Gas installation continued

Got back from Dartmouth last Sunday so back to work on Monday morning the bits for the gas installation arrived while I was away so the first job was to install the bulkhead fitting to take the gas supply from the gas locker once this was done I installed the bubble leak detector nothing special about this just straightforward compression fittings unfortunately I forgot the photograph.

I still seem to have a number of persistent rainwater leaks and so I spent some time sorting out a couple more of them these are mainly through the bolts which secure the wooden toe rail to the deck the repairs were given a good test on Tuesday night as it rained all night that's two more sorted.

Wednesday was spent finishing up the sanding of the galley moulding to give a good key for the gelcoat which I had on order. After having a good clean up I made a start on the fitting out of the battery locker at present the single battery that I have just sits in the bilge also it needs a means of securing to prevent movement so looking through my stock of plywood off cuts I found a piece of 3/4" waterproof ply which will fit the bill It was cut to fit the locker and openings for retaining straps for two batteries and access to the keel bolt were cut out.

New battery support

My original intention was to apply a single coat of flowcoat to the galley moulding to cover up the infilled holes and the repair work to the front opening however the day after I had placed the order I realised that I had made an error and ordered gelcoat so a quick call to East Coast Fibreglass Supplies to correct my order they added some of the wax additive to the order this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I realised that I could now easily apply two coats beginning with gelcoat and then once it had gelled I followed up with a coat of flowcoat. Flowcoat is after all only gelcoat with a wax additive as gelcoat will not fully cure in the presence of air it is usually applied to a mould before the GRP lay up is added which allows the gelcoat to fully cure, with flowcoat the wax rises to the surface to allow it to fully cure in the absence of air. After washing the moulding down with acetone I mixed up the gelcoat and applied a good coat using a paintbrush after it had started to gel I mixed up some flowcoat and put on another good coat with a brush and then left it to fully cure. Brushing the stuff on is not as easy as using paint and it does not self level as well as paint so to produce a reasonable result there will be a fair amount of sanding followed by cutting and polishing once it has all fully cured.

Galley moulding after second coat

The photograph above shows a vast improvement in this area although it doesn't show all the brush marks that will be the first job to sort next week.