@Hyperacme Hey! Thanks for that detail! Screws are definitely way easier to remove...
Well, it has been a few weeks and things are progressing nicely! The weather this past week has been warm enough to allow me to paint the inside of the boat, plain white gelcoat from US Composites, really happy with how clean it made everything look! It took two coats to get the proper coverage.
In parallel I have also been doing quite a bit of work refurbishing all the metal hardware. I have elected to go with a brushed finish for all the metal parts, so lots of sanding and scotchbrite/0000 steel wool. Once I get the finish I'm looking for, I seal it with a product called protectaclear to prevent oxidation. Some of the pieces, the rub rail extrusion for example, appeared to originally have been coated with a clear anodize. This coating was in pretty bad shape so I sanded it all off which a bigger chore than expected. Other pieces I have been working on include the steering wheel hub, bow badge, dash bracketry..
The original cast aluminum stern rub rail corners and bow tip were kind rough with some pretty heavy scratching in them, fearing trying to sand them out would remove too much material I compromised, knowing they are already 50 years old and I'm not going for a 100% brand new restoration, I elected to clean them up and coat them and move on. From a distance you cant tell they're there any way!
My original bow badge was in rough shape, so I ended up having one made, drew it up in CAD and had it CNC'd by one of those offshore CNC services, similar to what I did for the steering wheel hub, the results turned out great!
In other news the bow surface is finally smooth and ripple free, the barrier coat I used on the hull requires an 80 grit scratch, so I will be going over the cap with 80 grit to prepare for that, once the barrier coat is on, I can fill the smaller pin holes and prep for finish primer, after that we're ready for topcoat! One step before barrier coat though is I want to pour the flotation foam in the stern on each side of the engine, I've calculated each side should get roughly 3 cubic feet of foam.
I'm excited because it feels like things are beginning to come together! Trying to get all the hardware prepped to be reinstalled once the paint is done. Once she looks like a CV16 again, I can begin installing the wiring, drive system, etc...which personally is my favorite part, paint/fiberglass work is ok but I much prefer the mechanical/electrical stuff.
That's all for now! Stay tuned for more!
-Andrew
