Fiberglass/paint prep update

I'll put up photos soon, but it's been a very busy week on Shields 88. We're prepping the boat for primer and paint, and it has to be done by the end of next week. Along the way we've got three major tasks:

Remove old paint from topsides and deck (deck is complete, hull is 50% there)
Fair scrapes/dings in hull, fill and fair old holes in deck (20% complete)
Fix broken nose (bow damage to hull and deck)

In getting ready for the bow repair and hole filling, we made the really alarming discovery the the hull/deck joint for 8' along the stbd bow had failed, and the deck was loose from the hull. This wasn't noticed before as it was barely hanging on, and only loosened once we drilled a few holes out for filling.

As far as I can tell this was caused by a) poor prep on original tabbing b)sloppy repair some years ago c)previous owners collision and subesquent duct tape repair

To repair, we removed several feet of damaged tabbing, and reattached several more where the deck had worked loose from the tabbing. There are some good photos of Niki and I prepping for this, using my new favorite tool (Fein Multimaster)

Today Dave and I spent the whole day on the boat. First we reattached the deck to the tabbing using 404 adhesive filler and epoxy. Then we remade the missing tabbing using 3 layers of 17oz biaxial tape. Both of these repairs went just fine, and we used a space heater and halogen lamp to warm (hot!) the interior and deck. The tabbing cured in about 3 hrs, so I'm very happy with the new bond.

We also retabbed the front bulkhead, as Chris Craft Shields are notoriously weak in this area. This all went fine, but doing the prep work yesterday involved grinding off the old tabbing which well and truly sucked. Instant white out dust storm in the front tank! Literally couldn't see after only a few seconds grinding. Glad thats done!

We were on a roll so we ended up glassing the bow repair. I'd previously ground off the damaged areas, and with some advice from glass guru Mick, extended the ground area for about 10" aft of the bow. Dave and I then prepped and wrapped the bow with several layers of 17oz biaxial. This went really well and we're ready for fairing, pending a possible second application of glass (unlikely) In the very front, there are 5 layers of 17oz cloth, so it should be a very strong repair, and a good place to anchor the bow chock. It's going to take some grinding to get this to the right Shields shape (I think we're a bit too pointy right now) but thats one big job done.

Tomorrows another all day job, and we're going to finish the paint removal and get a good stretch for the paint prep/sanding done.

Hours:

Niki 4hrs Tuesday 6hrs Wednesday
Kristian 4 Hrs Tuesday, 6hrs Wednesday, 7.5 hrs Thursday
Dave 7.5 Hrs Thursday

Not included but interesting Shields 88 work:

Have delrin mast partner shims
Working with Robert at Carbon Copy Composites on a Carbon Fiber compass mount
fixing mast damage using Shields emblem backing plates (cool!)
Working on Splice Setter (not actually Shields 88 related but a cool project)
Doing actual work, I have 12 open invoices right now, inluding 2 other Shields, 7 furling systems, 1 complete rerig and a pair of match racing boats. This is good, as it helps pay for 88!