80 grit sandpaper is your friend

This weekend Moe was good enough to give me a ride and help start the sanding process.  We took of the first layer of everything (gelcoat, old patch repairs, old marine sealant, etc).  Today's surprise was in the form of a rubber gasket that covered the surface of some of the screws at the bow.  The hull must have come in 4 pieces, the hull, both sides and the transom.  The sections were screwed together, probably with wood or a stringer to join them and then the seams were glassed over.  I could see the seams clearly from the inside of the boat and the screw heads began to show through thre trim.

You can clearly see the hull sections as they join.  The screws were covered with a rubber gasket at the front, which was covered with Bondo or other sealant and then painted.  As moisture worked its way into the grooves the screw heads became visible by the rubber being pushed up through the paint and primer because the moisture was trapped at the metal head and fiberglass.  

You can clearly see the hull sections as they join at the transom.  The rubber gasket did not run the whole length of the hull but was only used to fair the final coat of primer/gelcoat.  I didn't really want to investigate under the rubber but it was really, really wet where I did and it came off easily.  

Once it was all off it was clear that it was only used where necessary and much of the hull did line up cleanly amidships.  

We gave every inch of the bottom a once over with the 80 grit sandpaper.  The decal registration stickers came off cleanly with some Methyl Ethyl Keytone (MEK).  MEK is my new favorite solvent.  In between sanding sessions the hull was rinsed with fresh water and we even did a rinse with Tri-Sodum Phosphate (TSP) to make sure everything came off nice and smoothly.  She is still shiny in a few places so another pass will have to be made at everything so that everything is solidly dull before we can begin to epoxy the screws, dings, scratches and the lovely gouge on the front. 

Next time after sanding and cleaning the holes will be wetted out and epoxy will be applied.  Before final curing some thickened epoxy will be applied to begin to fill in the gaps, depending on the repair this will be another 1-2 layers.