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Replacing Portlights

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Repairs begin

Meanwhile, I began repairs by cutting away the rotted wood. In this case the rot extended all the way to the bottom of the plywood and considerably out to the sides. I cut away as far as I thought I needed to and found the wood still soft and damp on the aft end. I cut away some more and found good wood.

Here the cut is viewed from the outside of the boat. I had to put a tarp over this for obvious reasons.

The lip is made of steel. There was some rust on it. I prepped the surface by chipping the rust off, sanding it, soaking it with Evaporust, and painting it with Zinga.

I cut a piece of 3/8 ocoume marine grade plywood to fit and painted it with West epoxy to seal it.

I left the boat completely tarped up over the hole. It worked more or less adequately to keep the rain out.

I fitted and glued the plywood in. I screwed down some flat pieces to keep the surfaces aligned. The plastic bags keep the epoxy from sticking to the flat pieces. I used 3M5200 to glue the plywood to the steel lip.

Here the repair is finished on the inside. I left the hole at the top because at this point I had not decided on the portlights.

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