Yes, Ms. Bettencourt is, nominally, a fiberglass vessel. But there is still a lot of wood inside. And, a surprising amount of this wood must be repaired or replaced from time to time. Please recall the severely degraded bulkhead between the steering station and the head.
The plywood has de-laminated. Replacing this panel is not an option, since there is a lot of complicated plumbing and electrical wiring on the other side.
So, the plan is to fit a new panel on top of the old. The first step in this process is making a pattern. I couldn't find a big enough piece of cardboard, so I used some resin paper off a roll, with a cuff folded on the bottom to help stiffen it up.
Since the resin paper is more flexible than cardboard, it is easier to work with in tight places. Scribing and marking around the perimeter and various obstacles resulted in a serviceable pattern.
A lot of clipping and nipping after repeated fittings, then transferring the pattern to wood (which somehow needed even more tweaks before it fit), results in a replacement panel, shown on the left below, along with some other stuff that needed painting.
More wood items requiring replacement include the hinged companionway hatch boards over the doorway that leads to the forward cabin, and a rotted-out part of the compartment under the dashboard. I used the old wood as patterns in both cases. These parts will get three coats of sanding sealer, sanded between coats, before application of white primer and at least two topcoats.
There are also four fiberglass and epoxy-covered 3/4-inch plywood deck panels that need to be cleaned up, sanded and repainted.
So, work on the middle cabin rehab project seems to be picking up speed. I expect to be scrubbing down all the paintable surfaces soon to remove as much of the diesel vapor film as possible.
Then, it will be sanding and masking to prepare for a first coat of primer paint.
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