Kembali

From about Jan 18 to Feb 6 was spent painting the interior decks, hatches, and the inside of the hull in the cockpit. Painting is tedious, but it pays to be careful. I used peel coat on all the surfaces when I glassed them, which gives a smooth surface at a macro level but leaves a fine matte texture behind that persists unless you actually fair the surface. Consequently, I didn't really get a glossy, mirror finish on the paint. I think it looks ok though. Everything was primed with two coats of Interlux Top-Kote Plus, and then three coats of Interlux Toplac Plus. I generally liked both products and found them pretty forgiving. The Toplac final coats were a shade called Icy Blue, which really seems white to me, but when it's right up against a true white, it does have a bluish tint.

CLC provides a template for the tiller shape. I cut it out with a bandsaw from a solid piece of Mahoganoid wood supplied with the kit. The edges were rounded over with a router, and then the piece was finished with an oscillating belt sander to remove tool marks.

I purchased the non-skid foam package from CLC. I like the idea, and I think it looks good. The semicircular cutouts are for the hatch pulls. It was pretty easy to apply but I should have thought it through a bit more and maybe dry fit everything. As it is, in some places I have had to trim the foam to make room for the hatch dogs (see 4). Also, I am thinking the screws for the hatch dogs will let water in, maybe not a lot and maybe not fast. With all the effort to have sealing gaskets on the hatches, this seems like bad design. Perhaps there is a better way, but not now.