I set off today meaning to sand the interior of the boat today. The sanding is meant to generally prepare the surface for whatever may come...bulkheads, partitions, tabbing, painting, etc., and to clean-up 36 years of just sitting and collecting dirt and dust. The entire boat was my goal as I suited up this morning - Tyvek suit, full-face respirator, made sure to tape my arms and legs to seal out the fiberglass dust. The entire boat, right!! After seven and a half hours, I made it through the engine room, down to the bilge and including the overhead, as well as 75% of the port salon. I just realized today how much surface area is contained within the Westsail 32! To my credit, the engine room overhead has many interrupted surfaces, what with the cockpit well and the cockpit locker bottoms, etc. Once I made it past the engine bulkhead, my pace accelerated. I estimate at least another 2 full days of sanding to make my way through the entire interior - a massive space.
My tools were the odd phillips and flat-head to remove the few fasteners in my way, but the real workhorses were the Porter Cable 7335 (5")and 7336 (6") random orbital sanders. I used 40-grit psa pads, and found my happy place for over 7 hours.
Total Time: 7.5 Hrs
I remember doing this! It was not fun. Sanding fiberglass with a R/O Sander is tough. I find using an angle grinder with a soft pad and 36 grit disks to go pretty quick. Even better if you have access to an eight inch grinder.
ReplyDeleteI WAS looking forward to getting in and sanding out the old, so I could get on with the new....but I have to say, I am looking forward to concluding this aspect of the boat build!
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