Vira - Sailboat rebuild, Irwin Citation 34

 Deck to hull joint Glassing 3 layer 4" 8.7 oz fiberglass tape. Before I put Thickened epoxy to cover imperfections under laminate. After classing I covered cloth with little thickened epoxy with 410 "micro light" filler.  

Deck drains Rechecked drains. Put masking tape on the hull outside and flooded deck with water. 2 drains good, 2 still leaking in one spot each .re-sanded them and glassed with 2 layers of 6oz fiberglass overlay problematic places. Fuel port Fuel port to deck sealing is not exist, water just running over. Port has to be resealed.   Hull to deck joint Found out hull to deck joint in the starboard have no sealing at all. leaks in several places. Sealer/adhesive  dried out and can be removed as pieces. I made decision to tale out aluminum toe rail to inspect joint ind then see what can be done. Ufff... it was pretty hard work to take it off. used rubber hummer and oscillating tool to break 3M5200 between deck and rail. But in close view it was not sealed as have to. mostly it did not have adhesion to aluminum rail. Sealant was filled on about 10% of surface it have to be.  Process of rail removal. What under the rail?  Hard to see on the picture, but it is appeared, pre...

  Companion way New companion way inserts made and installed. Deck drains  Find the deck drains I epoxied last time still leaking water, sanding them shown I have made some voids in the "caulking".  So I have sanded epoxy to take out any extended goo and worked as dentist to open all voids,and add flex epoxy "fills" to voids to make connection one piece solid. External view  Top view

 Just subj, nothing more, long time pressure washer usage resulted in elbow problem for 2 weeks.  Correction, problem is on going 7 month and counting.... Correction, 10 months

Very hot day... Mast top I was too lazy to climb to mast and sent my phone there to do at least some inspection.   Companionway slides  dry (almost dry fit)  Deck drains. Broke seal between tubes and hull and figured out drain tubes easy out , so internal side (deck side) did not have good seal at all. cleaned everything and refilled with flex epoxy from Totalboat.   A lot of messy work, but looks like result is not too bad, will sand next time. Cabin top handles  Removed  cabin top handles, drilled out 3M5200 from holes, countersink holes from top side, fill holes with thickened epoxy. 

Companionway slides Did dry fit  and temporary installation on slides. Cut front edges at proper angle. need to recover with teak oil.  Looks cool. Mount holes drilled from inside, then metal inserts for M6 bolts installed in wood to screw rails from INSIDE and eliminate additional holes. Next time will install with SS screws. Fixed  window Had to redo fixed window. I one place there was not enough sikaflex.  Learned lesson - put more than enough ;-) then clean excessive sealant.     Stanchions  Before, oak wooden blocks with drilled oversized holes was mounted from inside the hull. then i drilled out 1" diameter holes for stanchions under deck pipes. Drilled the way there only plasick will be in contact with   stanchions. I have marked exact places of screws holding stanchions and drilled out holes 10mm and refill with thickened epoxy. Plan for the future - drill them and put machine screw thread 1/4-20 for 2" screws. 1" holes are drilled...

Water is going lower and lower   Stanchions      Removed all old "empty" stanchion support boxes  All 5 what we did was empty, all old wood rotted out completely. Looks like somebody put thin layer of epoxy covering cracked gelcoat and de-laminated glass around screws under stanchions flanges before 3M 5200. Yes, it was 5200 sit pretty well on deck but absolutely no adhesion to stainless steel. All stanchion, are empty inside - means water which gets onto stanchion pipes went directly to wood. Good deal for maintenance cost in a future.    My dad helping me with this work. Prepared wood blocks to fill the place. Blocks before filling with structural putty. Other story... One of place looks like was repaired filling oversized holes with not-thickened epoxy, and sure do fall out. I dig out all cracks and filled cavity with structural putty. Next time will sand and fair surfaces.   Port side chainplates Eventually. Last 2 chainplates to replace...