progress and hinderance
So I patched the crack in my boat's hull. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. It turns out that only the gelcoat was cracked. That is a protective layer placed over the fiberglass. Sometimes it gets damaged by running into things like docks or picking up a swinging anchor or "fifteen pound lobster" according to the West Marine website. I went to a local fish and boat supply store. They didn't really have much in the way of anything especially sail boat parts. But I ran into a schoolmate who works there and he recommended a syringe of epoxy resin with a hardener. The way it is designed when you press the plunger, equal amounts of resin and hardener is squeezed out of their individual tubes. It's then mixed to make a sticky paste which is then used to glue something or fill in a scratch or ding. Obviously, a crack is not a scratch, so I took a wood carving tool and gouged out the gelcoat around the crack to make it wider to fill it in with epoxy resin. I then proceeded to sand in and around the freshly made miniature canyon. It looked pretty scary. If I wasn't confident I knew what I was doing it would have been uber stressful. 
The bluish green fiber of the presumed fiberglass could clearly be seen. I didn't actually find any sand paper so, once again, I called upon the usefulness of my wood carving set and used a selection of small files. They worked very well, especially on the small walls of the gouge. If I had any acetone I would have applied some to clean out the little gelcoat grits. I didn't but I did the best I could. I then toured the boat to see if anything else needed attention while I had my tools handy. I discovered that the centerboard was in need of a lot of it. It can be raised up and lowered using lines in the boat for stability when sailing. Unfortunately, the previous owner must not have known enough to lift it all the way into it's sheath when trailering because there was some wear on the end of it where it rested on a beam on the trailer. I sanded it a little.
I wanted to inspect the control lines too, but more on that later. I ate lunch and came back to mix the epoxy resin. I started out with a little and it almost seemed to shrink as it mixed. I filled in the gouge with a stick from the yard and globbed some on the centerboard, but it was difficult to work with and very sticky. By this time I found an old sheet of sand paper and sanded the flaking paint on the transom, or rear of the boat. I used a folded piece of cardboard to squeegee some epoxy over it. the end result looks pretty lubberly, but I wanted to see if it would work. It doesn't. :P I went inside to wash my hands, but remembered this stuff cures when underwater so a lot of scrubbing ensued. I found some gloves and spread the epoxy on the centerboard blade and tried to smooth out my other messes. The end result is not the prettiest, but it's finished. Now I just need to find the right anti fouling paint and borrow somebody's disk sander. Back to the centerboard. On my boat, there are two lines to control it. One brings it up into the boat when pulled, the other brings it down into the water when pulled. I looked up how to inspect the assembly because the handbook for the boat was very vague on this. I learned that there are metal plates on the bottom of the boat at the head of the centerboard where the lines attach. These are removed by screws and whacked heads are resulted if care has not been taken to secure the lines. These plates are what hold the centerboard in the boat and if the lines aren't cleated, it will fall out. I looked under the boat and sure enough, there were two metal plates slightly forward and right next to each other, at the end of the long hole in which the center board hides. I took my screwdriver to the screws but they wouldn't budge. It seems like they were painted over by the old bottom paint. I'm hoping this can be fixed when I remove the old paint. The lines look rather old, and the centerboard is a very important part of the boat. This is where pictures would be great, but I must have deleted this one on accident. In less optimistic news, Town Council has not replied to my letter for my event. It's really frustrating. I may just have to wait until next year. I have also been feeling very drained and exhausted. Both from work and life and weather. I used to like summer but this is quite possibly one of the worst. Not just because it's unreasonably hot for this latitude, but I have accomplished not one thing I set out to accomplish yet. Work has sucked up all my energy.
The bluish green fiber of the presumed fiberglass could clearly be seen. I didn't actually find any sand paper so, once again, I called upon the usefulness of my wood carving set and used a selection of small files. They worked very well, especially on the small walls of the gouge. If I had any acetone I would have applied some to clean out the little gelcoat grits. I didn't but I did the best I could. I then toured the boat to see if anything else needed attention while I had my tools handy. I discovered that the centerboard was in need of a lot of it. It can be raised up and lowered using lines in the boat for stability when sailing. Unfortunately, the previous owner must not have known enough to lift it all the way into it's sheath when trailering because there was some wear on the end of it where it rested on a beam on the trailer. I sanded it a little.
I wanted to inspect the control lines too, but more on that later. I ate lunch and came back to mix the epoxy resin. I started out with a little and it almost seemed to shrink as it mixed. I filled in the gouge with a stick from the yard and globbed some on the centerboard, but it was difficult to work with and very sticky. By this time I found an old sheet of sand paper and sanded the flaking paint on the transom, or rear of the boat. I used a folded piece of cardboard to squeegee some epoxy over it. the end result looks pretty lubberly, but I wanted to see if it would work. It doesn't. :P I went inside to wash my hands, but remembered this stuff cures when underwater so a lot of scrubbing ensued. I found some gloves and spread the epoxy on the centerboard blade and tried to smooth out my other messes. The end result is not the prettiest, but it's finished. Now I just need to find the right anti fouling paint and borrow somebody's disk sander. Back to the centerboard. On my boat, there are two lines to control it. One brings it up into the boat when pulled, the other brings it down into the water when pulled. I looked up how to inspect the assembly because the handbook for the boat was very vague on this. I learned that there are metal plates on the bottom of the boat at the head of the centerboard where the lines attach. These are removed by screws and whacked heads are resulted if care has not been taken to secure the lines. These plates are what hold the centerboard in the boat and if the lines aren't cleated, it will fall out. I looked under the boat and sure enough, there were two metal plates slightly forward and right next to each other, at the end of the long hole in which the center board hides. I took my screwdriver to the screws but they wouldn't budge. It seems like they were painted over by the old bottom paint. I'm hoping this can be fixed when I remove the old paint. The lines look rather old, and the centerboard is a very important part of the boat. This is where pictures would be great, but I must have deleted this one on accident. In less optimistic news, Town Council has not replied to my letter for my event. It's really frustrating. I may just have to wait until next year. I have also been feeling very drained and exhausted. Both from work and life and weather. I used to like summer but this is quite possibly one of the worst. Not just because it's unreasonably hot for this latitude, but I have accomplished not one thing I set out to accomplish yet. Work has sucked up all my energy.