Ugly Cockpit Part 2

 The work had continued during the late fall and winter months of 2016. Finding the voids, and drilling or routing them out so no hollow spots or tunnels made by voids remained took much time. The cockpit floor had many and I had proceeded to fill voids with filler in stages. The larger voids would be filled and sanded, then I would smooth over filler on the smaller voids.



Outside and inside corners were more challenging than the flat surface. One needed to be careful to shape the filler. On inside corners it was more of a challenge to sand the filler.

I must have enlarged my bicep by four inches after the sanding season was over. There was much work and effort performed here, and I have heard that preparation before spraying is 90 percent of the work. This effort felt like 190 percent of the work. Still I would sit in the cockpit on a nice sunset evening enjoying the moment, and occasionally notice the ugly looking cockpit; at such time I decided it is time to at least improve my recreational surroundings, and besides, it will increase my skills at body work and gel coat work.

Ugly Cockpit: Drilling Out Voids

Picture of the cockpit from the position of sitting on the bulkhead. The white tarp provides a dry and work area less wind, and sun. White tarp allows light into the area so it makes it easy to see the areas I need to address.

I spent many weekends during the winter months of 16-17 sanding, drilling and doing the body work to seal holes made by voids and other unwelcome surprises.


The wood that was on top of the cockpit coaming had been removed. The removal required me to slip a sawzall blade between the fiberglass and the wood trim and saw away. The bolts and adhesive just about made it impossible to remove the wood using any other method. The picture of the port side of the cockpit coaming also hints at the absence of the cockpit locker lid. These locker lids needed to be removed as well; they became their own project.

The cockpit had stereo speakers mounted aft within the cockpit. I am not a big fan of music in the cockpit for several reasons; 1) the magnetic field from the speaker may interfere with the compass and 2) listening to music although very enlightening and romantic in essence does oppose the safety rule of seamanship where one must always be alert by keeping watch with sight and sound -- eyes and ears --, and lastly, any big wave would have no trouble sounding out music while it crashes upon thy melodious moving it through onward to the depths of the cockpit bilge.

With that said, I didn't want to take on another project of closing the speaker holes; rather, I left them open and will replace with speakers and decide to fix with deck hatches.

Performing body work on inside corners are always a challenge; there is the limited angle caused by the inherent restricted area. Dye bits on grinders, or drill is limited, sanding becomes more of a challenge to when trying to get the perfect angle on the void.

The pictures on this post merely are examples of the early stages of prepping the cockpit for the refresh. After voids are examined for depth and length, filled, sanded and faired, the later stages of gel coat application would be served.

Ugly Cockpit

During the months of October to January, I started work on refreshing the cockpit. Everything would come out of the area. I took a few pictures so viewers can see how ugly the cockpit had become.

There were many voids, scratches, chips and cracks in the gel coat. The sun had also played a nice part in helping to make the cockpit look terrible. The wood that surrounded the cockpit was always adding time to the sanding and vanishing. Moist air form the cockpit lockers would permeate through the screw holes (holding the wood to the cockpit coaming) that the varnish would lift up from the wood. I decided to remove the troublesome wood.

The binnacle had been removed and it was not too easy. Bolts and cables were removed, and the boat was already on jack stands so easy does it when hoisting down a ladder. One can see the condition of the gel coat from the picture. Upon closer examination, I was able to see many pin holes from voids on the sole of the cock pit. Each void would require close inspection to determine if it traversed under the gel coat to other areas. I had no desire to revisit this area as a result of voids that I missed at this time of the work.

Of course when looking at a job like this one starts to ask the question "What have I gotten myself into?" I knew the if I could take the unit home, I could work on it in my garage. I would need to sand the paint off and paint new. Inspect the compass for leaks and replace or repair.

Here is the binnacle ready removed and resting on the cockpit seat.

During the winter month I did polish the ss wheel and U-Bar, cleaned the compass, replaced the wiring and cables, and repainted it. The plastic parts that were caps, or lids were repainted black.

A future update will display a reconditioned unit. Please keep checking back here. I have been so busy lately that the posts have stopped; however, I have taken many more pictures and will share more very soon.

Side note - If one were to pay someone to re gel coat an entire cockpit the labor costs alone would be very high. The amount of grinding, sanding, body work, and finally spray gel coat process demands a lot of time. I did the work because I am able, and when I sit in my boat I do not wish to be reminded of all the things that need attention. Once pictures of the finished job is posted, one may appreciate the "labor of love" aspect.