Cockpit work has been slowly progressing, but it’s a pain in the arse. Sand, vacuum, acetone wipe, and fill with thickened epoxy. Story of my life lately, and I’m getting a little bored with it.
Since we tore out all the old teak in the cockpit (good riddance to that), there was no way the old locker lids would suffice, what with our newly denuded fiberglass shell. The propane locker lid failed long ago (for which I made a temporary plywood cover), and the lazarette lid was well beyond repair with all that dry-rot we saw some two years ago during the initial pre-purchase survey. The other day working on the coamings, the lid finally gave way. Luckily, no one fell into the cockpit locker. The proverbial “Burmese Tiger Trap”, if you will. So off to the workshop I went, scrap of paper in hand with rough measurements, to go and build me some new.
Half-inch plywood and 3/4″ poplar as a base, I wrapped everything in a couple layers of glass cloth and epoxy. More of my favorite thing: filling, sanding, vacuuming, and wiping. Repeat until smooth. A few trips back and forth from the workshop to the boat, and I’d pretty well tuned up the fit. Hinges from West Marine with stainless screws from the local Ace Hardware installed, we can finally rest assured that one of us won’t accidentally end up in the engine room.
Now, back to mixing epoxy, and filling and fairing the rest of the cockpit…..