Nearly five months in the Power Boat’s Compound and we can finally see and end to the work needing to be done......

 

When we hauled here back on the 3rd May, it was our plan to open the Osmosis blisters and treat the areas needed, however when we saw the extent of the problem we had to have the hull below the waterline peeled of gelcoat:  This was done while I was having fun in the UK:

  

    A badly laid hull allows air pockets to start the Osmosis process... Had we stayed in Scotland and lifted QS every winter into the freezing shed at Barcaldine, we may never have had this problem!

 

Chris had to to wash the hull and allow it to dry many times to remove the salt and then left it to dry out before we began the rebuilding with resin and epoxy.  So armed with the necessary tools, West Resins and a variety of filling compounds we began the process of filling, sanding, filling sanding, filling sanding and finally filling and fairing until Chris was happy with the finish.

 

  and we were able to begin the 7 coats of resin with aluminium powder needed to rebuild the hull, since you have to keep applying the resin as it gets ‘tacky’ we did this in three sections with Chris rolling and me ‘tipping’ for a wonderful smooth shiny finish!

Which after we allowed to harden had to be sanded again(!!!) In preparation for the Copper Coat which we are using in place of the traditional anti foul, it is said to have a life of 12 years and if we use scrub pads underwater occasionally we should not have to lift out again for a few years.  A lot of research went into this and so here’s hoping!  Our friend Graham from S/V Karma offered to help with the copper-coating as again it has 5 coats to be applied without letting it dry between coats, so I mix the parts, resin, hardener and copper on demand and Chris and Graham roll, all finished one day!  Thank you Graham for our helpwith our shiny new bottom!

 

  Exhausting work!