Cockpit Starting to Look Better

After the body work was completed in the cockpit, it was time to start spraying gel coat. Most folks would n't bother with such a task on account of all the work that is involved; moreover, the cost of labor to have someone perform this work is cost prohibited.

As for myself, I prefer to keep my gel coat skills sharp, and by taking on such a huge project, I was able to practice on outside corners, inside corners, and u shaped drainage areas located under the cock pit locker lids.

I have seen other professionals who perform gel coat work, and the really good ones are rare to find. My project was a simple white color, so I didn't have to fuss with color and flakes.

 The green tint is not the color of the gel coat; it is white. I am a purist when it comes to gel coat work, so there is no wax or other additives. Strictly pure gel coat with hardener and sealed to make it air tight for the cure to occur -- nice play on words here.

 The gel coat displayed in the picture on the right already had the sealant removed. All of sudden the cockpit is looking respectable. The amount of tape, and sandpaper used in this project is much. Lot's of sanding and sanding.

The bulkhead looks much better as well. The top part of this area had a very thin layer of original gel coat, I was able to notice very slightly the resin under the gel coat, but no longer is that the case. You  may note the bottle of ice tea waiting for me on the cockpit seat.

Cockpit Locker Lid Repairs

The seats (cockpit locker lids) needed repair as well. There was a dip that would allow water to pool on the seat. Although this pooling was nothing serious it was annoying to always have to lift the lid and wipe it down before sitting -- I do not always put out the Custom Cushion seats over the lids.


The port side lid had the largest dip. I was able to place a straight edge along the edge of the seat and slide a pencil under the straight edge. In addition to my desire to remove the dip I also wanted to add support to the lid underneath by glassing in a 1 x 2 mahogany wood.

The lid for the cockpit ice box needed attention as well. The lid is foam encased in fiberglass, and where the holes were made to fasten the hinge to the lid there was no support for the nuts that fastened underside to the lid. In order to make a strong support for the screw and nut I removed a 1 inch diameter of foam between the topside and bottom side of glass, and filled with epoxy. Afterwards, I drilled the appropriate size hole through the epoxy for the new screw and nut.

The lids shown here indicate the glass work needed to level the out the topside of the lid, as well as the cockpit icebox lid's condition. The results of the work will be coming soon in the next few posts. Please visit again to see the update.