I began by grinding out all the nicks and gouges in the hull to prepare for filling them. There were a lot of little gouges in the hull which I enlarged so that the filler would adhere better. After doing the same to some places on the deck, etc, I cleaned everything up and mixed the filler.
After filling everything, it kind of looks like the boat has chicken pox.
This is definitely one of those times that the boat has to look worse before it can look better. I know that once everything is sanded and painted it will better. The owners of the boat next to me in the yard, which is 2 years old, were kind of looking at me and my "project" in disbelief, but eventually it will look new again.
There was a ridge along the top of the cabin house that used to have a teak eyebrow attached, so there was a lot of filling needed. At the bottom of the house, there were a lot of small voids in the gelcoat that needed to be filled as well. I can't wait to sand all that tomorrow....
While the filler cured, I moved into the cabin, and more or less finished removing 40 years worth of varnish. Needless to say, trying to fit myself into contorted positions to get to everything while using a heat gun on a hot and humid day was less than ideal, but I am pretty satisfied to have the bulk of the varnish removed. The wood underneath actually is in pretty good shape for the most part.
It wasn't until I got home and was taking a shower that it dawned on me that 2008 is the year that the boat turns 40. I think it is pretty fitting that for its 40th birthday its getting a complete make-over.
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