First up she was lifted out of the garage and the mast fitted for the first time, fortunately it is a slightly loose fit so once it has a final finish it should be a nice snug fit. Here is a pic of the goat in the driveway, she suddenly looked big next to the car and the mast is tall when upright but it’s all about context and she will feel a bit smaller again on the water. You can also see that the central seat/tank top is now in position and most of the inside has had a final sand (using my new RO sander) before it gets a final coat of epoxy all over.
With the GIS back inside and upside down the hull was given a wash down to get rid of any amine blush and then sanded all over. The edges of the glass tape particularly needed a good sanding to bring them down flat. Next the underside of the outer gunwale needed to be planed flat, the oak capping needs to be trimmed down to the level of the doug-fir. The hull was then given a final coat of epoxy all over before the protective hull runners were fitted. Rather than just having two long runners I have added a third up at the bow to add some protection to an area I think will be vulnerable when landing the boat on a slipway or beach. Also I am not using a heavy hardwood for the runner but have instead used some Doug-fir that will then have an Aluminium flat bar screwed on. So that the screws don’t allow water into the runners I have drilled large holes for the fixing and filled with thickened epoxy, the screws can then be fixed into epoxy rather than wood.
Lastly the hull was given one more light sand and was feeling pretty flat with just the odd mark in the ply that will need filling. The hull has been given two coats of a high-build epoxy primer from Jotun, it went on well and after a few days curing it is a really hard finish. The primer will need a light sanding to flat down the surface and a bit of faring filler then will be ready for undercoat. For undercoat and topcoat I am going for Perfection from International (Interlux), a two part polyurethane that should be very resistant to scratches in use. It is a lot more expensive but hopefully worth it.
Below is a pic of the bow runner, primed a pleasant shade of battleship grey and the alu runner is placed on top.
