Woodwork

It's hardly a priority, but sometimes I get distracted. Since I removed the boat cover about a week ago I've been watching the laminated strips of wood on the companionway hatch slowly peel loose and curl upwards. Well, the other day I decided that it would be wise to get the loose strips epoxied back in place and, while I'm at it, refinish the whole thing before it gets so bad that it has to be rebuilt. So, after I mixed up some slightly thickened epoxy - apparently I'm still on an epoxy kick - I carefully pried back the pieces, dribbled epoxy in the gap, and clamped things down good and tight. That was about a week ago. Today I slapped some 60 grit on the palm sander and went at the nasty, flaking finish. Perhaps an hour later, I had the lid completely sanded and looking quite nice. The next task will be to make a new vertical face to replace the aft end of the hatch that has a nasty split in it. After that's done, I'm thinking I'll cover the whole thing with a thin piece of fiberglass cloth, rather than just varnishing it, in the hope that the fiberglass will prevent water ingress in the future. I'll add some pictures when I can.