I
removed all the fittings in the hull and had the unused holes glassed
over, then the hull was sanded and it and the topsides received eight
layers of gelcoat. One of the pluses (as well as minuses) of work in
Guatemala is that most work is done by hand. All of the finishing of
the gelcoat was done this way. The entire boat was wet sanded using
a succession of finer grit papers – 320, 320 used, 400, 400 used,
600, 600 used, 1000, 1000 used, 1500, 1500 used, 2000, then polished
with fine rubbing compound. About the time I was trying to decide on
the color of the trademark blue shear stripe there was a discussion
of this on the Wauquiez owners' group and the consensus was Awlgrip
Princess Blue. So that's what I used. The first coat was rained on
before it cured, so it was sanded off and the 2nd coat
applied. That coat was partially ruined by bugs, which had been
attracted to the odor and decided to go to bug heaven embedded in the
fresh paint. The third time was the charm.
First the prep
Lots of masking
Then the gelcoat
Careful measurement of ingredients
After the gelcoat
The beginning of months of sanding
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