In the last week I have migrated over to the starboard side deck to take care of the worst of the cracking and flaking gelcoat, also to apply the first round of sanding.  On February 20th, I began the removal of the cracking gelcoat - using the 3/8" chisel once again on the areas needing the most attention.  The chisel allows me to cut through the gelcoat to the first (outer) layer of glass easily.  Using a 1/2" chisel would reduce my work time a bit, but the 3/8" tool is doing the job...and allows me to work with a little more detail such as around the non-skid borders.  The picture to the right is the aft portion of the starboard side deck, with the cabin trunk showing in the upper left of the frame.

   
     There are random areas along the bulwarks where the gelcoat is heavily cracked, necessitating removal.  The next step in working the decks, after I removal the loose gelcoat, will be to sand through two stages (40 grit to 80 grit), and then prepare surfaces for fairing.  The entire deck, cabin trunk and roof, etc., will not need fairing; only those areas requiring gelcoat removal.

     The smooth deck between foredeck and starboard side deck non-skid areas was especially bad.  As you can see from the photo, nearly the entire area required removal of the gelcoat.

     Finally, I rounded out the day with the starboard deck scupper.  This one was not quite as bad as the port side....sanding to follow.




Date of Work: February 20th, 2012; 2 hrs.





                                                                                                                                                                     

         On February 25th, I took the non-skid pattern off of the starboard side deck.  Adjacent to the areas initially showing concern that were removed the week prior, revealed yet more cracking after the first round of 40-grit sanding.  Though smallish in size, I will need to come back with the chisel to quickly move through these areas. The picture to the right shows nearly the length the starboard side deck after the factory non-skid had been removed.
                                                               

     Pictured left, the starboard deck scupper with the non-skid taken off.  Again, there are some small areas that will need some additional work to take off the worst of the offending gelcoat.

     Finally, a closer pic of the starboard deck scupper, with non-skid removed.



 Date of Work: February 25th, 2012: 3 hrs.