Under The Covers

The cooler weather is making life difficult, determined to get the keel epoxied I have wrapped Red Admiral in a veil of plastic sheeting, a pair of pipe heaters have kept us both warm and dry.


We're nearly there now, though I have been telling myself this for a few weeks, each time I return to the barn a wave of renewed vigour comes over me and I go osmosis hunting one more time! Having wrapped her up in plastic I have finally drawn a line, happy that I have drilled out every last speck of doubt.

The boom came home with me last night, I want to alter it for slab reefing, I left the barn with the boom sticking out of the sunroof up into the night sky, 30 miles from home the heavens opened but if I cannot bare a little rain what's the use in sailing the Atlantic in a Contessa 26?!

Tomorrow I will return once again to sand the remaining filler and seal all the filler in epoxy before applying two coats of epoxy based primer.

Noughts And Crosses

We played a game of noughts and crosses today, Red Admiral and I, with pencil in hand I worked my way from bow to stern rubbing my hand over every spot of filler. Some spots were perfectly flush with the gelcoat, these were left unmarked, some were slightly hollow, these were marked with a circle and some very small wet spots that remained were marked with a cross.


That set the work for the day, first, drill out the wet spots marked with a cross, second, brush over all filled spots with unthickened epoxy and third, apply a final coat of filler to all spots marked with a circle. I am pleased to say that there were more spots that were fair than not and fewer still that needed drilling out.

Whilst I had epoxy filler in my hands I finished one or two other little jobs around the boat. The cockpit lockers have been cleaned and are ready to be refitted, the old holes in the cockpit locker lids have been filled ready for their new hinges to be fitted, the carbon hatch can be drilled to take the Lewmar hatch handles and the scars in the topsides, thanks to some Bridlington cradle rash, have been filled ready for repainting.

A Load Of Old Anode

I was hopeful that the 'second fill' would see the job done but not quite.... I can't come all this way and fall short at the finish so, having sanded the epoxy filler it appears I have a little more filling and fairing to do to get the best finish possible.


I have also discovered one or two more spots that require attention and it's worth doing it all now whilst Red Admiral has never been so dry and free of antifoul.

I also created a little more hole filling, the old anode has been removed, the holes were cleaned out and filled with epoxy thickened with a structural fibre. On the inside of the bilge the old bonding wire has been removed, it was nothing more than domestic earth cable and heavily corroded too! The old paint was ground back to the fibreglass and the holes glassed over.

Now free of this old barnacle we should arrive at our destination that much sooner.

Filling And Fairing

Back at the keel and all the epoxy filler had set nicely. I spent most of today with a sander in my hands, fairing the filler back to the gelcoat. Most of the spots then required a second fill which they have received and once again left to cure. Hopefully a final sand is all that will be required before the whole keel can be epoxied.


I'm sure that two coats of epoxy paint will look and feel like a huge step in the right direction, slowly but surely, one step at a time and we'll make the start line!

On With The Show

Having had some problems with epoxy not setting fully I was keen to mix the resin and hardener as accurately as possible, especially as I was working with structural areas of the boat and most recently the filling of the keel, the last thing I wanted was to doubt the integrity of any work below the waterline.

A recent visit to the barn had ended rather prematurely when one of the West System measuring pumps packed up right in the middle of glassing in the new battery box, that particular job ground to a shuddering halt. Steve Wood came to the rescue with a pair of laboratory scales accurate to one tenth of a gram.... perfect!

Since then I've been on with the show, the reinforcing rib in the fore peak has been sheathed in glass fibre, the battery box has been glassed in place, both inside and out, so there is no doubt as to its ability to hold a pair of batteries securely whilst Red Admiral and I are falling off waves.

The old raw water inlet has had a covering of epoxy thickened with low density filler.


The same filler has been applied to all the spots below the waterline that were ground out some time ago. First wiped with acetone they were wetted with unthickened epoxy and then filled.


Next visit to the barn will include fairing in all that filler.

Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey

We're making progress, slowly but surely it's all coming together.

The old raw water inlet has been filled with a solid laminate consisting of 9 layers of 600 gram biaxial cloth.


Some years ago a fibreglass water tank was installed in Red Admiral's forepeak, having removed it and all its associated pipework many months ago I have now fitted a reinforcing rib to match the one on the port side.


And finally, I have fitted the new battery boxes, epoxied in place with a fillet of structural adhesive, fibreglass cloth will be added to complete the installation.

Empty Pockets

Within Red Admiral's cockpit are a pair of pockets, a small open locker or compartment, one on either side and each large enough for a winch handle, a pair of binoculars or a drinks bottle etc. Both have been leaking at one time or another, during their lives some attempt has been made to cure this problem, woven tape, some kind of greasy sealant and resin have all been tried but one thing remained.... the leak!

I discovered this on my way to Bridlington as the footwells of both quarter berths were damp. Later, having removed the covers from the foam cushions, the foam was stained and dotted with spots of mould, a sure sign of a damp and leaky boat.

I have been struggling to pull the old wiring out of the headlining in the main cabin, this was hampered by the pocket on the starboard side, the wiring almost hidden behind it. All of this pointed to one thing.... remove them!

Each pocket is a pre-molded shape laminated in place with a single layer of chopped strand matt fibreglass. A hammer and chisel made a clean job of it, it didn't take long to remove both pockets.



The port side was most intriguing, resin had been poured in to the bottom, but how much? With the pocket removed the lump of resin fell out under its own weight, almost three inches at its deepest the lump of resin weighed in at 1.3 kilos!

With the pockets removed I can hopefully complete the rewire, once the empty pockets have been cleaned of old glass fibre they can be refitted and watertight too.