Preping the hull for the deck installation.

Before I install the deck plywood. The hull needs to be ground about 3 inches above the the deck so the fiberglass and resin has good mechanical adhesion to the hull surface when the glass is tabbed to the deck and hull. This means removing the gel coat and getting down to fresh fiberglass. Messy, itchy business, also very dangerous to inhale.


Prepare yourself for safety, dusk masks, full suits, head and eye wear. Cover every inch of your body or be itchy, this will not go away for a couple of days. The fiberglass turns into microscopic needles and get stuck in your skin.




I used a 7 inch buffer\grinder, and 24 grit sanding discs for grinding off the gel coat. These discs remove a lot of material and do not clog. Be careful the disc can eat right through the hull in seconds so keep the grinder moving back and forth at all times.

 

The finished result as you can see in the pictures the dust is everywhere.





This picture is of the sanded area after I cleaned all the dust off, using a power washer. Then some denatured alcohol and clean rags to make sure I got it all.