So it's been slow going with all of the other stuff that takes over one's life. Work, kids, etc. Oh well! But I'm nearing the end of the big stuff.
Floors are all in and glassed. The "blue" around the perimeter is a filled epoxy I picked up at work for free. It's used in our work for filling large caps at the ends of a generator winding. Once it passes it's shelf date, we have to kick it off and toss it. So I used it to make the transitions from the floor to the walls and hull (especially up front). The original transitions left a lot of low spots and valleys that didn't always lead to the stern for drainage.
To eliminate any penetrations through the new floor, I built up 2 layers of 15/32" of Duratech ply. 45deg taper around the perimeter. Marked out the seat pedestal holes and used 1/4"-20 tee-nuts recessed into the bottom. Then epoxied it to the bare floor, and glassed it all at once. No water getting through toggle bolt holes, etc. any more. If they ever rot (50yr warranty on the wood), cut/grind the bases out and lay in new ones.
Finally I painted the stern and bilge with Rust Oleum garage floor 2 part epoxy paint. Since this is all covered up, I don't need to worry about UV discoloration, etc. I thought about white, but the 1 car garage kit in light grey was only $60. Now I'm thinking about painting the whole interior before I glue down the new carpet (purchased from BoatCarpetBuys.com....and showed up in 3 days!!!).
In hindsight, when this project started, I probably should have just pulled the engine. Sure would've made painting the bilge a hell of a lot easier. I'm sore as hell today because of the contortionist positions I had to maneuver into in order to paint that bilge area!!!
I'll throw another coat of paint on the back tonight. And think about painting the rest while I'm at it. I guess I'm just worried about the adhesion of the carpet glue to the garage epoxy?
Hope to have carpet in this weekend. Then get the front part of the interior in (console, cuddy divider, driver/passenger seats) too. Then get it in the water for a couple test runs before I install the rear seat, etc. Sure makes engine work easier not having that stuff in....ya, know....just in case!!!
Home stretch! This winter I'll pull the wing to send it to a fiberglass guy to have it completely re-gelled (cracking like crazy). Once I get some testing done, then I'll worry about prettying up the rest of the gel finish (wet sand, buff, polish, etc.).
Jamie