Mrs TaTas has been no exception to this rule. Several things needed attention after the first season of sailing. Most (if not all) was due to oversights I made during construction. Some of them have been mentioned before.
1. The most obvious sun damage was that of the rub-rails. It seemed that in some places I sanded too aggressively and removed too much epoxy. The clear coat in these areas turned yellow and peeled off revealing the unfinished black walnut. Black walnut has a very open grain and mold quickly moved in. Didn't really do in long term harm but it looked pretty bad.
Although I don't have the after pictures it was a very easy 2 day job to sand the rub rails. Apply a couple of coats of epoxy and then do a LIGHT sanding and reapply the WR-LPU clear coat. They look as good as new and have held up for 2 months now.
2. Had a similar situation with the breast hook. You can see where I got a little agressive with the sander and got through the epoxy.
The solution was as easy as the rub rails. Sand, re-expoxy, sand lightly and repaint. Good as new.
3. This one was the scariest and most disturbing of the problems. During construction the backrests as they were cut from the factory did not fit. They were about 1" too short to meet the forward bulkhead when fitting correctly aft. I decided to butt-joint a couple of inches of wood along the front and then cut to size to make up the inch. I did this butt joint with a slurry of epoxy and biaxial tape on the inside of the backrest. After exposure to the sun the butt joint partially separated. This may have been made worse because of the expanding foam I installed behind the backrest. I've got a lot of theories but my leading one is that the foam retains heat as it shrunk it pulled the backrest in separating it at the butt joint.
At first I tried to pull it back out into position, but the foam behind it was acting like a glue and it wouldn't budge. I got out my handy little dremel tool and cut a wide "V" down the center of the crack. Again I tested it and satisfied myself that it was stable, just misaligned. I filled the "V" with thickened epoxy and then placed another layer of biaxial tape over the crack.
I sanded that smooth and then applied fairing compound.
I blended the faring compound with a sanding block until every looked (and felt) even.
After that it was a simple mater to prime and paint. Although not invisible most people can't detected the repair unless told where it was. I think it will disappear totally when the entire cockpit it next painted.
4. In addition to the above I fixed the spray hood separation that occurred on the first splash and was documented in a prior post. This was because of my improper masking and painting that didn't leave a non-painted areas for the epoxy to adhere to. This happened only on the starboard side, as the install was solid on the front and port side.
To remedy I carefully put wedges between the deck and the splash hood on the starboard side. This allowed me the room to chisel out the old epoxy. After that I masked the area and used 80 grit sandpaper glued to the edge of a scraper to remove the paint. I then applied some thickened epoxy. Before that could set up I pulled the wedges out and, using the original construction screw holes, I screwed up from under the deck to close the glue joint. After it set up I removed the temporary screws. Been walking on it ever since without any indication of a problem.
5. Finished the installation of the running lights. Installed waterproof through hulls, pulled the wire and installed the power panel and main switch. The running light needed wooden shims to ensure they were in parallel pointing forward. I have a 80AH group 24 AGM battery that runs those lights and a interior curtesy light. All are LED and the power draw is minimal to be almost non-existent. I also have installed a couple of 12VDC outlets to power anything else I might want. I want the electronics to stay minimal.
6. Added 50 lbs more ballast in the forward floorboard hatch. I have a total of 225 lbs of ballast and not more room in that compartment.
