing

Over the weekend of February 12^th and 13^th, I worked on bringing the engine well yet closer to faired perfection…sometimes it’s frustrating not being happy with ‘good enough’ - smile and a wink. Here is what I looked like towards the end of sanding the previous application of fairing filler (West System 407, and 410 micro-light).

The engine well surfaces were really rough. I can understand that since a motor will be hiding much of the surface, and in addition the engine well hatch keeps things out of sight, that there really is no need to produce a topsides-quality finish…but then again, consider who is working on Froonie. Working to this level of detail is what a good….great restoration is all about anyway. Plus, it gives me further practice at my something I find great pleasure in. The lines of these 40+ year-old sailboats are very pleasing to the eye; the computer designers of today, in my opinion, are sacrificing aesthetics for performance by letting a computer tell them what the hull should look like. Thank God we are not all racers!

The engine well fairing has been an on-going project, one that requires fairing application, then dry time, then washing and sanding, then more fairing application…repeating process. Since my time spent at Froonie is not what I would like for it to be (family, work, travel time to Froonie, etc.), this process has been rather drawn out. I can say that I am getting very close to completing this one part of the restoration. Here the pictures show the surfaces after the day’s sanding. In the bottom photo you will notice a notch in the base of the engine well and at the bottom of the photo itself. This notch was patched later in the day on the 13^th with 6oz cloth applied ‘neat’ epoxy painted to the underside of the engine well’s base. After I placed the fiberglass cloth onto the surface wetted with epoxy, I placed a layer of plastic over top and taped in place to secure until the epoxy fully kicked. The repair of the notch will include fairing the surfaces of both sides of the base of the engine well (interior and exterior surfaces).

Top: looking down into the engine well

Bottom: Looking up into the engine well

In addition to the engine well work, I made some time for fairing work on Froonie’s bow. There had been some work done by a previous owner that was a little substandard in my opinion. So to bring the extreme forward portion of the bow to fair, I cleaned with acetone and applied WS 410 micro-light. The application for the fairing compound was on the 12^th, and the washing of the amine blush and sanding took place on the 13^th. Here is a picture of the surface after sanding.