A New Bottom

Now that the last few areas of the hull are dried out it's time for the completion of the osmosis treatment which has resulted in the hull looking like it was when it was first built. The first step was to grind off the last of the last of the old gel coat around the skin fittings and edges of the skeg, the hull was then steam cleaned to drive out the contaminants that had accumulated with the moisture. Not surprisingly this highlighted a number of areas that had delaminated and needed to be rebuilt, apparently not many, but one did rather deep, almost to the bulkhead inside.

The top layer of fibreglass that had been peeled off earlier was then replaced by sheathing the hull with a layer of 400 gram biaxial cloth. A bit like wallpapering but needing great care and plenty of help as timing is critical, not for for the faint hearted! The epoxy resin has to be mixed up and applied quickly before it starts to set, the pre-cut sections of cloth are then laid over it and another thick coat rolled on. This is when Jim & Steve's years of experience pays off, it all went on first time without a hitch.

The following coatings have to be applied after the resin has gone off but not cured so that a chemical bond develops between the coats. First there's a layer of gel shield then the filler followed by more gel shield. Putting the filler on is like plastering, it's spread thinly over the cloth filling up all the indentations; several layers are needed in some places to achieve a consistent smooth surface, all done by eye. It will take several days to cure and as there are no supports it's not possible to work on the interior, result: a weekend off!

With little to do I've been casting around on the net to see what other people are doing and came across a really interesting note "Fundamentals of Restoration Projects" by David Pascoe (http://www.docksidereports.com/fundamentals_of_restoration_proj.htm). He's a surveyor that has clearly seen more than a few yachts being restored; some successfully and some less so. His insight is amazingly accurate, wish I'd read this before starting the Tipsea2Levante project. "Automatically understand that every job takes 4 times longer than you thought it would" is typical of his views, it's jam packed with insights that I've had to learn the hard way and thoroughly endorse. Strangely it's comforting as I've ended up doing most of the key things he considers important such as making the engine compartment a central feature of the restoration despite the effort involved. He suggests that "highly desirable" yachts with that "something boaters love" are the only ones worth this level of attention; I think that the Contessa falls into this category, or certainly hope so...