Ordered some of the expensive stuff, they said on the phone it "should ship today".  I ordered a surplus of material.  I didn't want to run out and I have some ideas for the left-overs.

4 sheets of  PROBALSA PLUS 3/8", 2' X 4' SHEET
1 gallon of KIWIGRIP NON-SKID GEL WHITE GALLON

I ordered from Jamestown Distributors jamestowndistributors.com

Fabric and resin are on the schedule for tomorrow late afternoon.   This evening I should finish a couple of the windows...

I was not able to find the locking window trim  (or glazing I find it is called).  Some things from 1975 just aren't made anymore.  So plan "B" went into effect and I had to figure out a way with 2013 materials. Relying on Home Depot, as is so common in our time,  I was able to find:

1. 1/2" Clear Acrylic
2. High Density Foam Weather Stripping
3. Silicone II

Next I had to figure out how best to cut this stuff.    I first tried the multitool but that wasnt working very well.   I found a great you tube of a guy that sounded like he was from Australia doing it very easily with a skill saw and a jig saw.  So, after another pilgrimage to Harbor Freight to pick up those tools, I was able to crank out this test window:

I didn't use the final layer of black silicone because this was a test window - the acrylic in this one was tortured quite a bit in my tool experimentation.

What took the longest was cleaning up the original aluminum frame.  I spent over an hour on just that.  For this the multitool was very useful with a scraper attachment to get rid of 40 years of various glues and sealants.  I then followed up with 120 grit sandpaper by hand and painting.

One problem remains - the black silicone I dont think will adequately obscure the white weather stripping.  So a trip to Lowe's is on deck for this AM to find black weather stripping - or white Rustoleum paint to do the frames in white instead.  (The frames were originally were not painted any color and that just didn't look good).

Later the next day:

Well I found some other trim and I tried to use it, but it was too thick and there wasnt enough room for the silicone to hold.   SO stripping it all down and back to the drawing board.  Last nights idea was the best probably.  Going to repaint all white and try it with the original white foam (or no foam at all).  I have to wait for the silicone to dry fully before I can remove it though.

Stripped down the Port window as well and I have glass ready for it too.

I might have a source for epoxy resin that is reasonable.  This is a big ticket item and I want to make a decent deal on it so I am being patient. (plus I had to get my taxes out of the way - have to keep the IRS happy!- and I needed to renew my real estate brokers license.)

In the meantime I have been working on the windows and I think I have that figured out pretty well - the only question mark there is finding the right rubber parts to seal them up again.  The old stuff had dried out and become hard and crumbly.

Hopefully my major distractions and delays are at an end and this project will pick up steam again.  I want to go sailing very very badly!

March 31, 2013

Did my first cuts and made my first mistake.  I now know how the boat is put together though.  I decided to cut a section in front of the forward hatch, as I knew the boundary between the good and the bad was there somewhere  and a loose stanchion base was near there too.  (Forgot to take picture I will have to add later).

The boat deck is like this (from top to bottom)

1. Gelcoat
2. 1/8" Fiberglass
3. 3/8" balsa wood in individal squares
4. ANOTHER 1/8"? layer of fiberglass cloth 
5. Cabin roof liner (assuming this is next layer - I didn't cut this far)

My mistake was I cut too deep.   I was going slow with the multitool with the half circle blade, but the section wasn't coming loose.  So I slowly cut deeper and kept ducking my head in to make sure I wasn't coming through the cabin roof.   I had already gone below the 1/4" which I suspected was the maximum depth of the top skin, so I finally resorted to a wrecking bar to pry up the top layer -pretty much destroing that in the process   I then could see what was going on, and that I had cut through the second layer of fiberglass that I didn't know was there.   

From my probing through that screw hole earlier in another section that second layer wasn't supposed to be there, so now I have to proceed more cautiously.  I destroyed a foot or so of top skin, but it was pretty ratty anyway.  I think now I may just trash all of the old top skin now as it is full of screw holes and doesn't come up very well.  I am going to apply a Kiwi Grip coating anyway so structure is my primary concern.   Some of the core I removed was like little rotten sponges, but a lot more of it was still very good too - so I at least did define that one boundary...

I still have some leads to run down on local fiberglass suppliers.  This stage will hold me up for a while.  It is going to take some time to assemble all of the needed materials (and knowledge).  So the deck is taking a back seat to other things for a few weeks.  

I did fire up my shop vac to pump out a bunch of rain water which had accumulated below decks and I now have the boat under tarps to keep out the weather.   I should have done this earlier, but the open deck skin makes it mandatory. 

While I am getting materials I have interior painting and electrical rewiring to keep me busy.   I really need to get the bilge pumps online again.  These might be things I can do after work this week...