Almost there

Had a chance to put six solid hours of work on the bottom and it shows. I got quite a lot scraped and sanded as can be seen from the pic below. Both sides are pretty much done and only those hard to reach places remaining.

Aft to bow

 IT is slightly difficult to scrape the sides around waterline since the position that you need to get to is difficult. The reason is quite simple; snow. As you can see there is about a solid meter of snow on both sides of the boat, bit more on the SB side since there is another boat that sheds it's snow to the same pile.

Old propeller log and grounding plate 

Visible here is the old propeller log (which is not working). Right behind it the black lump is the grounding plate for electrics. I'm thinking of getting rid of the log since it has no use and only creates drag. I'm still torn if I will take the whole log of and patch the bottom, or only take the propeller away... May be the first alternative, if I have enough time.

Old patch job

So far I have found four patch jobs from the boat, which is actually not that much given the boat's age and the fact that the engines have been changed. I'm pretty sure that the patches slightly aft from amidships are old raw water intakes for the old engines (visible here on the upper left corner of the image). I sanded the patches and found that they have been done quite nicely, not perfect but they will hold. They had been painted with a primer. Curiously enough at few places the fiberglass extended over the old ablative paint from the edges, well not any more it's all dust in the wind now...

Not much left 

Not much scraping left anymore, only few square meters to go. In hours I guess that the scraping will take two hours (plus sanding) and then the bottom would be bare. Of course there's still a lot to do but it will be easy and less messy.

Tools of the trade 

These are the basic tools used in this job. A proper scraper with carbide blades (Bahco Ergo) and random orbital sander (Bosch PEX 270 AE). Most of all proper sanding discs. I will never ever sand anything with old sanding discs anymore. I have found that Mirka's Abranet sanding mesh material is supreme to anything else. It will outlast anything and also outperform anything else I have ever tried, so be advised. 

Grind by night

Once again had a chance to sand the bottom for about an hour or so. This time I started from he SB side and tackled the area around props. All went smoothly and I got about two squaremeters sanded before it was time to head back home.

The picture is horrid but you can see two things, first of all it was dark and secondly...PROGRESS!

It will surely take many trips to the boat and a major load of elbow grease but I'm getting there. Can't wait for the summer and a chance make wakes once again, meanwhile just look at the pic below.

Basic stuff

If someone else is planning to do this kind of work over the winter, please be adviced...

When the temperature goes over the freezingpoint and there has been a longer period of subzero temperatures the boat effectively gathers moisture on the outside of its hull since it is still colder than the surroundings, this is especially true if there is a high humidity level. I know all this but did not think it through...

Yesterday evening I had already set up my lights and generator up and running and I started to sand the bottom only to find it to be an exercise in futility. The moisture made it impossible, the sanding disc clogged up in seconds and it was a mess. If only the weather would stay in subzero temperatures, my life would be easier.

Still scraping and sanding

I have lost count on the number of times I have been to the boat and done the scraping thing, the problem is that it is hard to find the time when you would have more than an hour to spare. So instead, It's progress in baby steps.

Some progress, so far. The bow section on both sides is pretty much clean already. But since this is a 34 footer there's a lot more boat left. The pic below shows my generator, it is a handsome unit and should be because it cost about 45 euros. So it is a two- stroke, El cheapo machine but it delivers enough electricity for my Bosch sander, so it's all good..

If you happen to buy this generator and experience the same blackout that I had (engine runs great but no power out), here's how you fix it:

- one carefully aimed kick to the lower part of the front panel, not hard but still a sound kick.

The volt meter came back to life and everything worked. I just love technology that is this simple to fix :-)