We decided to fore-go some of the finer wet-sanding on the hull that would be needed to apply the gelcoat, and start sanding on the deck and cockpit of the boat.
It was a bit difficult to get into the crevices around the deck lip with just a normal sanding pad. A bit of water applied over the boat did help in removing much of the paint the previous owner had applied. Bits of the old paint job crumpled up under some water and .120 grit sandpaper, leading me to believe that the previous owner chose to use a latex based paint on the topside as well. Why.. I can only surmise.
While I hand sanded around the edges of the boat, my buddy Rob went to town with a small Ryobi edge sander. Carefully running the edge sander across the white trim in between the non-skid decking, the job was tedious but fruitful in its results.
The most trying spot seemed to be the trim around the forward bow hatch. The old paint had been laid on over the base plates of the hatch hinges. Iver the next week, we will end up removing the hatches and rest of the deck hardware to make sure we have a thorough and consistent base on which to start repainting.
While Rob focused on the bow portion of the boat, I set my attention towards to stern.
Starting in the cockpit tub itself, I used the trust Dewalt random orbital sander on the flat surface areas or white paint. Occasionally spraying down the cockpit with a water hose, I was able to cover ground quickly. wet sanding all the way down to the original Hatteras Off-White fiberglass coloring.
Following up with a sanding pad, a bit of hand scrubbing cleaned up the edges nicely. After many hours of working off the old paint, we should be ready to start taping off the non-skid areas for repainting.
The last large portion of the top side that needed some sanding love was around the cabin.
Again, this was nothing that the random orbital and a hand sanding pad would not easily handle. After about an hour of working around the cabin top, it looks like we are another step close to getting her finished and ready in time for the season.
More to come..
